School of Nursing and Midwifery Statement of Strategic Intent

Equity and access: We will offer a range of entry pathways into high-quality qualifications that meet industry needs and prepare students for employment.

Culture: We will embody La Trobe’s cultural values – accountable, connected, innovative and caring – in the way we work with each other, our students and our communities.

Engagement: We will build strong and lasting partnerships with our students, key stakeholders and communities, locally, nationally and internationally.

Impact: We will produce graduates and research outcomes that make a positive difference to the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities.

Reputation: We will build capability and continuous improvement in research and teaching to make us one of Australia’s pre-eminent nursing and midwifery schools.

The School of Nursing and Midwifery is comprised of a strong team of academics and professional staff who work together to support our core missions of teaching and research.

We will continue to champion a workplace that is safe and inclusive, and supports health and wellbeing. The University’s cultural qualities will underpin everything we do.

We will promote equity, diversity and inclusion to make us an employer of choice for academic and professional staff. We will support strategies for the recruitment, retention and career development of Indigenous employees.

We will collaborate, share ideas, and drive new innovations that further strengthen our work and impact. We will create a culture of shared teaching and research practice that encourages best practice.

We will promote flexibility in working, while being accountable for maximising efficiencies. We will optimise productivity by ensuring our operations are consolidated, efficient and sustainable.

We will recognise and celebrate the achievements of our staff and students and co-partner with them to create a culture of excellence. We will engage so that our stakeholders are informed, and staff and students have professional visibility within and external to the School.

We will promote regional and global health outcomes by forging partnerships with students, colleagues and external stakeholders, locally, nationally and internationally.

KPI

We will know we have succeeded in our goal to develop a positive culture when we continue to improve the Employee Experience as measured by a La Trobe Employee Experience Survey.

The School of Nursing and Midwifery’s innovative clinical school model, with key Melbourne metropolitan healthcare services, ensures that our student experience is fully embedded in the healthcare network.

We will continue to champion this immersive experience to ensure that our students benefit from formal academic training, combined with a sustained and supported experience in the hospital ward and community settings.

We will support our academics to ensure teaching quality and contributions are best practice. Our course portfolio will continue to incorporate elements specific to nursing and midwifery practice, and contemporary health care more broadly.

Our flexible approach to content delivery will allow students, where possible, to engage in learning at a time and place of their choosing. We will encourage our students to think locally and globally.

We will provide students with opportunities to obtain a global focus through traditional and virtual models. We will also embed research pathways into our courses and support students to explore graduate research options.

We will welcome international students into our courses and support them to contextualise their learning to their home country.

Our staff will offer professional education through international partnerships that build clinical knowledge and foster a lifelong desire for learning.

We will improve our facilities to ensure we offer graduates a technological and skill-based understanding of current innovations and their impact on health care delivery.

We will collaborate with industry partners to provide specialist postgraduate, continuing professional development and higher degree opportunities for the nursing and midwifery workforces.

We will strive to ensure that our graduates are practice ready; that they are excellent communicators and advocates, with transferable leadership skills, and are digitally literate and culturally safe.

We will provide them with education that equips them to become lifelong learners, critical thinkers, and innovative problem solvers, to ensure they improve outcomes for the communities they serve.

We will engage closely with our alumni to ensure they remain a part of our academic family throughout their careers.

We will promote equity and diversity across all aspects of our teaching and learning activities.

KPI

We will know we have succeeded in our goal to ensure quality of teaching when we achieve top 6 nationally in nursing in the Student Experience Survey for Teaching Quality and Overall Experience.

The School of Nursing and Midwifery is comprised of a strong team of outstanding researchers who are working to improve health and wellbeing across communities and the lifespan.

Our research portfolio will focus on five key areas of strength: nursing and midwifery workforce; children and families; ageing and chronic illness; mental health; and education and practice.

Our prestigious research centres, the Judith Lumley Centre and the Australian Institute of Primary Care and Ageing, will continue to play a strong role in our research success and impact.

We will deliver high-quality research training, skills development and research support to local health professionals, supervisors, students and external stakeholders.

We will also grow the capacity of our researchers, at all career stages, by fostering research collaborations that optimise their expertise.

We will work cooperatively with our partners to understand their needs, bring together the right capabilities, manage projects efficiently, act with integrity, and guide the translation of research results into evidence-based practice.

Our research outcomes will have a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities, with impact also measured through publications and research income.

In all our research endeavours, we will consider the potential impact of the research process and findings on Indigenous people. We will work with Indigenous communities and organisations, and their knowledges.

We will establish new avenues and processes to enhance dissemination of our research to broaden its reach into our communities.

We will collaborate with our industry partners to jointly share and celebrate our research outcomes.

KPI

We will know we have succeeded in our goals to create impact and achieve recognition when we sustain a research Excellence in Research for Australia ranking of five (well above world standard) and attain top 50 ranking for nursing in QS World University Rankings.