News Archive

The UWA Business School has built a foundation of excellence over the past few years. The School has recently gained AACSB accreditation, and with its renewal of accreditation from EQUIS, it has become the only business school in Western Australia to hold both international accreditations.  The School also maintains a strong Business School Board and Ambassadorial Council, and in recent years has strengthened its program offerings, making it well positioned to implement the New Courses structure in 2012.

I am looking forward to working with the Business School's staff, students, alumni and partners as we take on new challenges for the future. We will reinforce our key research areas, continue to ensure the relevance of our curriculum to industry, and strengthen our research connections with the corporate, government and not-for-profit sectors.

One of my many highlights so far has been talking to UWA Business School faculty members about the range of research activity occurring within the School. These discussions have strengthened my belief that at the heart of all good research is the desire to make the world a better place. As academics, the problem we often face is communicating this.

It is incumbent upon universities and business schools to ensure our research is practical and will make a difference. It is thus our responsibility to communicate the innovations we develop to industry, the professions, our partners, alumni and students.

Some of our research activity will lead to better ways of doing things. At the UWA Business School, our research is helping to increase ethical practices in the Australian wool industry, encourage school children to make healthy food choices, find ways to grow retirement savings, create safer workplace practices and much more.

We also aim to encourage community discussion and informed debate that addresses the hard issues. To what extent should we regulate industry? How do we trade off development of the minerals and resources industry against Indigenous, social and environmental issues? These discussions, and many more, are debates in which the broader community holds a large stake and in which we have a role to play.

Research plays a significant role in increasing Australia's productivity. Universities Australia recently released a report titled A Productive Country, which argued that investing more in Australia's universities could produce a range of benefits. These benefits include having more Australians gaining tertiary qualifications and undertaking research, resulting in higher government income from taxes, lower unemployment, better health, more women in the workforce and improved workplace innovation and productivity.

The best research is often about questioning, challenging, and searching for new and better ways to do things. It should always feed into teaching, thereby preparing a more capable workforce who will take on the biggest challenges of our future.

At the UWA Business School, we already have strong research partnerships with many organisations and universities around the world. These partnerships are delivering cutting edge, relevant research.

A challenge for business schools, including ourselves, is to ensure that the benefits of this research are fully realised and widely communicated.