La Trobe Business School MBA graduate/student Gopal Agarwal
was named NISPP Student of the Year at the 2019 Northern Business Achievement
Awards, held in December.
NISPP
The Northern Industry Student Placement Program (NISPP), managed by NORTH Link, sources placements and projects across the region for students from La Trobe University, RMIT University, Kangan Institute and Melbourne Polytechnic. In 2019, over 300 students from the four tertiary institutions participated.
The NISPP Placement Student of the Year and Placement Employer of the Year awards were sponsored by Unitemps.
Consultant for Floridia Cheese
Gopal worked as a consultant with Floridia Cheese for a semester as part of his Experiential Learning Project (BUA5ELP) elective. His task involved investigating the viability of a new cheese variety for the Australian and export markets.
Viv Banner, Floridia’s ERP Project Manager, was enthusiastic about the results of his consultancy:
“Gopal was highly engaged and motivated from the start, taking the task well beyond the project brief. He grasped what we wanted straight away and worked hard to ensure he met all our requirements.
Personally, we found Gopal a delight to work with. He demonstrated professionalism and abilities beyond our expectations. We know he’ll have a great future in the corporate world and we’d strongly recommend him to any future employer.”
Associate Professor Geraldine Kennett, Director of La Trobe’s MBA Program, highlighted the benefits to students of undertaking a consultancy project as part of their MBA studies.
“Our ELP students apply the skills they gained throughout their MBA in a real-life business setting, identifying, negotiating and delivering an enterprise project that provides them with significant learning opportunities.
NORTH Link has been instrumental in linking our MBA students to projects that are of real benefit to local industry. Gopal has an excellent academic record and we are very pleased that his professional competence has been acknowledged in this way.”
The Northern Business Achievement Awards
The Northern Business Achievement Awards (NBAAs) are a partnership of industry, education, local and state government and decision makers across Melbourne’s north. They recognise local business achievements and excellence, growth and competitiveness.
Read more about the Northern Business Achievement Awards and LBS’ involvement here
During the La Trobe Business School End of Year Forum some of our staff were presented with LBS Awards and LBS Research Awards.
LBS Awards
The LBS Awards recognises individuals and teams for their individual contribution to La Trobe Business School’s mission throughout 2019. LBS’s mission is to be a community of students, academics, and professionals committed to enhancing business learning through education and research, which is innovative, responsible, and engaged.
Individual awards
Adam Heron: “For outstanding service to the School through his work on the successful AACSB accreditation bid.”
Jane and Adam
Earl Jobling: “For demonstrating innovation and engagement in design and delivery of a place-based subject with industry partners”
Erica Klaymi: “For outstanding service to the school through the delivery of core activities including the BFCM Conference”.
Mally Marimuthu: “For identification of opportunities for continuous improvement in curriculum and quality process.”
Jane and Mally
Julio Mancuso Tradenta: “For leveraging engagement with external partners to enrich the student experience and enhance graduate employability.”
Team awards
Kiera Staley, Erica Randle, Emma Seal and Alex Donaldson: “For sustained engagement, enhancing our reputation as a partner of choice.”
Emma, Kiera and Jane
Swati Nagpal, Nicole El-Haber, Donna Burnett, Tim Clune, Shalinka Jayatilleke, Alice Li, Anne Brouwer, Anjum Chaudhry: “For displaying excellence, innovation and connectedness in organising and running the PRME week of activities comprising the CR3+ Conference, ANZ Regional Chapter meeting and the United Nations Champions Meeting”.
Jane, Anne, Donna, Nicole, Swati, Shalinka, Tim and Tynique
LBS Research Excellence Awards
The following staff members received Research Excellence Awards:
Early Career Researcher Award: Dr Kirsty Forsdike
Jane and Kirsty
Mid-Career Researcher Award: Dr Liam Lenten
Liam and Jane
Excellence in Higher Degree Research Supervision Award: Professor Bala Balachandran
Congratulations to all these outstanding staff members of the LBS!
While Australia has a very good health system by world standards, like all industries it faces increasing disruption, says Dr Mark Cloney, convener for the 2020 Innovation in Health Forum (#IHF2020), taking place at La Trobe University Melbourne Campus on the 25th and 26th of June 2020.
So, where are the areas for innovation and improvement? Is it in patient
care and outcomes or access; affordability or technological innovation; e-health
or assistive technology; next generation sequencing, 3d-printed devices, point
of care diagnosis, or biosensors and trackers? Or, is it in shifting the focus from
treatment to prevention; exploring the role of nutritional food or alternative
medicines in sustaining good health and wellness?
A changing business model
A recent report by PWC[1] shows, Australia’s health system faces similar pressures to others globally including rising costs driven by increasing incidence of chronic diseases, an aging population, inequitable access to services, and gaps in workforce and infrastructure. In addition, changing customer expectations, under the NDIS for example, are driving a need for more personalised, digital, seamless and integrated care experiences.
In short, the business model for the health and wellness sector in Australia is rapidly changing and, as PWC concludes, providers, clinicians, and broader industry players are at varying levels of maturity in terms of adapting to this change.
Partnership with NORTHLink
The La Trobe Business School will again partner with NORTHLink for its
third innovation forum to present a range of industry and academic perspectives,
world class speakers and deep dive sessions over two days, exploring the future
of Australia’s health and welling industry in June 2020.
La Trobe’s $5 billion University City of the Future Project[2] has identified a focus on this sector with:
a major Health and Wellbeing Hub with improved access to health services
and includes a private hospital, aged care facilities and additional childcare;
a world-class Sports Park for teaching, research, community
participation and elite sport;
a transformed Research and Innovation Precinct focussing on our
world-class strengths in Agri-bioscience, Food and Fibre, Health and Wellbeing, Digital
Technology and Cyber.
NORTHLink’s 2018 Investment Attraction Strategy also focuses on innovation in the emerging health and wellbeing sector targeting sport and sports medicine, aged care, mental health, allied health, emerging medical products and assistive technology for the NDIS as future job generators for Melbourne’s north.
Innovation in Health Forum
Given this level of partner commitment, research effort and investment,
it is timely to explore how the 4th Industrial Revolution and what innovations
are impacting and shaping patient care and, more broadly, the Australian health
and nutritional eco-systems of tomorrow.
Specifically, then:
How can the health and wellbeing sector and universities harness these research, technological and digital innovations in the most productive and ethical ways?
Where within the Australian health and food ecosystems do the greatest business growth and research opportunities lie?
What are the key challenges the sector faces?
Are we strategically prepared?
And, can the sector adapt to potential disruption and opportunities quickly?
As well as several industry presenters, the 2020 Innovation in Health
Forum will present the latest cutting science and research on health and
wellbeing from La Trobe’s Science, Health and Engineering College, the Institute
for Agriculture & Food (LIAF), AgriBio, Centre for Agricultural
Bioscience, and provides greater detail of its City of the Future Project’s health
and wellness ambitions. This maximises the potential of future industry and
government engagement, breaks down silos, and creates space for enhanced collaborative
research and investment opportunities in this sector.
We anticipate 350 delegates at the event with the formal marketing campaign,
schedule, keynote and speakers list, and panellists to be available in late
February 2020.
Why should you attend?
The benefits of attending the 2020 forum include:
Opportunities for research or
business collaboration
Access to first-hand
knowledge-sharing and latest trends
Keeping pace with the constantly
changing world and latest technology
An opportunity for you to be
challenged and grow
Getting into the right network
The target audience is stakeholders able to effect and/or influence
innovation and change at the health care and wellness industry, at the systems,
research and/or practice level. This includes business and NFP’s active in:
assistive technologies, primary care, aged-care, allied health, disability
service, medicinal medicines, e-health, agribusiness, banks and institutional
investment, health insurance, general practice, medical specialists, hospitals,
state and local government, researchers and academics.
Very pleasingly, we have already secured sponsorship from DPV Health and
the Victorian Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions for the event with several
more industry participants and sponsors to be announced in the New Year.
You can register your interest in attending and/or direct general
enquires for the event to: LBSinnovationforum@latrobe.edu.au or contact the people listed below.
Contact Dr Mark Cloney La Trobe Business School T: 9479 5621|E: M.Cloney@latrobe.edu.au
Contact Professor Jane Hamilton Dean & Head of La Trobe Business School T: 9479 5264 |E: Jane.Hamilton@latrobe.edu.au
Last
month, LBS hosted the 9th Behavioural Finance and Capital Markets (BFCM)
Conference. The conference aims to bring together scholars and practitioners to
present state-of-the-art research in the fields of Behavioural Finance,
Experimental Finance and Capital Markets/Market Microstructure.
The conference is unique in that it merges academic research with the applied work of the finance industry. The conference continuously looks to identify new emerging fields of research and supports better cooperation and collaboration among researchers and between academia and industry. According to it comes down to this:
“The research we do should not only have academic value but also practical application that impacts the finance industry and hence our society. This conference makes that happen.”
Professor Petko Kalev (Founder of the BFCM Conference)
Day 1
After
being welcomed by Dean & Head of LBS Prof Jane Hamilton,
Mike Aked from Research
Affiliates kicked off with a discussion why Kappa is
being a more stable estimate of the skew that exists in financial markets,
followed by Nick Wade from Northfield Information Services presenting why getting risk “right” is wrong,
explaining how risk and volatility are not being equivalent concepts.
The
industry forum discussed “Technological Disruptions in the Finance
Industry and the role of Humans”. All panel members, which included Joseph
Barbara (ASIC), Kingsley Jones (Jevons Global Pty Ltd), Rick Klink (Paritech) and Alistair Rew (AMP Capital), agreed there is and always will be a very important role
for humans.
The industry forum
Keynote
speaker Dan diBartolomeo from Northfield Information Services discussed “Robo-Advisers”. Particularly where these
automated investment advisers have fallen short and more importantly, a
solution. This was followed by a keynote of Professor Nadia Massoud from Melbourne
Business School on the use of Artificial Intelligence in
sentiment analyses of finance data and recent developments on how to improve
sentiment measures.
Several
industry doctoral candidates from the RoZetta Institute (formerly CMCRC) also
presented their work. They presented on the rise in trading on close, the
sensitivity of trading to the cost of information and self-organizing maps and
financial applications.
PhD Candidates RoZetta Institute
In his presentation titled Harry Potter’s Classroom: The Case for Either ‘Independent Directors’ or ‘Financial Literacy’, Sam Ferraro from Global Founders Funds Management discussed whether Founder-CEO firms exhibit low board independence and if that matters. This was followed by Simon Russell from Behavioural Finance Australia presenting a chapter from his book Behavioural Finance: A guide for financial advisers focusing on the overstated role of financial literacy.
During the conference dinner Professor Peter Bossaerts from University of Melbourne delivered the last keynote of the day. Peter spoke about the relevance of theoretical finance in a world of behavioural finance, emphasising that industry should hire people who know theory. After the keynote, several presenters received best paper awards.
Best Paper Award sponsored by RoZetta Institute
Antonio Gargano, Juan Sotes-Paladino and Patrick Verwijmeren received the Best Paper Award sponsored by RoZetta Institute (Formerly CMCRC-SIRCA), for their paper entitled Out of Sync: Disagreement among Short Sellers and the Correction of Mispricing.
Best Paper Award sponsored by Amery Partners
Oleg Chuprinin and Arseny Gorbenko received the Best Paper Award sponsored by Amery Partners Pty. Ltd. for their paper entitled Rationally Neglected Stocks.
Day 2
On the
second day there were parallel sessions where scholars presented their research
in one of the following streams:
To
Be or Not to Be in Cryptocurrencies Markets or in Markets with Divergence of
Opinion, Excess Price Volatility and Excessive Portfolio Turnover
Overconfidence,
Emotions, Moods and Sentiment in Financial Markets
Asymmetric
Information, Unobserved Heterogeneity and Market-wide Events
The keynote was
delivered by Professor Elena Asparouhova – The Francis A. Madsen Professor of
Finance at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. Her
talk focused on human-robot interaction in financial markets. Elena gave a
brief overview of social science experiments, starting with the Santa Fe
competition in 1990 to current experiments that examine if and how technology
exacerbates or ameliorates human errors in financial markets.
There was
also the chance for doctoral candidates to present their research topics.
Candidates came from Australian universities such as La Trobe University, Monash
University and University of New South Wales, but there were also candidates
from international universities such as the University of Utah and the
University of Auckland.
BFCM in the news
Several
news articles were published about research presented at the conference:
On
the 24th and 25th of October, La Trobe Business School hosted a successful
seventh CR3+ Conference. The theme this year was “Using
dialogue to build partnerships for sustainability” and explored how
partnerships can bring about sustainable solutions as we work together on
progressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More than 60 people from
more than 15 countries attended the conference. This blog summarises some of
its highlights.
Day 1
Prof Dennis McDermott, La Trobe University’s Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous), was the first keynote speaker of the conference. Dennis talked about authenticity, partnership and change, and how indigenous knowledge can assist partnership building for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The second keynote was delivered by
Jillian Reid from Mercer. Jillian discussed the climate scenario
analysis Mercer has developed, investing for positive impact and how the SDGs
are used as a framework for responsible investment.
The panel discussion on the first day focused
on multi-stakeholder partnerships for sustainability where we learned that
partnerships are complex and that dialogue, trust, respect and being open
minded are critical to advancing the partners’ individual objectives, and those
of the partnership.
The
day was wrapped up at Charcoal Lane – a Mission
Australia social enterprise restaurant that provides guidance and opportunity
to young Aboriginal people in need of a fresh start in life. The Executive Chef
of Charcoal Lane, Greg Hampton, gave an insightful talk about the social development
aspect of the restaurant, but also their menu and the origin of the food they
use.
Day 2
The second day of the CR3+ Conference
was off to a good start with a keynote from Dr Leeora Black from Deloitte (and also LBS
advisory board member) discussing the social aspects of sustainability, corporate
social responsibility and particularly Australia’s Modern Slavery Act.
The last speaker on the second day was Dr
Raghu Raman from Amrita University. Raghu introduced
the university’s Live-in-Labs® – a program that breaks classroom and lab
barriers by applying learned theory in real-world settings. It uses principles
of lean research for the development and deployment of sustainable solutions
for current challenges faced by rural communities in India.
After the conference
The day after the conference, the Australia New Zealand PRME Chapter meeting took place on the theme ‘Students as Partners’. The day was
about sharing
stories and learning from students about how universities can partner with them
more effectively to co-create curriculum and extracurricular activities that
advance knowledge about the SDGs. Eleven students from across Australia and New
Zealand were in attendance and had the opportunity to ask academics what they
are doing to advance Sustainable Development across the region.
Australia New Zealand PRME chapter meeting
Besides
the Australia
New Zealand PRME Chapter meeting,
there was also a PRME Champions group meeting with representatives of 40
business schools from all continents. The meeting was co-hosted by La Trobe
Business School and Deakin Business School.
This was the fourth and final meeting of the 2018-2019 Champions cycle,
with a key outcome of the meetings being the development of a Blueprint for SDG
integration across Business Schools in the areas of teaching, research and
partnerships. Once completed, the
blueprint will be available to the 700+ Business School signatories worldwide.
The week of PRME-related activities hosted by LBS demonstrate our continued commitment to be a Business School with purpose. This was showcased through the week’s focus on partnerships for sustainable development, highlighting the role of indigenous values and ‘ways of knowing’ in our approach to partnerships, and the wider academic community’s recognition of the student voice in our thinking about sustainability. Furthermore, through our international partnerships with the CR3+ network, PRME and the Champions Group, our staff and students had the opportunity to engage with a global network of academics who research and teach in sustainability, partnerships and CSR.
If you have any questions about the Business School’s involvement with the UN PRME or any of the events discussed in this blog, please contact Dr Swati Nagpal.
La Trobe Business School’s Centre for Public Sector Governance, Accountability and Performance (CPSGAP) invites you to attend the launch of the book titled “cost management for non-profit and voluntary organisations” written by Professor Zahirul Hoque, Director of CPSGAP and Dr Tarek Rana, formerly an LBS staff member and now Senior Lecturer in Accounting at RMIT University.
The book is one of the outcomes from a research conducted by the two authors that was funded by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) UK.
The research
Increasing competition for funding and government compliance requirements have put nonprofit organisations under pressure to be more cost-effective when undertaking development projects and delivering services to the community. Cost accounting and cost management tools are considered a means to provide adequate and quality information for management control for all sorts of organisations, including nonprofits.
The research examined the current costing and cost management practices in the Australian nonprofit sector and offers insight into how nonprofit and voluntary organisations can control and manage the costs of their operation and projects through contemporary costing and cost management tools.
The book
Routledge has published the research monograph. The book provides information on how adetailed and regularly updated cost information and reporting model can help nonprofit organisations managing their operations efficiently and effectively.
Motivated by a lack of evidence on how and whether Australian nonprofit organisations address current challenges through modern cost management tools, we attempted to write this book using our field study evidence on the sector’s cost accounting practices.
prof zahirul hoque
The book will particularly be of benefit to a range of stakeholders in the sector, including financial and management accountants, accounting professional bodies, government, policy makers, academics, consultants, and operational managers.
The authors
Professor Zahirul Hoque is
Professor of Management Accounting/Public Sector in the Department of
Accounting and Data Analytics and Director – CPSGAP, La Trobe Business
School, La Trobe University. He is a Fellow of CPA Australia (FCPA) and
Institute of Cost and Management Accountants (FCMA) of Bangladesh.
Dr Tarek Rana is
Senior Lecturer in Accounting at RMIT University. He is a Chartered
Management Accountant of CIMA (UK), Chartered Global Management
Accountant of AICPA, Chartered Accountant of CA ANZ, and Fellow of CPA
Australia. Dr Rana was the co-investigator to this project while at La
Trobe University.
Event details
Guest speaker: Catherine Willis Acting Assistant Commissioner General Counsel, Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission
With more than eight years professional experience and at least three years in a management position, MBA students use their knowledge and expertise gained through business education to work as management consultants for La Trobe University’s Industry Partners and their affiliated organisations, particularly in Melbourne’s North.
Experiential Learning Project
The subject that facilitates students to work as management consultants is called Experiential Learning Project (BUA5ELP). Students enrolled in 2019 have contributed to the economic development in Melbourne’s North by:
Creating a new model for recruiting and training vocational education and training (VET) teachers for the Northern College of Arts and technology (NCAT).
Recommending strategies to improve young women’s access to investment opportunities for the Women’s Investment Network Forum (WIN).
Creating new job opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities to work in the digital economy.
The Experiential Learning Project was a crucial experience in my MBA journey. It gave me the opportunity to practically experience the inner workings of a SME and help the organisation resolve an identified business blockage. The consulting project helped me practically utilize my learnings from the MBA into a real business scenario. The ELP was an incredible learning opportunity that helped me get industry ready post the MBA.
Mahima Chaudhary (International MBA Advanced Student)
MBA Study Tour with NORTH Link
NORTH Link is a regional partnership of industry, education and government and one of Victoria’s key economic development organisations. As part of its interest in food security and reinventing the industrial focus of Melbourne’s northern suburbs, NORTH Link is facilitating new export markets for agricultural products and food manufacturing.
Supported by the La Trobe International and prestigious Chongqing University, this study tour invited MBA students to accompany the NORTH Link delegation on this important business venture to China.
Six MBA students learnt first-hand how businesses in Melbourne’s North are working together to develop new commercial opportunities for the region. Students expanded their knowledge of international trade in the Chinese market and built professional networks.
The MBA Study Tour with NORTH Link provided an opportunity for me to experience China and international trade like no other. Incredibly grateful to have been part of the delegation, receiving in-depth learning of culture, business interactions and opportunities within Chongqing and Chengdu. The friendships and networks made were invaluable and enhanced my MBA experience exponentially.
Alana Pendrick (OnLine La Trobe MBA student)
The NORTH Link and La Trobe MBA Delegation at Chongqing University
What happens when an MBA student combines an Experiential Learning Project with an International Study Tour?
Bhrigu worked on a growth strategy and business plan for Juanita’s Kitchen, a food manufacturing business in Coburg. Then he seized the opportunity to take Juanita’s hot sauces and spices to the Sichuan province of China on an MBA-NORTH Link Business Study Tour.
Study Tour 2019 – China proved to be one of the best experience I have had during my MBA journey so far. It was one in the lifetime opportunity for me which helped me gain deep insights about China’s culture, history, city planning, local businesses and foreign trade by being a part of a prestige delegation from Melbourne’s North which included NORTH Link and prominent government officials. Moreover, it opened pathways for networking and helped me in making some precious business networks and friends. I would like to thank the MBA Director, Dr Geraldine Kennett for providing MBA students with this wonderful opportunity which significantly and undoubtedly added value to our degree.
In August, La Trobe University announced that it will become Victoria’s first zero-emissions University. The $75 million initiative combining 20 separate projects will ensure that LTU will have Net Zero emissions by 2029.
Net-zero
carbon emissions, or carbon-neutral emissions, are achieved by balancing the
amount of carbon released with an equal amount of carbon offset by producing
clean energy.
The La Trobe Energy Analytics Platform (LEAP) provides the technology pillar for the Net Zero initiative and is designed and implemented by researchers and students from LBS’ Centre for Data Analytics and Cognition (CDAC). The team will design and implement the platform which then monitors energy consumption in up to 50 smart buildings and makes lighting, heating and cooling adjustments in real time to reduce energy consumption.
The creation of a smart
building allows the building to ‘think’ for itself in
optimising its energy consumption. Formulating this Smart Building involves Artificial
Intelligence, Unsupervised Machine Learning, Data Analytics and Software
Development; this includes CDAC’s own brand of algorithms that have been
developed over the past decade. CDAC’s research work is internationally renown
and has also been used successfully in several industrial engagements ranging
from Health, Transport, Fire and Emergency Services, Sport and Energy. The
Centre also hosts a unique blend of research and expertise in its staff and
researchers which makes it the ideal candidate to develop such a platform and
espouses the concept of a Living Lab that La Trobe University champions.
LEAP Technical Architect (and LBS PhD candidate) Nishan Mills summarised the system as:
Buildings and spaces display distinctive behaviours in energy consumption. The LEAP platform will use available data streams to create digital twins for buildings and spaces in the University environment in order to capture this behavioural profile. This allows the platform to detect, analyse and suggest corrective measures to achieve the most efficient energy consumption across the university.
Another successful Vietnam Study Tour has taken place during the 2019 Winter Semester. Students explored and experienced Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi and Halong Bay.
The subject
The study tour is an optional elective and part of the
subject Tourism and Hospitality
International Study Program (THS3ISP). The objective of the study tour is to examine and observe
the cultural, social and environmental aspects as a tourist, the impacts of
government policy and the legacy of war.
The assessment tasks
include:
Case study
relating to war and ethics
Daily reflective
journal of personal experiences
Report evaluating
the differences between the hotel and restaurant standards of Australia and
Vietnam
Group
presentation based on photo journal on a given topic
The students
This year, nineteen students went on the Vietnam Study Tour, 13 females and 6 males, of which four international students. The students were accompanied by Paul Strickland, lecturer at LBS and program director – Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management, and Lisa Murphy from the LBS admin team.
The study tour
The study tour started with a tour through Ho Chi Minh City where students visited the Central Post Office and Opera House, both colonial-era architectural masterpieces, followed by the Reunification Palace, so-called for the building’s integral part in the reunification of the country after the war. Students also visited the Cu Chi Tunnels, who not only served as living questers during the Vietnam War but also as supply routes and hospitals for thousands guerrilla fighters. The trip was combined with a visit to the War Remnants Museum for a firsthand look at the Vietnam War through the eyes of Vietnamese people.
The Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City organised a lecture about Vietnamese culture, food, religion and the differences in study techniques. The Vietnamese students organised interactive games, hosted morning tea and gave a vocal performance followed by a cooking demonstration at Mandarin Restaurant. Before traveling to Hoi An, there was time to visit the site of Australia’s Nui Dat Task Force base, Nui Dat SAS Hill, the Long Tan Cross at the War Memorial, Australian War Graves, Long Tan battlefield and Vung Tau city – the arrival port for Australian troops. This may be the last time students gets to see the Nui Dat SAS Hill in its current form as it has started to be quarried.
Lecture at Vietnam National University
In Hoi An, a former trading port, is famous for its restored architecture, homemade silk, expert tailors and delicious noodles and seafood. Here the students visited Chua Ong Pagoda, built in 1653 in honour of the Chinese general Quan Cong who is worshiped as a symbol of loyalty and justice. Students also visited Phuc Kien Assembly Hall to see a temple dedicated to the goddess of the sea, the 200 years old Tan Ky house and took a boat trip along Thu Bon river to the Red Bridge Cooking School for a five-course cooking lesson. While in Hoi An, students also visited My Son, the former capital of the ancient Cham civilisation who ruled Vietnam from the 2nd until the 13th century and attended not-for-profit charity restaurants.
Red Bridge Cooking School in Hoi An
From Hoi An, the students travelled to Hue – the Imperial
City of the former Emperor. They enjoyed a tour of the city and boat trip on
the Perfume River to the Thien Mu Pagoda. After visiting Hue the tour continued
to Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital city. Students visited the Temple of Literature,
built in homage to the Chinese scholar Confucius, Hoa Lo prison and the Old
Quarter’s 36 streets.
Towards the end of their two-week study trip, students went on a boat cruise through UNESCO World Heritage Halong Bay. The cruise included a visit to the Tien Ong Cave, which covers an area of 1000 m2, a cooking demonstration, squid fishing and a visit to Cua Van floating fishing village. The study tour ended when students returned to Hanoi with a visit to the Ho Chi Minh Complex where they heard about the man who led Vietnam’s campaign for independence from French colonial rule.
Kayaking at Halong Bay
Student feedback
We asked two students for feedback about the trip and both had an amazing time.
I absolutely loved everything about this trip! The culture, the food, the consequences of war and the diverse tourism products and services available.
My daily reflection and photo journal will be a treasured memory for years to come. I knew no-one in the beginning and made lots of friends. I would definitely recommend this study tour to anyone.
I learnt so much during this once in a lifetime experience!
The study tour was extremely interactive. Everything we did, one of us [a student] was involved in everything, if not all of us. I loved seeing the diverse countryside, the cities, the jungle, the fields and of course the beach and water.
The sustainable development goals can only be realized with strong global partnerships and cooperation. The final sustainable development goal in our SDG Series is about just that: “Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development” (SDG compass, 2015).
The focus of SDG 17
SDG
17 seeks to strengthen global partnerships to support and achieve the ambitious
targets of the 2030 Agenda, bringing together national governments, the
international community, civil society, the private sector and other actors (SDG Knowledge Platform, 2019). SDG 17 reflects a holistic approach
to the means of implementation for the 2030 Agenda, including 19 targets that
span finance, technology, capacity-building, trade and systemic issues. In
addition, the means of implementation are integrated across the other Goals through
dedicated targets, underlining their cross-cutting nature (UN High Level Political Forum on the
SDGs, 2018).
Partnerships and PRME Week at La Trobe Business School
As
we work towards building a more sustainable world we cannot work in isolation.
Partnerships are necessary to ensure long term success. However, the
partnership model may be problematic, with issues arising such as co-option and
abuse of power. Differences between actors can also lengthen the journey and
make the measure of success difficult to determine. Hence, LBS has drawn on its
various networks to turn the spotlight on partnerships and SDG 17 over a week of
UN PRME-related activities this month.
Working
in conjunction with PRME champions, The La Trobe Business School is hosting a
two-day conference on the topic ‘Using dialogue to build partnerships for
sustainability’ from the 24th to 25th October
2019. The conference explores how partnerships can bring about sustainable
solutions as we work together on progressing the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDG).
Australia/New Zealand PRME Chapter Meeting – 26 October
The
day after the conference, fifteen regional PRME Chapters are coming together to
help advance the Six Principles (i.e. purpose, values, method, research,
partnership and dialogue [link]) within a particular geographic context, rooting PRME in
different national, regional, cultural, and linguistic landscapes. They
function as platforms for localized engagement from higher education
institutions, and in cooperation with Global Compact Local Networks, and can
develop projects and initiatives that support the Sustainable Development Goals
regionally (UN PRME, 2019).
The
theme of this year’s chapter meeting is ‘Students as Partners’. In addition
to representatives from Australian and New Zealand business schools, 11
students will be attending the meeting this year. These students are having
input into the program for the day and will be actively involved in the
discussions on the day.
4th PRME Champions Meeting for the 2018/2019 Cycle
After
meeting with the regional PRME Chapters, there is a PRME Champions Meeting. The PRME
Champions group is made up of 40 business schools from all continents, with the
aim of developing a blueprint for embedding the PRME principles and Sustainable Development Goals across three key areas – research,
teaching and partnerships. The meeting in Melbourne is the culmination of the
2-year PRME Champions Cycle, with a focus on partnerships for sustainable
development. Once completed in 2020, the blueprint will then be shared
across the 750+ PRME business schools across the world.
A
key output from the meeting will be the development of the partnership element
of the blueprint, highlighting best practice, the role of multiple voices
(Indigenous approaches to partnerships is a key sub-theme of the meeting) and
some of the challenges facing multi-sector partnerships.
SDG Videos
Because the last SDG is about partnerships, there is not one, but there are three videos from different CR3+ partners. In each video, Associate Professor Martin Fougere from Hanken School of Economics introduces particular SDG 17 targets and the CR3+ partner(s) that illustrate how their university is working on these targets.
The targets that are being discussed in the videos are:
17.6
– Knowledge sharing and cooperation for access to science, technology and
innovation
17.9
– Enhance SDG capacity in developing countries
17.16
– Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development
17.17
– Encourage effective partnerships
The
first video shows Patricia Guérin from Audencia Business School. Patricia discusses
how the university’s partnership with the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Planète Urgence and particularly its “solidarity leave”
volunteering scheme works towards targets 17.9 and 17.17.
The
second video looks into targets 17.16 and 17.17 and shows representatives from both
La Trobe Business School and Hanken School of Economics. Professor Suzanne Young and Dr Swati Nagpal
discuss LBS workshops that are being organised for capacity building in
connection with different SDGs. Associate Professor Pia Polsa from Hanken
School of Economics talks about the CORE project the university is part of. The
project is funded by Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland, and
studies and develops collaborative action in environmental planning and
decision-making.
The
third video shows Professor Cleverson Andreoli from ISAE Brazilian Business
School and focuses on targets 17.6 and 17.7. Cleverson talks about the National
Institute of Science and technology for Sustainable Sewage Treatment Plants
(INCT), a cooperative network that focuses on issues related to sanitation in
Brasil, and the research that ISAE and other Brazilian universities conduct in
this area.
If
you would like access to the full videos to use in your teaching, please
contact Dr Swati Nagpal.
