We were established to serve the needs of the Hunter and Central Coast – a responsibility that is legislated in our University Act.

The Newcastle and Hunter Region has reinvented itself many times. With a strong Indigenous community, a rich industrial and resources history, and an emerging arts and digital culture, the region is one of the most representative of Australia and is a true microcosm of Australian society.

The Hunter is Australia's largest regional economy, generating more wealth on an annual basis than Tasmania, the Northern Territory or the ACT. We are home to a wide range of industries from health, education, advanced manufacturing, to tourism, agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries, mining and resources, power generation, viticulture and defence.

For more than 30 years, we have been serving our community on the Central Coast through our Ourimbah campus. The Central Coast region has experienced a dramatic transformation during this time. It is now the fastest growing region in NSW and recognised as a Significant Urban Area by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Affordable housing, commuter corridors to Sydney and Newcastle, and a diverse population have attracted government and industry investment to the Central Coast. Skilled workers are also making their way to the region with sector expertise in healthcare and social assistance, education and training, food manufacturing, tourism, logistics, agriculture and construction. The University will soon open the Central Coast Medical School and Research Institute in Gosford.

However, there are barriers to prosperity. Income inequality, a lack of housing affordability, unemployment, mental and physical illness and family violence continue to challenge policy makers and community workers in our regions. Participation rates in higher education are below the State average and youth unemployment is too high.

The University has a strong presence across regional NSW – in Orange, Tamworth, Muswellbrook, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Armidale, Taree and Moree. We're committed to serving NSW through training our future health and medical workforce, incubating and accelerating regional start-ups and engaging in regionally focused research.

Our communities are not only defined by where we have a physical presence. They are where our students come from, and are where many return home. They are where the industries with which we collaborate are based, and are where the benefits of our innovation are felt by communities.

In an increasingly digital and globalised world, the reach of our communities is ever growing. While we will always, first and foremost, be a University for the Hunter, Central Coast and broader NSW regions, our communities stretch to Sydney, the South Pacific, Singapore, throughout Asia and across the world.

From the outset, our journey to develop Looking Ahead was grounded in a desire to understand what our staff, students and communities want and need us to be.

As an anchoring institution in regional Australia, we have sought to align our priorities and direction with those of government, business and the community around us, from the local perspective through to a global view.

We reflected on our previous strategic plan - New Futures - identifying our strengths, celebrating our successes and ensuring that we roll forward key aspects of the plan into our new strategy.

We also considered where the pressures, challenges and opportunities may lie over the next decade for our University. In an increasingly connected and digital world, developments outside of higher education are becoming as important as those within, if not more so.

Consultation for Looking Ahead took several months, spanning all of our stakeholder groups, and included surveys, town hall forums, focus groups, targeted interviews, a discussion paper, community pop-ups, a presence at University events, and a feedback portal.

We had more than 4,500 unique interactions with our stakeholders. Those we consulted included staff, students, leaders in the business community, civic leaders, the not-for-profit sector, Indigenous organisations and members of the public, as well as members of our 150,000-strong global alumni community whose voices are represented across these stakeholder groups.

Our communities spoke, and we listened

Our students, both current and prospective, told us that while getting a job was a primary motivation for attending university, they were most concerned with our institution delivering action on climate change and being environmentally sustainable.

Our staff emphasised the importance of delivering a first-rate student experience both within courses but also across our physical and digital environments. They believe we should continue to be a strong, research-intensive university. They also want our organisation to be more risk-tolerant and innovative, to have a stronger culture of collaboration and performance, and to retain and grow our strong tradition in Indigenous education and engagement.

Our local communities said they are proud to have a university of our global standing in their regions. They want greater visibility of the positive contributions that we make. They want to have more reasons to come to our campuses and engage with our activities and events. Overwhelmingly, our communities expect us to be local, national and global leaders in climate change and environmental sustainability.

Our civic leaders consistently spoke of entrenched inequality or disadvantage within our regions. While the specific issues differed, they were united in their view that more work must be done to ensure all people in our communities have the opportunity to lead healthy, fulfilling and dignified lives. They want the University to be a catalyst for job creation and transformation, as well as help break cycles of intergenerational disadvantage.

Our Indigenous partners spoke of the long and deep history that their people have with the Hunter and Central Coast regions and, more recently, with the University of Newcastle. There is a strong desire for this deep connection to continue, and for our University to intensify its already considerable efforts in improving outcomes and creating opportunities for the community.

The business community praised our graduates, and emphasised the need for them to be work-ready as they enter the workforce. They spoke of well-rounded graduates who have not only the technical skills to excel in a given field, but also the communication, leadership and interpersonal qualities that enable them to succeed in a contemporary economy. The business community understands that partnering in innovation with our University will be important for the future prosperity of our regions.

The not-for-profit and community sector spoke of a desire to better engage with the University, to be able to use our spaces and places, and for our graduates to not only be work-ready, but also community-minded with a sense of responsibility for those around them.

All of these perspectives have been invaluable in shaping Looking Ahead.