UNSW Sydney has formally launched its new workplace learning offer, Mentem by UNSW, offering contextualised education programs to industry and government organisations to help them meet current and future skills shortages.

Mentem by UNSW assesses an organisation’s needs and provides learning programs, training and coaching which incorporate formal education from UNSW expertise to reskill businesses for the long-term.

Labour shortages are expected to be a key focus of the Federal Government’s upcoming Jobs and Skills Summit, with Australia’s unemployment rate at a very low 3.5% and many industries struggling to find staff.

UNSW vice-chancellor and president, Professor Attila Brungs, says Mentem has been established at a critical juncture: “Universities play a key role in making sure our workforce has the skills it needs. Providing businesses with the tools they need to expand and grow is an important part of Australia’s skills planning architecture.

“UNSW’s world-leading research capability gives us deep expertise in the current and future impact of shifts in various industries. By combining this level of academic rigour to a business environment at scale, we can ensure Australia has a workforce capable of meeting the needs of the sectors critical to our nation’s productivity and prosperity.”

UNSW Business School dean and professor, Chris Styles, says UNSW’s 73-year history of world-leading education experience makes Mentem uniquely placed to deliver skills across a large spectrum of disciplines.

“The Government recently signalled its bid to have Australia predominantly powered by renewable energy. To do this, we must rapidly scale up our renewable energy workforce. UNSW is home to one of the leading solar and renewable energy research schools in the world,” he says.

“Being able to tap into and repackage UNSW’s vast amounts of higher education content into upskilling and reskill products that organisations can deploy in a way that is contextualised and relevant, allows us to offer a multidisciplinary approach.”

Since its establishment in 2021, Mentem has developed and delivered digital literacy, data analytics and business process modelling programs across Government, the not-for-profit and the finance sector.