University Partner
John Molony
Pro Vice-Chancellor and Vice President (International)
John Molony is the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Vice President (International) at Deakin University that has been a Navitas university partner since 1997 when together they opened Deakin College. Deakin College offers a direct path to Deakin University and delivers a positive and nurturing student experience that supports the transition to second year bachelor studies at the university.
In his role as Pro Vice-Chancellor and Vice President (International), Mr Molony leads on strategy and operations across the university’s broad internationalisation agenda. He has expertise in international relations and programmes, teaching and research collaboration, and the student experience, and maintains an extensive network of senior contacts across Europe, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East.
“We have a wonderful relationship with our Navitas college, Deakin College. The college is such an important part of the fabric of the university, particularly our internationalisation, but not only, also many domestic students come through the pathway college as well.”
Transcript
My name is John Molony and I’m the Vice President International at Deakin University.
So my whole working life has been in international education and had the pleasure to work with Navitas for almost all of its 30 year history. We have a wonderful relationship with our Navitas College, Deakin College. The college is such an important part of the fabric of the university, particularly our internationalisation, but not only, also many domestic students come through the pathway college as well.
It’s a relationship of great strength and great longevity. It’s a relationship that both parties are fully committed to, put a lot of effort into the relationship – but it’s really the prime value of both organisations are fully aligned around the student experience, and the commitment to students.
In my portfolio, International, we have a deep appreciation of the journey of those international students. Not only are they starting at university, or starting their higher education program, but they’re travelling across countries, across time zones and across languages. It’s a really big deal. It’s a major time in any young person’s life, so that’s a big commitment.
The relationship with Navitas is set in the context of the internationalisation of Australian higher education over the last 30 years, and so that’s evolved and changed enormously in that period. It’s in constant evolution actually, but a lot of it is around the way we organise ourselves and the way the two parties commit to that. So it’s about constant open communication, it’s about excellence in governance, it’s about paying attention to the details, and it’s about keeping very close to our students and making sure that journey through Deakin College into the university is seamless – and it is.
But as I say, what really binds the two organisations, Navitas and Deakin University most tightly, is that commitment to the student. It’s a solid relationship.