Recruitment of our new Deputy Vice-Chancellor (External Engagement and Partnerships)
The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Council has commenced a global search to recruit the university’s next Deputy Vice-Chancellor (External Engagement and Partnerships) to lead our university.
We invite you to share in our vision and find out how you can join our dynamic, engaging and inclusive community.
Vice-Chancellor's message
The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is seeking a Deputy Vice-Chancellor (External Engagement and Partnerships) to lead a newly merged portfolio. This exciting new role offers the opportunity to oversee the university’s external engagement agenda, nurturing the transformative partnerships that are integral to UTS’s reputation and impact.
UTS is a leading public university of technology recognised for our global impact. As a public purpose institution, UTS is committed to supporting positive social change within and beyond our campus community. Our education, research and engagement deliver real benefit for society.
As Australia’s top-ranked young university, UTS has cultivated and upheld a culture of excellence throughout its 36-year history. More than just a university, we’re an innovation partner of choice for industry, drawing on and across our research disciplines and growing network of partners to develop solutions that make a difference. Our commercial, outcomes-focused approach to research combined with our innovative, practice-oriented teaching and learning, provides our partners with a competitive advantage.
We are searching for a Deputy Vice-Chancellor (External Engagement and Partnerships) to streamline our engagement activities, drive pan-university engagement, enhance our brand and reputation, and foster meaningful partnerships with industry, donors and alumni.
As a key member of the University Leadership Team, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (External Engagement and Partnerships) will help shape the university’s vision and strategic direction. The role will anchor UTS’s distinctive identity with our partners and the broader community, driving outcomes that align with the university’s education and research priorities.
The ideal candidate will be a respected and experienced leader from an academic or professional background with a deep understanding and vision for collaborative partnerships that drive real change. They will have exceptional interpersonal skills, a passion for working with others to create partnerships of mutual benefit and a desire to uphold and enhance our culture of excellence.
Thank you for your interest in joining us at the University of Technology Sydney.
Professor Andrew Parfitt
Vice-Chancellor and President
Our future Deputy Vice-Chancellor External Engagement and Partnerships (EE&P)
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor External Engagement and Partnerships (EE&P), reporting to the Vice-Chancellor and President, is a member of UTS’s University Leadership Team (ULT), whose members are collectively responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of the University.
This newly configured portfolio has been designed to consolidate and focus engagement activities, drive pan-university engagement, boost our brand and reputation as being good to do business with support enhanced commercial, revenue generating opportunities and partnership, with industry, donors and alumni.
The DVC provides oversight of the university’s broad external engagement agenda, cultivates a collaborative and supportive environment for external engagement at UTS to occur within a framework of mutual benefit for partners and the university. The work of the DVC will anchor UTS’s distinctive identity with our business and other partners and with our donors and alumni to provide a catalyst to deliver outcomes that support education and research priorities across our community.
This role is a newly created role with an expanded portfolio aimed at coordinating the resources that drive successful collaborations and partnerships across and beyond UTS to deliver outcomes that contribute directly to UTS’s resources in pursuit of our education and research priorities.
External Engagement and Partnerships Division
Background and context
During 2023 a review of External Engagement at UTS was conducted to assess whether we are achieving the level of internal coordination and external connectedness necessary to achieve our ambitions. The review sought input from multiple internal and external stakeholders.
Specifically, the review was asked to consider the effectiveness of our structures, resources and capabilities across UTS to advance our external engagement in relation to our corporate relationships, business development, alumni and fundraising and provide advice and recommendations in relation to:
The way in which we have configured and aligned support for external engagement to achieve the desired outcomes,
The way in which resources are assigned and deployed against strategic priorities, centrally and across the faculties,
The leadership, capabilities, systems and processes used to support external engagement across UTS,
Cross-institutional awareness of, coordination of and alignment with, external engagement priorities,
Processes, practices and implementation of external engagement to advance partnerships, relationship development and fund raising.
The review provided insights in relation to:
Any changes required to our organisational structures, practices, capabilities or resources to support external engagement in line with our strategic intent,
Any gaps or deficiencies in our systems, processes or approaches to external engagement that might impede our capacity to deliver material outcomes from our external engagement,
Our coordination of institutional relationships across UTS, including consideration of ways to manage and support and coordinate those relationships and provide visibility to key leaders around opportunities and potential issues.
External engagement, by its nature, extends right across the university and should do so, as it is core to our public purpose and education and research portfolios. The review identified that there is a strong platform from which to extend external engagement at UTS, further enhancing our reputation as being good to do business with, responsive to industry needs and impact driven.
Overview of the division
As a result of the review and subsequent consultation we are realigning existing portfolios to establish the External Engagement and Partnerships (EE&P) Division.
This newly configured portfolio has been designed to consolidate engagement activities with a strong focus on delivering meaningful outcomes, drive pan-university engagement and collaboration, boost our brand and reputation as being good to do business with, support enhanced commercial, revenue generating opportunities and partnerships with industry, donors and alumni.
To ensure opportunities exist for scale, coordination, and resource sharing, particularly in professional support areas, the current Advancement Division will be relocated to the new Enterprise Development and Partnerships Division and a Pro Vice-Chancellor or Executive Director Advancement and Alumni recruited to lead an energetic approach to philanthropy and alumni relations. It is envisaged this will enable greater clarity of roles and responsibilities and support whole of university communication, information sharing and coordination.
Given its external facing role and support for institutional engagement, the Marketing and Communications Unit will be realigned with the new portfolio and the Chief Marketing and Communication Officer will report to the new DVC (EE&P). This will also further boost resource sharing and coordination within engagement services and help build our reputation and distinctiveness in terms of storytelling and content creation.
Bringing together Advancement and MCU within the EE&P Division will also ensure we have an aligned approach and resources to build advocacy and reputation with partners, alumni and donors, current and prospective. 2SER, a community radio station, also sits within this portfolio, it is jointly owned by Macquarie University and UTS. It aims to stimulate learning and educate its listeners and is committed to social change, access and diversity.
With an increasing emphasis on business development and new revenue to support research and education, a new Pro Vice-Chancellor (Business Creation and Major Facilities) will be created, reporting to the DVC EE&P. The review highlighted the need for greater focus in terms of business development and utilising pan university facilities for industry, commercial and research partnerships, as well as improved collaborative opportunities and proactive development of targeted commercial proposals. This role will provide institutional leadership to business development activities through convening a Business Development Network which will have representation from Faculties and other key areas. Aligning our facilities and infrastructure strategy with new opportunities for commercially funded research, ensuring good governance of our major facilities and efficient processes to enable industry co-location or leasing opportunities will also be an aspect of this new role.
The following areas will remain within the reshaped External Engagement and Partnerships Division:
Entrepreneurship and Startups: UTS Startups is the home of entrepreneurship at UTS, enabling students to be entrepreneurs and support them at scale. We currently have a community of over 600 active startups, a survey at the at the end of 2023 was completed by 403 startups and revealed that they employed over 1,200 staff, generated $38 million in revenue and received $21 million in funding.
Strategic Partnerships: This team manage existing, and grow new, whole of university strategic partnerships. They will have a sharpened focus to ensure that the emphasis is on business support for partnerships and key relationships. The Strategic Partnerships team
Enterprise Learning: Lead by the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Enterprise Learning, this team specialises in identifying the learning needs of corporate, not-for-profit or government entities, and connecting experts with them to further their organisational goals through upskilling and reskilling.
CRM and EL Operations team: support operations and systems enhancements.
