Dean’s Letter: Good Luck with SWOTVAC

A message from Professor Paul Kofman, Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics.

Dear students,

At the tail end of Semester 1, I am taking this opportunity to wish you well for your upcoming exams and final assignments.

As we begin what will hopefully only be one week of lockdown here in Melbourne, I want to commend you all on managing until now the challenging task of working between online learning spaces and for those of you who were able, coming to campus. I would like to thank you for your support, trust and continued dedication to your studies. You should all feel proud of your efforts and commitment especially for those of you studying overseas, and I would encourage you to use the range of health and wellbeing services resources available to assist students through lockdown, and keep abreast of the latest information via the University’s dedicated COVID-19 information page.

Some of you will be graduating soon and will become an invaluable part of our alumni community. I know you have all come here to learn about business, but I do hope that you will leave here with a network for life. I encourage you to stay connected with us by joining the Facebook Group for Faculty of Business and Economics Alumni. For me, being able to connect with you all as alumni at our events in Australia and overseas, whether in person or online has always been a highlight for me as Dean.

This week is National Reconciliation Week in Australia. This is an important time to consider how we can better build a relationship with our Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander people, value their contribution to our community and take positive actions in this direction.  To this end I was very proud of the recent launch of Australia’s first ever Indigenous Business Sector Snapshot led by the Faculty’s Associate Professor Michelle Evans. For the first time, the Snapshot brought together ABS data and that of Indigenous Business Data custodians to provide a snapshot of where the Indigenous Business Sector sits, why it matters and offer a benchmark for future business planning and investment. This report is truly transformative and I hope the Faculty continues to do further work in this important area.

Again, good luck with your exams and congratulations to our soon to be graduates!

Stay safe, stay well,

Paul