Knowledge Transfer
"We aim to develop close and mutually beneficial relationships with business, government, the not-for-profit sector and the professions, both nationally and internationally. These relationships underpin our position as a leading Economics and Commerce Faculty in the region and one of the best in the world"
Professor Margaret Abernethy, Dean, Faculty of Economics and Commerce
- About Knowledge Transfer
- Contacts
- Read Insights our business and economics journal online
- June 2008 - Knowledge Transfer Flyer 356KB
- January 2008 - Knowledge Transfer Flyer pdf 492KB
- September 2007 - Knowledge Transfer Flyer pdf 267KB
- June 2007 - Knowledge Transfer Flyer pdf 186.7KB
Recent examples of Knowledge Transfer in the Faculty of Economics and Commerce.
- Good corporate governance helps minismise risk of fraud
- VPS Capacity Building Initiative – Economic Design andExperimental Economics
- Melbourne Centre for Financial Studies
- Meeting the management education needs of PETRONAS
- Students working with business in Management Practicum
- Melbourne Institute of Applied Economics and Social Research
- New Knowledge Transfer Publication
- Career Mentor Program
About Knowledge Transfer
Knowledge Transfer recognises the two-way flow and uptake of ideas between the University of Melbourne and the broader community.
Every time the University’s staff and students work with government, business or the community to mutually share the benefits of research, teaching and learning,they are engaging in knowledge transfer. This strand recognises the full range of benefits which a world-renowned University generates when it works in partnership with business, government and community to address issues of local, national and global significance. The University of Melbourne’s Knowledge Transfer is underpinned by three principles:
- That they generate intellectual capital in ways that mutually benefit the University and the external partners with which it engages.
- They are linked within the University’s teaching and research activities.
- That Knowledge Transfer activities are characterised by their responsiveness and relevance to international, social, economic, environmental and cultural issues.
More Information on University Knowledge Transfer Activities
Contacts
If you would like further informationabout the Faculty of Economics and Commerce Knowledge Transfer activities or how to get involved, please do not hesitate to contact:
Brooke Young
Director, Graduate School
Telephone: 8344 2166
Email: gsdir-ecom@ unimelb.edu.au
Good corporate governance helps minimise risk of fraud
The March 2007 edition of CFO magazine featured results from a published study by Professor Colin Ferguson of the Department of Accounting and Business Information Systems. Professor Ferguson's research showed a clear empirical link between corporate governance and fraud.
The research, which was based on survey data compiled by KPMG Forensic's 2006 Fraud Survey of Australia and New Zealand, helps companies to identify risks and minimise these through good governance, changing attitudes, and creating an atmosphere of transparency and ethical conduct within a company.
The research was an outcome of an extensive partnership network, primarily with KPMG but also with organisations including the University of Queensland, Victorian Police, CPA, Deloitte, KPMG, and University of Michigan. The network demonstrates an ability for a number of organisations with diverse interests to come together to work toward a common goal.
VPS Capacity Building Initiative – Economic Design and Experimental Economics
The University of Melbourne and the Victorian Government recently signed a $1 million capacity building agreement in Economic Design and Experimental Economics.
The first stage in the agreement is the commissioning of a state of the art experimental laboratory. Further stages will involve the appointment of visiting scholars, delivery of training modules for the Victorian Public Service and partnership in the design of innovative policy instruments.
Substantial collaboration in the areas of environmental and transport policy are already occurring under this initiative. This Knowledge Transfer partnership will enhance research capacity at the University and policy development capacity in the Victorian Public Service.
Melbourne Centre for Financial Studies
The Department of Finance is a key contributor to the Melbourne Centre for Financial Studies. The Centre delivers conferences/symposia, workshops, thought leadership pieces, academic internships, commissioned research, executive briefing series and consulting projects.
Successful events in the past year include the Future Fund Symposium; the Distinguished Lecture by Mervyn King (Governor of the Bank of England); Carbon Trading Energy Forum; the annual Melbourne Money and Finance Conference; Governance in Financial Institutions Symposium; Hedge Funds Forum; and hosted visitors who gave targeted lectures/speeches to various industry audiences.
Through Professor Kevin Davis and his team, the Department of Finance has strengthened its relationships with members of the finance and corporate industry in Melbourne and beyond, enhancing research and enriching teaching endeavours. Other departments in the Faculty have also benefited from the Centre’s activities.
Meeting the management education needs of PETRONAS
Members of the Department of Management and Marketing play a key role in designing and delivering customised management education to staff at PETRONAS, Malaysia’s leading oil and gas multinational. The PETRONAS program was developed by some of the best teachers in the Department and is delivered through the School of Enterprise with support from the Faculty of Economics and Commerce.
The program allows for research based teaching to be implemented in real time and integrates PETRONAS’ Best Practices, resulting in a dynamic educational product. The program provides an opportunity for departmental staff to develop insight into the needs of large global companies and to understand better how business is done in an Asian company with staff in 35 countries.
By design, the project provides an active avenue for Knowledge Transfer to occur both ways, in particular in the areas of changing culture in companies, managing people and most importantly in knowledge management, one of the key business differentiators identified in successful companies.
Students working with business in Management Practicum
The success of the Department of Management and Marketing Management Practicum has led to its expansion in 2007.
The Management Practicum offers high achieving students the opportunity to apply their university learning in a real business environment, engaging with a business challenge of genuine strategic importance to a host organisation.
In each instance, a student team works on a host-specified project to produce a professional-standard report analysing the business challenge and proposing courses of action for the organisation’s consideration.
Students have worked with major companies like BHP Billiton and the Coles Group, Telstra, Australia Post, Victorian government departments like the Departments of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development, Treasury and Finance as well as smaller manufacturers and financial services companies.
Melbourne Institute of Applied Economics and Social Research
The Melbourne Institute is home of Australia’s major household longitudinal survey of Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA). The HILDA survey is led by the Deputy Director of the Melbourne Institute, Professor Mark Wooden, under a contract with the Commonwealth Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.
HILDA provides a rich source of information that has been used by government partners for policy development in the areas of childcare, workforce participation, retirement and family functioning. HILDA data also benefits policy development in other government agencies such as the Department of Employment andWorkplace Relations, the Treasury, the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Productivity Commission.
The HILDA survey is a good example of a partnership that generates intellectual capital, impacts on the society as awhole and has relevance to a wide international and Australian audience.
New Knowledge Transfer Publication
Insights, a new public interest journal produced by the Faculty of Economics and Commerce, publishes condensed and edited versions of public lectures held at conferences and seminars connected with the Faculty. These are valuable and accessible contributions to current debates and issues and they offer the latest thinking on business and economics.
Insights providesbusiness and community leaders, alumni, students and researchers with easy access to contemporary material, keeping professionals up to date with new findings and key ideas relevant to their profession.
Insights is available online at http://insights.unimelb.edu.au. The first edition features articles on China’s fast growing economy, the IR debate and low paid workers and the value of accounting measures in predicting future profits.
Career Mentor Program
The Faculty’s Career Mentoring Program matches postgraduates with high profile industry mentors. Participating students are linked with mentors based on theirs hared interests and area of specialty.
The objective of career mentoring is to support student’s transition out of university into the workforce and to involve members of industry in a mutually beneficial partnership.
Successful mentor-mentee relationships enable students to gain insights into specific industries and begin to develop personal and professional networks.
Industry participants in the mentoring programs report that they in turn also benefit from the experience. Jacqueline Novak, a mentor from IBM Business Consulting Services said “It forces you to think about what you do from a different angle, sometimes we get so involved in what we do that it’s great to have someone see it from a different angle and ask you some challenging questions.”
Mentors came to the ten-month program from large, medium and small organisations including Business Council of Australia, Office of the Premier of Victoria, Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development, Department of Treasury and Finance, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, JP MorganChase Bank Berhad, St George Bank, NAB, AAMI, Cadbury Schweppes, Protiviti, The Nous Group, Ernst andYoung, IBM, Synergy Plus, Siemens, Pitcher Partners, and Cubit Media Research.
Further information is available from the Graduate Careers Centre Career Mentoring page.