PODCAST: What happens when you combine two great Australian universities

1 + 1 = 3 isn’t mathematically precise.

But that’s just what the merger of two Australian universities — University of Adelaide and University of South Australia — to form the new Adelaide University is set to offer.

It’s the fusion of two institutions and their centuries of experience delivering great teaching and experience to produce an even better offering for students.

From a curriculum relevant to our time to real-world exposure, there’s a lot waiting for anyone who chooses Adelaide University.

There’s much, much more as well, which is why we caught up with two leaders — University of Adelaide’s Executive Director – Future Students Shirley Chung and University of South Australia’s Pro Vice Chancellor: International Gabrielle Rolan — to get a sneak peek into what a “world-class education” at “a university for the future” really means.

Listen below, or wherever you get your podcasts.

0:15

Shekinah Kannan: Hello listeners. Welcome back to another episode of Extra Credit. If you’re joining us for the very first time, we are your go-to podcast for exploring the vast and also vibrant world of international education. 

Each month, we talk to students, graduates, professors, and education leaders to learn more about their journeys and their insights, the good, the bad, and everything in between studying abroad. 

I’m your host, Shekinah Kannan, and today we will be exploring a new development in Australia in higher education the formation of Adelaide University. This merger between the University of South Australia and the University of Adelaide is actually the largest university merger in the world, and it is set to create new opportunities for students and walking us through them are two key figures in this journey. 

First, we have Gabrielle Rolan, the Pro Vice-Chancellor international at the University of South Australia. Shirley Chung is also joining us. She’s the executive director of future students at the University of Adelaide. Together they will provide us with an insider’s view on what this merger means for current and future students. And, of course, what it holds for international students specifically. Let’s get started. Welcome, Gabrielle and Shirley. How are you both today?

01:20

Gabrielle: Fine, thanks.

Shirley: Very good.

01:23

Shekinah: Thank you so much for joining us. We’re really excited to learn more about this merger. And I guess it would be amazing if we could start with an overview of Adelaide University and its creation from the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia. Gabrielle, perhaps you could walk us through the reasons behind this merger.

1:41

Gabrielle: Sure. Well, morning, everybody. I think we’ve come at a perfect moment in time, actually, what we currently have are two Vice Chancellors who are completely aligned about the transformative power of education. At the same time, we also have a state government, who is completely also aligned to the power of bringing together such a university of scale, and what that can do for the state of South Australia. So, it really is about trying to bring together the two universities to create something even bigger, and we’ve been using the term one plus one equals three. And we’ve been talking about what this could actually look like. 

So we’re looking to bring the strengths of both institutions for two significant aims. One is to be ranked in the top 1% worldwide and to offer Australia’s most contemporary and future-focused teaching and learning experience. Bringing these two things together, being the largest university merger in the world, being the largest domestic university in Australia, will be an absolute game changer for the state, but also for the graduates who are going to be part of this exciting journey.

02:50

Shekinah: Cool. And I love what you said about the one plus one equals three, which means obviously that the best of both institutions will be coming together for this merger. So Shirley, if you could walk us through the strengths of each institution and what this is going to result in.

03:05

Shirley: So, just to add to Gabrielle’s point, I think the combination of our two universities presents a very unique offering to our students. Both universities have some common strengths in research and teaching. And both universities are working with a large number of industry and research partners as well. 

Each of our institution has also got some unique features which complement each other. So, if you look at University of Adelaide, it is a research intensive university and a member of Australia’s prestigious Group of Eight. The university is actually celebrating its 150th year this year. The university is also ranked in the global top 100, and in the latest QS ranking this year, University of Adelaide is ranked number 82. For University of South Australia, it’s a member of ATN, which means Australian Technology Network, and is well known for its practical apply curriculum and a strong connection with industry. 

UniSA also has a very strong focus on employability, and was ranked number one nationally in the 2022 QILT employer satisfaction survey. It is also ranked number 43 in the Times Higher Education Young Universities ranking, so I think the merger of two quality institution is to establish a better university and students can actually get the best of both institution.

04:37

Shekinah: And this is definitely very important for students to know about. Gabrielle, it would be great if we could talk more about the future of higher education in Adelaide and the vision, of course.

04:48

Gabrielle: So, here’s an interesting statistic for a state the size of South Australia. International education is actually the largest export industry here in South Australia. Bigger than wine and tourism. We have a really engaged state government, as I mentioned. And this really makes a very big difference to how education is viewed as a state that does not have a significant manufacturing base. But we have this amazing education backdrop in order for us to continue with economic prosperity and create graduates for the skills that will be required, the innovation that’s going to be required, the creativity that’s going to be required to really keep driving the South Australian economy. 

The focus on education is really like no other across Australia. So, having a university of this size and with this huge capacity for research and employability outcomes will really put South Australia on the map there. For higher education, it will be the main game in town, no question about it. So that international education being the number one in the state. It will be the engine room of education for South Australia.

06:13

Shekinah: And Shirley, could you walk us through the key features that you believe will set the university apart?

06:19

Shirley: I think there are many key features for the new university. But the combination of a Group of Eight university and an ATN university itself, it’s a very unique one, I do want to highlight a few key features here which sets the new university apart from the others. I guess the first one is curriculum because now we have this golden opportunity to start from scratch and create a very contemporary and digitally underpinned curriculum which meets the needs of modern students and also employers. 

The second piece I would say is student experience. At Adelaide University, we have designed a service to support students by mapping the whole holistic student journey and we will listen to student voices to create a strong sense of belonging. We have also created a Deputy Vice-Chancellor role for student experience and success, which is very uncommon in university and we have an ambitious goal is to be in the top five for student experience. 

The third one, I think, is around research excellence, because we will be the most connected university in Australia, the combined network of our global partners will actually allow us to share knowledge and also research collaboration at scale to actually find the solutions for global challenges. And we aim to be ranked in the top 100 University globally for research. And then the last piece I would say is really the strong industry partnership, because I mentioned before, both University already working with a large number of industry partners. So we will work with these partners on designing curriculum and also research collaboration. And our goal is actually to be around first in Australia for Industry Research income. So all these features are actually to support a very strong learning outcome for our students.

08:08

Gabrielle: And look, I just can’t emphasise enough the opportunity to really look at all of your curriculum, right? This just doesn’t happen. Universities just don’t get this opportunity to rethink what do we want our curriculum to do, to look like, to be delivered — in order to provide the graduates with the outcomes that they need to become employable. So we’re doing this at scale, we’re doing it quickly. But we are redoing all of our curriculum, and that is a fantastic opportunity. 

The other is what Shirley mentioned around these industry connections. You know, between the two of us, we have close to 3,000 industry partners across the globe. It’s crazy, right? And both informing the curriculum, like Shirley said, so we have industry input across all of our programmes, advisory boards, and then those opportunities, which I think we’ll talk a little bit more later about the Work Integrated Learning opportunities for students. 

So this is what we’re talking about the one plus one equals three. When you start looking at that combination of those aspects, that really will be no other university like this in Australia that has both the research to inform and to transform the community and the focus on student experience and employability.

09:25

Shekinah: I’m really excited to dive into those points. We definitely do want to cover the curriculum and the student experience later on in this episode. I think it would be great if we could start with the programmes. Like we said one plus one equals three. So, I’m sure when it comes to programmes, there’s going to be a lot for students to choose from. But, um, yeah, Gabrielle, I would love if you could walk us through the range of programmes that are going to be available at Adelaide University.

09:49

Gabrielle: Sure, so bringing together an extensive number of degrees. I think between the two of us, we had, I don’t know, I think it was close to 500 degrees. Too many to have for one institution, really. So we’re looking at one of the core programmes whilst we can still be fully comprehensive across the board. So, I’m not going to read a long list of programmes. But what I really encourage the listeners to do is to go onto our new website that has the first 200 programmes that have actually been worked on. And we’ve got more. We have some unique degree programmes such as aviation and of course, fantastic health programmes, medical programmes coming also from the University of Adelaide. Really comprehensive education and some more exciting programmes to be released soon. We’ve got Aboriginal languages, creative arts, music, health, midwifery, so on, so all of the degrees that a student would expect to have at a first-class university are there, and more coming on board as well.

10:50

Shekinah: And Shirley, if you could talk to us a bit more about how this lineup aligns with international student demands. I know you were an international student yourself. So what do you think about the lineup?

11:02

Shirley: Sure, I think the first range of the programme — around 200 — are very popular study areas for international students, and we also develop these based on the needs of neighbour markets as well. As Gabrielle has mentioned, there will be more programmes coming later on. So both universities have some common programmes. For example, like you know, business, IT, and engineering. But as Gabrielle has mentioned, we also have some unique programmes. So aviation, Gabrielle already mentioned is very popular one for UniSA or for the University of Adelaide. Our medicine and dentistry programme are well known as well. So, the combined offering means there will be more choices for students than what UniSA or University of Adelaide separately offering. 

The other feature is all graduates will get to learn some universal common subjects because I know sometimes international students might want to change their studies. So depending on which degree they want to change to, students might be able to transfer credit to the new study area without wasting time. 

Yes, I was a former international student. And I guess my advice when it comes to programme choices is definitely to choose something that the student themselves will be interested in, not something that their parents or their friends ask them to do. Because I know sometimes the first choice might not be right, because I remember I first chose hotel management. 

But then later, I changed to marketing because I realised marketing was more suitable for me. I didn’t want to kind of spend my public holidays, you know, working in a hotel. So I guess the programme choice is quite important. And the beauty of studying at a university like Adelaide University, with comprehensive offering, is student will have a lot of choices if they do need to change later on. And then the common core features will actually make the change much easier for our students.

13:12

Shekinah: That’s definitely something that’s very important for international students to know. Like you said, they’re always kind of torn between what will provide them job security and what their true interests are. So it’s nice that this is a place that they can come to explore and really solidify their calling whatever it may be. And I’m curious to know more about the curriculum. I don’t know how the university will offer it. 

But you both mentioned a little bit about revamping everything and starting from scratch, and giving students what they really need. And, of course, helping them find out what it is they want. I know the curriculum will also feature modular and stackable learning, AI technologies, and a flexible academic calendar. Perhaps Gabrielle, if we could start with how these innovations enhance the student experience.

13:56

Gabrielle: Sure. So, this is the great advantage when you’re starting from the beginning that you can look to see how things can be put together. So having this, I guess absolutely powered-up digital environment around every programme really means it provides the students with additional resources to help them support their face-to-face teaching. We’re not moving away at all from face-to-face teaching. The students will still be on campus and still be getting face-to-face. But they’ll have this digital environment of absolutely customised first-in digital surrounds for their programmes that they can use at a time and a place that suits and supports them. And that’s really a feature international student find very valuable — that they can also support their learning that way because the programmes are put together in a stackable way. Like Shirley said, we’ve got more common first-year subjects across disciplines. It means once they study that, if they do decide to move, it’s an easy transfer into another degree for international students. You know, it is about not wasting time and not doing work that they can’t get credit for. We can really help to tailor degrees more to the interests of students because we will have that modular way of looking at programmes. 

So basically, a better flexible approach that is designed in a way to actually support student’s learnings. A bit we touched on too, about these graduate attributes being built into the degree.  So that comes from the advice we get from the various industry groups that are feeding into the programmes. What skills do students need when they graduate so that they can be job-ready? We are looking at those things. How do we use AI in our teaching? And how do we prepare students to have jobs where AI is going to be part of the world? 

We’re also looking at how we can create a digital passport for students that’s actually going to be able to be keep track of all of the achievements of an international student, academic as well as extracurricular. So that all feeds into this digital, I guess, surrounds of our academic programmes as well, which is new for many, many, many, many of our programmes across the board.

16:14

Shekinah: Shirley, is there anything you’d like to add on to that in terms of these new innovations?

16:19

Shirley: I think I might talk in more detail about the stackable learning structure. Because you know, sometimes people might not understand what is involved. But as Gabrielle say, at the end of the day, it is about providing flexibility to our students. So for the stackable structure, we actually offer multiple entry paths and also the nested qualification to support students learning. So I will give an example here. 

So for students, let’s say, if they want to study business, but they don’t meet the direct entry into degree, the student can actually start, let’s say, with an associate’s degree in business, and then progress to a higher level, like bachelor degree in business. They can then get the credit from their associate degree studies. So I think this approach actually allows students to adapt their education journey to fit their personal circumstances. The other feature of our curriculum, I will say, is the university will teach its research. I think Gabrielle touched a little bit on that. Students will benefit from a curriculum that is informed and influenced by our research trends, which allow students to study the most current practice and also global trends.

17:30

Shekinah: That’s great. Obviously, relevance is very important to students. It’s definitely something that’s important to highlight. Another thing that’s very important to students is obviously that real world exposure and those industry connections and their employability for the future. So the new university aims to embed industry and experiential learning in every degree.

And I’d love to talk more about that and how the connections from University of South Australia and the University of Adelaide will benefit international students. So if we could talk, if I’m not mistaken, I heard something about 3,000 industry relationships, which is just incredible. And I’d love to know more about these relationships and the work-integrated learning opportunities for students.

18:10

Shirley: So I think Gabrielle has mentioned before that we are working very closely with industry leaders to design our curriculum and teaching. So when we do that, we actually consider what topics and majors align with the global needs and what is required for the future. This actually means we focus on developing our graduate’s skill for the future, not the past. We are including more like digital tools and knowledge in our curriculum.

Also the work integrated learning will form a very key part of our teaching programmes. So allow students to learn from the industry professional in their chosen area. And this hands-on experience will give our students very practical experience just to prepare them for the workplace. At the end of the day, it is about jobs, jobs and jobs. 

So we are aiming for all students to engage with industry through placement or internship. I can use the example from University of Adelaide. So we have established Deloitte Academy in collaboration with Deloitte. So the programme is open to both international and domestic students. So the Deloitte Academy actually provides a platform for students to complete an undergraduate elective co-delivered by the university and also Deloitte. They also have a chance to take on a paid internship with Deloitte or work experience, opportunity and project, as well as a professional certificate in advisory service. And I know University of South Australia has a strong industry connection. So I will pass it to Gabrielle to talk about the unions, they work with this.

19:47

Gabrielle: Sure. And look, it’s not like the University of Adelaide or the University of South Australia had experience in work-integrated learning. Currently, I would suggest about 70% of our students are already having access to some form of work-integrated learning across many of our programs, our nursing, teaching engineering, health science degrees, but this ambition for every student to have a work-integrated learning or project is very ambitious, but we think it’s going to be absolutely key. 

So I think I can give a good example of one of our industry relationships with Accenture. So back about two years ago, we were talking with Accenture, or they actually were talking to us about how can we increase the number of graduates who could come and work for Accenture because they have an enormous employability requirements for graduates across the globe. And they need students who are really job-ready to step into roles with Accenture. So that ended up turning into the question of Accenture Academy and a programme called a Bachelor of Digital Business, which is partially delivered by Accenture, partially delivered by UniSA and it is 100% designed for those students to have the skills that consultancy companies, and particularly Accenture, is looking for going forward. And it’s the first of the sorts of degrees for international and domestic students. But it also means when they graduate, they’ve got job opportunities around the globe. So very similar to Deloitte. 

So we can see that this is going to just expand, and the other reason for this work integrated learning and all these projects are the networks that international students can create. The hardest thing is coming to a different country — how do they create the networks to get them a job in the future? So having real experience into what’s it like working alongside professionals in those environments, understanding what the workplace is, specifically for what the workplace requires, really will help us set up our students for jobs at the end of the day.

21:47

Shekinah: That’s great. And I think these names are massive and definitely going to appeal to students who are, you know, looking to build a life in Australia, especially international students who want to start fresh abroad. It’s nice that you know, they could build a network and create connections that could benefit them once they graduate. It sounds like a very well-rounded experience of quality academics, work integrated learning, and a lot of rigorous exposure. 

And on that note, I guess, great if we could walk students through what the student experience part of things is going to be like and, you know, the fun stuff. I know Adelaide University aims to be the top five in Australia for student experience. And I’m very curious if the specific initiatives that will support this goal. So Shirley, if we could start with you if you could list the initiatives for a holistic and connected student journey.

22:34
Shirley: Sure, we definitely take student experience very seriously. So as I mentioned before, Adela University has created a new position of vice chancellor for student experience and success. And this is very unique in Australia. It just shows our commitment to providing an exceptional student experience. So that means student will actually have access to very dedicated support services and a vibrant campus life so they can truly flourish at Adelaide University. So this includes a lot of fun stuff, like you know, large number of clubs and society, volunteering opportunities, events, counselling, international students support, leadership development programs, student wellbeing, career services, mentoring, and more because, you know, Shekinah, your right university life is not just about study and students should get out there, meet different people and have fun, as Gabrielle say, you know, it’s good to expand your network when you’re at university. 

I think the other fun thing that I would definitely encourage our students to explore is the student exchange opportunity because Adelaide University will have hundreds of global exchange partners, and our student can choose to study one semester or two at a different country, it will definitely help them to become a truly global citizens. So you know, when I was an international student, I wish I had the chance to do student exchange. But I didn’t manage to do that. And I’ve been even telling my teenager son that he should consider student exchange when he goes to university. So of course, we also welcome students from other countries to spend one semester or two with us as a study-abroad students if they are not ready to do a full degree with us. I just think from a student perspective, it’s always amazing experience to travel and experience a different culture.

24:31

Gabrielle: I think also, Shirley, with the opportunities there around the student experience that will sit under this new portfolio. So we will have 400,000 alumni and they spread across 130 countries. And I know that there’s deep discussion looking at how do we engage that alumnus in the current student body? How could that look like from a mentoring perspective? How could that look like from a network perspective? 

We’re also looking at how what are the digital innovations we could have will actually help a student create the student experience. You know, we had a little taste of that during COVID, where we could check up on students on how they were progressing. If they weren’t engaging well with the online material, we could then go and offer them support. We are very cognizant, we will have a very large student body, we’ll have around 70,000 Students studying, how can we make sure that we tailor an excellent student experience for those students? 

So we’re excited about how we can be innovators in the space in real terms. How are we going to make sure that their student experience both at the university and their extracurricular activity? How is that going to be benchmarked? Because it’s one thing to say we want to be in the top five? How are we going to deliver on that and you know, we will have a council that will put our feet to the fire to make sure that we are delivering on that.

25:50 

Shekinah: And are there any specific extracurricular activities that you feel listeners should know about?

25:56

Gabrielle: Look, I think this idea, this concept of having this really live digital passport is one of those, one of the things we are talking about, it’s called the Golden Record for students at Uni SA. We’ve talked about it for a long time, we haven’t been able to get there. But the intent is to be the new university, we will. 

So what that is, is really this record of all of the achievements and involvement that a student has had. So we can then customise opportunities for that student. So having all of that information in the one place, what Awards has that student won? What have they done well, in where have they wanted to also get involved with what other activities so when we do have opportunities that can come up, which we do all the time that come up through our career service through the academic areas, we can actually target that support to those individual students. We understand no university has managed to nail this. Yet it is on analyst golden record for a student so that we can customise tailor-made opportunity and support for every student.

26:59

Shirley: Yeah, I guess you can see there will be amazing service offered to students, but I know sometimes international students are a bit shy. So I guess you know, we just want to encourage them to go out there, check out what service are on offer. Don’t be shy and utilise those service, you know, offered by Adelaide University.

27:28

Shekinah: Such a comprehensive student experience with filling academics, a great life beyond the classroom, and all-around great exposure around campus. It’s, I think, very common for students who enjoy such an experience to, you know, want it to last a little longer once they graduate, whether that means, you know, finding a job or working at the university. I do know that is quite common among international students. So I would love if you both could talk to me about life in Adelaide for students who have not been there and who are very intrigued by this episode. And everything education at Adelaide University will entail, so I’m curious to know more about what life is like there and what they should expect.

27:56
Gabrielle: Look, I think Shirley and I can talk about this for quite a long time for as long as I want to put a plug in though for study Adelaide. So study Adelaide is one of the most active organisations, which is all about how they also support students living in Adelaide there. So if you’re listening to have a look at their website, everything from employment, extracurricular connection activity, they’re really fully comprehensive, but look about Adelaide itself. It’s consistently ranked as one of the world’s most livable cities. It’s really renowned for its lower cost of living compared to some of the other nation’s biggest cities. It actually has the country’s fastest growing economy as well with record low unemployment. So that sort of sets the scene. 

 

As I said earlier, the government’s very keen to set South Australia up as the home for creativity, entrepreneurial activity as well. I think one of the things that students enjoy, and I certainly enjoy living here, is that the city is surrounded by parkland. It was designed so that there’s greenery everywhere with this compact street grid. It’s really easy for students just to get around on foot or on tram, we call it the 20-minute city, you are so close to beaches, mountains and the really bustling CBD. You know, home to people from 130 countries is very multicultural as well. So for, international students they’re going to be able to find restaurants, cafes, shops are not as good as Mum’s cooking. I recognise 100%, but they’re not going to be, they’re not stuck in a wasteland. So they have the benefits of being in a really metropolitan, modern multicultural city but a smaller scale, so they’re not going to be feeling lost there.

29:38

Shirley: I think from my perspective, I’m not a local yet because I have only lived in Adelaide for one and a half years before that. I was living in Queensland for 20 years. But guess what I think Adelaide, it’s a nice surprise to me. To me. I think it’s a hidden treasure to be discovered. But you know, it looks like the secret is out because we have more people moving to Adelaide And I love the lifestyle here because, as Gabrielle say, it’s a 20-minute city, you know, you can go to the Hill, you can go to the winery, you can go to the beach that is so much for students to do, you know, during weekend, so definitely, it’s a very nice place I personally enjoying very much. 

And also Gabriel touch on the study at Adelaide. I also want to highlight one of their fabulous service. It’s called job shop. So on their website, they actually advertise all those job opportunities that international students can apply for, whether it’s part-time or full-time time so you know, students get on to their website and check it out. If you’re looking for like a part-time or casual job when you are studying in Adelaide.

30:41

Gabrielle: A good number of students are really wanting to have at least some experience if not a permanent position afterwards. And look in South Australia. As I said, with the government being so keen on having such a large skills requirements, there are actually over 500 occupations available for international graduates. And information about that aspect can be found on the study Adelaide website as well. We think Adelaide is actually the best place in Australia to gain valuable post-study work experience with the opportunities that are available to them.

31:12

Shirley: And it’s such a welcoming place for everyone.

31:15

Gabrielle: I think the other feature, too, is we just take it for granted but it’s known as the festival state. Honestly, every month world class festival, something happening like right at the moment winter here in Adelaide, we have what’s called the Illuminate Festival. So all of around in the city, amazing well-lit sculptures creations, it’s all free, and you get you go, you come in, you wrap up at night, and you go around and have a look at these amazing installations, art installations across the city. 

We have food festivals, global food festivals, local music festivals, and often at, these events are a great opportunity for the students not only to participate but to volunteer at as well or to work out as well. So there is something happening here every month in the creative space here in Adelaide.

32:06 

Shekinah: Oh, that sounds amazing. Such great descriptions of Adelaide I visited it actually ages ago when I was very young, and I still remember it very clearly. But this has definitely inspired me to take another trip down at some point. So thank you both so much for sharing all these amazing insights and talking to us about Adelaide University. It’s very exciting. And it sounds like an education that has the best of all worlds you know, truly high rankings innovation, industry connections and a wonderful student experience, very, very well rounded and enticing if I may say so myself.

So to all listeners, if you want to study abroad at elite universities, a destination to consider to learn more about it, visit adelaideuni.edu.au and follow them on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok under the username @adelaideuni and for more inspiring stories and expert insights, don’t forget to subscribe to the Extra Credit podcast to share your ideas for future episodes connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. We can be found across these platforms under the username Study International. 

Thank you all for tuning in. And until next time, take care and keep learning.