News

A Multi-Faceted Partnership

Teachers Mutual Bank Limited (TMBL) and ACU have a far-reaching partnership, supporting ACU Research, Student Scholarships and curriculum-based projects, in a multi-faceted partnership between a Bank and a Catholic University. It might seem a bit unusual, but we have a lot in common. With alignment of mission and staff committed to the common good, in education and ethical business, it’s no wonder that our students are benefiting from this win-win partnership in many different ways.

In 2023 TMBL has once again generously provided three student scholarships. Each scholarship targets a different student cohort; in business, nursing and teaching, with one at undergraduate level and two at postgraduate level. All three scholarships are to the value of $5,000.

Additionally, TMBL has provided valuable Industry Based Learning projects for HR Management students in the School of Business in 2022 and will do so again in 2023. These provide students with authentic industry based assessment and an opportunity to work with real organisations in order to prepare students to be future job ready. The focus has been on organisational change management with specific projects in Leadership Capability, Positive Organisational Culture, Automation, AI and digital technologies and Talent Acquisition.

“It’s a pleasure to work with TMBL as an organisation, because they are so generous with their time and are committed to supporting ACU’s students in developing future employability and project management skills”, says ACU’s Maxine Bradshaw, Lecturer and International & Strategic Partnerships Manager in the Faculty of Law & Business.

Head of Organisational Development at Teachers Mutual Bank Limited, Danielle Albany shared, “Partnering with ACU to provide Industry Based Learning projects was a great experience. Providing students with practical ways to apply their course learnings demonstrated ACU’s commitment to the future employability of their students. After providing the scope of the projects, it was wonderful to watch the students work together to present some valuable suggestions to current business challenges, with students demonstrating a real openness to feedback throughout the entire process. I am looking forward to working with ACU in 2023.”

This year TMBL are developing an IT Internship with ACU’s new IT Discipline lead, Dr Walayat Hussain, which will provide a Professional Experience opportunity for IT students from the North Sydney campus.

Finally, TMBL are currently investigated how they can support a research project with ACU’s Nursing Research Institute under the leadership of Professor Sandy Middleton. The Nursing Research Institute is focused on implementing evidence-based care to improve patient outcomes and health systems. The Institute is a collaboration between ACU and St Vincent’s Health Australia in Sydney.

Professor Myriam Amielh, ACU Dean, Industry & Innovation notes “There are so many ways to partner with a university, and a successful partnership such as ACU’s with TMBL will provide a number of win-win opportunities with no limit to the innovative avenues available.”

In January 2022, Teachers Mutual Bank Limited achieved B Corp Certification. Being a B Corp organisation recognises global leaders using business as a force for good. B Corps meet high standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. 

To contact ACU about providing an Enterprise Scholarship or discussing ways of working with us, email Industry@acu.edu.au

To read about the TMBL Scholarships follow these links:

Health Professional Bank Scholarship

Teachers Mutual Bank Scholarship

UniBank Scholarship