From the President

Online events

Knowing that not all members are able to attend the annual forum, the Committee has made a commitment to continue our online events, as they provide opportunities for members within our association to connect in an alternative way.

Last year, we held several great events that saw a variety of members join, meet each other, and come together to talk about common issues and solutions. A personal highlight for me was the academic research institutional analytics online events, as we had a wide range of participants, and we covered a lot of ground in our conversations. We know these sessions are valuable and intend to keep them going in 2025.

Newsletter

A massive thank you goes out to Andrew Bradshaw, who has been putting together fantastic newsletters for us over the past 2 years. Andrew has now stepped down to give himself time to enjoy his retirement. Andrew’s dedication to the community and for keeping us informed have been most highly valued and appreciated. Thank you, Andrew!

In Andrew’s place, I’m pleased to share that Alexander Civil is joining us as the new AAIR Newsletter Editor. Alexander comes with some creative ideas that we are super excited to share with you. Thanks Alexander, and welcome aboard!

AAIR Annual Forum in Adelaide

For the first time in my 14-year career in institutional research in higher education, we held the AAIR Annual Forum in my hometown of Adelaide, and I was pleased that mother nature turned it on for us! I was grateful to have many of you come and see our new Flinders University City Campus, to visit the National Wine Centre, and to meet many new faces in the community.

We talked about the Australian Universities Accord … A LOT. We shared what we are and aren’t doing, how we’re going about it, and we learned a bit about the university merger underway in Adelaide. I was pleased this year to see that there was a lot of great conversation during the presentations, and opportunities for the community to connect.

For those who joined us, you might recall the photo we took from one of the sessions. Geez that was a bit of fun! From the feedback we received, we took note of the popularity of running interactive sessions and will encourage this more in future forums. All in all, it felt like everyone had a great time, and for that, I’m grateful. Thank you everyone for helping make it a great event!