Karen McRae
08 May 2025

Evolving Practices for Student Success – Driving Success Through Evidence and Impact

With ongoing rapid and profound shifts in higher education, the practices that support learning, engagement, and success are being reimagined. The 2025 Learning & Teaching Conference (UPA) will bring together academic and professional staff to explore how we are evolving learning and teaching to drive student success, through inclusive, research-informed, and impact-focused practices.

Taking place online on September 4, this year’s Learning & Teaching Conference (UPA) theme is Evolving Practices for Student Success – Driving Success Through Evidence and Impact. This event offers academic and professional staff across University Partnership Australasia colleges opportunities to:

  • Share and explore evidence-based teaching strategies and innovations
  • Engage in critical conversations about what works, and why
  • Connect and collaborate with colleagues across colleges and disciplines
  • Showcase practices that strengthen engagement, learning outcomes, and student support

Addressing current topics in higher education, Learning & Teaching Conference streams will include:

  1. AI, ethics, and academic integrity in a digital age
    Investigating the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence in higher education, with a focus on ethical use, academic integrity, and responsible innovation.
  2. Enhancing the student experience: engagement, belonging, and wellbeing
    Addressing holistic student success through strategies that support inclusion, mental health, co-curricular learning, and student-centred design.
  3. Transforming learning through educational technology
    Showcasing impactful uses of digital tools, platforms, and analytics to personalise learning, improve outcomes, and enrich the student experience.
  4. Reimagining curriculum and assessment for equity and impact
    Exploring inclusive and authentic approaches to curriculum and assessment that promote equity, foster deep learning, and demonstrate measurable outcomes.
  5. Evidencing impact: Advancing the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
    Sharing research-informed practices and critical reflections that demonstrate how SoTL can inform continuous improvement in teaching and learning.
  6. Embedding sustainability, global citizenship, and social responsibility
    Integrating Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), the UN SDGs, and the Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) into curriculum to prepare students as ethical, future-ready graduates.

Call for Participation

EOIs are now open! We invite submissions from Navitas UPA staff that demonstrate best practice, are evidence-based, and showcase how their work is contributing to student success in meaningful, measurable, and inclusive ways. A Call for Submissions (Guidelines and Form) will be available via the UPA Teachers’ Lounge and L&T Services page on SharePoint (for Navitas staff only).

Upcoming Milestones

Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more information. In the meantime, mark your calendars with the following reminders:

8th May 2025: Open call for presentations

June 2025: Abstract Writing Workshop (exact date and time TBC)

27th June 2025: Abstract submission deadline

July 2025: Release of Conference Program outline; Registrations Open

A Learning and Teaching Conference Committee comprising representatives from SAIBT, ECC, SIBT, Waikato College, and Learning & Teaching Services (UPA) will be working on the next steps. For any enquiries, please contact Learning and Teaching Services (UPA) at: learningandteaching@navitas.com. Follow us on LinkedIn and join the UPA Teachers’ Lounge (for Navitas staff only) for more updates.