John Dimitropoulos:
Liberty normally hosts different people from the industry, predominantly banking and finance but also technology. But today I am stoked by having someone from University of Technology Sydney, which I also studied at and it’s a university that I admire and I respect greatly.
Link to video on the Liberty ITCG YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/jiot-cgcSrM
Michael Blumenstein is with us today and Michael currently is the Deputy Dean of UTS for Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Engineering and IT. Michael previously held positions of Associate Dean at UTS, also Head of School of Software, which is now Computer Science.
Also, before that Michael worked at Griffith University in Queensland as a Dean for Research in the Sciences Division and he was also the Head of School of ICT.
Michael also currently serves as a Board Member of the Internet of Things Alliance Australia and he also previously served as Vice President (Academic) for the Australian Computer Society.
He has also served as a Member of the NSW Council of the Australian Information Industry Association.
He has been the Chair of Queensland Branch of the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Computational Intelligence Society,
He has been the Chairman of the IT Forum in the Gold Coast and a former Board Member of IT Queensland.
He has served on the Australian Research Council’s College of Experts on Engineering, Mathematics and Informatics Panel and in addition to that Michael has served as an Executive of the Australian Council of Deans of Information and Communication Technology.
What a privilege it is to have Michael here with us today.
So, Michael, as an educator in 2023, post -pandemic, what would you say to high school grads and others who wish to pursue a tertiary education about what’s so great about UTS? Why should they study at UTS?
Michael Blumenstein
Well, I think it’s a great question, John. I think the technology sector, the industry is so promising. At the moment, we’ve got such a skill shortage in the sector, and you would know this as a person, as a leader in the sector.
And I think, you know, the kids of today, particularly coming from high school, we do a lot of outreach as UTS into the high schools. So, you know, my advice to any high school graduate or anyone who’s thinking of studying some people coming back into the university sector is absolutely do it because technology and all the sort of jobs that are available now and the areas of exciting interest at the moment in AI and cyber security, but generally also the application industries, using AI for X or using computer science to solve problems for the world can be anything.
It can be sustainability, it can be banking, it can be something that is world changing. So and the difference really that a university like UTS provides is it’s a university of technology. So our engineering IT faculty is the largest and probably the most popular faculty for studying in and mainly because people know that when they get into. Firstly they know the brand, UTS, it’s known for its practice oriented style of education, its innovative style of involving industry and collaborating with industry.
But the reality is that they also know that at the end it’s an opportunity for them to go through a pathway to get a great career. It’s not just getting a job because I don’t really believe in this concept of just be job ready for the sake of your next job.
It’s actually looking at a career in the industry. I speak to so many grads and so many people in the industry that have had this marvellous opportunity. They’ve gone from multinationals to Australian IT companies to SMEs or startups and they’ve had this opportunity to look at the ecosystem and the opportunities are significant there.
A lot of our grads actually want to about 68% I think now want to actually start their own business which is quite different from even four or five years ago. When the survey was done at that time we were talking about 35 to 40%. They see the great things that are happening there in the sector. They see the great opportunities. But they want to study in a place that actually brings to them the opportunities of learning what the industry wants.
So that’s what UTS brings. It brings degrees which are top of the line in terms of industry -informed curriculum that’s designed with the industry -in -mind or with industry input. And the actual things that they study in the degree, things such as studio subjects where they get to work on projects together in teams, demonstrating teamwork, having industry input in that actually to set problems and then solving those problems for industry, these are things that they’ll have to do in industry.
So what better way to study than to do it hand in glove with industry itself.
And of course we’ve got so many partnerships with industry as well, you know, with different companies that help us to try and either provide scholarships or provide internships or provide other pathways.
So yeah, I think two things there I think to summarise is that future is bright for anyone wanting to study in the tech sector in Australia, but also it’s a global career, so you can do it anywhere. Number two, you know, the place to study should be one that gives you those opportunities, connectivity with industry, practical hands -on education and that’s what UTS brings.
