Dear colleagues
As you’ll see from the photo above, I decided to memorialise the day when UNSW was announced as Australia’s top university in the QS Rankings with several of our incredible student ambassadors. The delight and apparent pride from our students continued all day. When I returned to the Quad late that evening, happily I had to queue for 20 minutes before it was my turn to take a selfie – there were so many students lined up to take a picture beneath the arch.
Hubris is fortunately not a UNSW trait, and it’s unwise to engage in it when rankings change from year to year. However, I again would like to express my admiration and thanks to colleagues, students and former staff whose sustained effort over many years that has put UNSW into this position. Our results in sustainability and graduate employability are particularly gratifying. Everyone has made a contribution through teaching, research, student support, professional services, partnerships and operations, and I value that shared commitment, collaboration and passion for outcomes, more than the ranking.
We should see this recognition as an opportunity. It helps us attract and benefit outstanding domestic and international students, recruit world-leading academics and researchers, strengthen world-wide collaborations, deepen our work with industry and community partners, and increase our impact with governments globally. Most importantly, it gives us a stronger platform to deliver on our mission and increase the positive impact UNSW can have in the world.
The 2027 QS World University Rankings also showed that Australia has, per capita, more universities in the top 100 than any other country. It is a fantastic outcome. Australians have created something rare and valuable over many years. Society's needs from higher education, however, are rapidly evolving. Technological changes, including artificial intelligence, are reshaping not just how research is conducted or education is delivered but transforming the requirements of how graduates are prepared and the scale of reskilling required for the workforce. This demands that universities rapidly change while still delivering the day-to-day social impact that is, and should be, taken for granted.
Universities are among Australia's most effective drivers of social mobility, broad-based prosperity creation, community wellbeing and national resilience. My opinion piece for the Sydney Morning Herald questions why some in Australia insist on talking down our university sector despite this evidence of success.
UNSW announces new Parramatta campus
I’m delighted to share that UNSW has announced a major investment in Western Sydney, signing a new lease for a multi-faculty campus in the heart of Parramatta. Over the next decade, UNSW will invest more than $65 million in the new campus, deepening our engagement with one of Australia’s fastest-growing regions and helping ensure more students can access a world-class UNSW education closer to where they live and work.
This investment reflects our commitment to ensuring high-quality education is delivered across Sydney and NSW as our city and state evolve. The campus will bring together education programs, industry partnerships and community initiatives and build on the many activities UNSW already delivers across Western Sydney. The first offering at the expanded Parramatta location will be the UNSW Law & Justice Juris Doctor program from 2027. Read more on the UNSW Newsroom.
Horizon Europe
Last week I shared the stage with Tim Ayres, the Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science, at a Group of Eight (Go8) event to acknowledge Australia’s association with Horizon Europe and fire the starters’ pistol on joining the world's largest research and innovation program.
From the start of 2027, Australia researchers will have a year to demonstrate successful research and research collaborations that will make our ongoing participation in Horizon Europe and its successors indispensable. My call to our colleagues in the Go8 and across the university sector was to have a Team Australia approach. This is a case of every successful Australian project or consortium reflecting favourably on us all. Not to be overly competitive, but New Zealand has achieved a return on investment of 20-1 on every dollar they put into Horizon Europe.
The opportunity we have here is more than simply research. It’s about how we turn our University-based research into businesses, and ultimately into industries. We can leverage our existing international partnerships, but we can also use our existing Australian industry partnerships and take them into collaborations with new European partners, or with partners where relationships already exist.
UNSW is and always has been excellent at partnerships. The more we engage the more we will get out of this program. Can I exhort everyone to think how you could engage in our new association which offers a real opportunity for us in research and innovation and being part of the global industries of the future.
UNSW renews affiliation with Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute
Some of the most important work we do as a university is in partnership with Medical Research Institutes, so it gave me real joy to sign the renewed affiliation agreement between UNSW and the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute (VCCRI).
This is a partnership with a lot of history behind it. UNSW and VCCRI have been connected since the institute’s earliest days, and over that time we have built something very substantial together. The partnership has helped support world-class cardiovascular research, teaching, clinical translation, preventative health and innovation. Many VCCRI researchers hold conjoint UNSW appointments, supervise HDR students and contribute deeply to UNSW’s research and education.
These are exactly the kinds of partnerships that are central to our purpose: excellent science, close clinical connection, strong education and better outcomes for patients. Read more on the UNSW Newsroom.
UNSW Indigenous Student Success Awards
It was a great pleasure to attend this year’s Indigenous Student Success Awards and celebrate the outstanding achievements of UNSW’s Indigenous students. The evening was a powerful reminder of the talent, leadership and excellence across our community, as well as the importance of coming together to support student success. In the spirit of this year’s National Reconciliation Week theme, ‘All In’, the awards highlighted how creating opportunities, fostering belonging and recognising achievement are a shared responsibility across the University. Congratulations to all award recipients and to Nura Gili for delivering such an inspiring celebration of excellence.
UNSW launches new Disability Inclusion Action Plan
I want to congratulate everyone involved in the recently launched Disability Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP) 2026-2029. DIAP builds on the real achievements of the previous plan and is the result of dedicated focus on our successes and shortcomings. As a university, we aspire to go beyond compliance and be a place where human rights for people with disability are recognised and embedded. While the plan has been shaped by the voices of those with lived experience in our community, its success relies on all of us. Everyone at UNSW has a role to play in creating an accessible and welcoming environment. Inclusive Communities offer training modules to help build your knowledge and awareness of disability inclusion. A truly inclusive university campus requires every member of our community to be able to aspire to excellence. It’s essential to our values and our responsibility as a leading global university. Read more in this edition of Inside UNSW.
There’s more to read Inside UNSW…
- As I shared in my Inside UNSW message in May, UNSW reached our student equity and excellence target a year ahead of schedule, with one in four commencing domestic undergraduate students now coming from underrepresented backgrounds. This is a milestone we can all be proud of, but there is still more work to do to ensure talented students can access the opportunities a UNSW education provides. As the end of the financial year approaches, I invite you to support our students through Workplace Giving. Every donation is matched by UNSW, doubling your impact and helping more students thrive at university and beyond. Read more about Workplace Giving in this edition of Inside UNSW.
- Professor William Alexander Donald and his team in the School of Chemistry are developing AI-powered screening tools for early disease detection. Find out more in this edition's AI Insider.
- After moving from the US to Sydney, Allison Sobel, a Digital Marketing Officer in the Events team, says her background in photography shaped her journey into marketing and now helps her connect audiences with ideas through events and digital content. Read more in this edition’s staff profile.
- You can now vote for your favourite nominees as part of the People’s Choice campaign in the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards. Please take a moment to look through the gallery of 707 nominations from across our UNSW community. Thank you to our nominators for shining a light on the wonderful and inspiring contributions of our staff. Voting is open until Monday 29 June.
Best regards
Attila
Professor Attila Brungs
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