ICMS Symposium 2026: Putting Students at the Centre of industry connected learning

How do institutions prepare graduates for a future that keeps changing? That question sat at the heart of the ICMS Symposium 2026. 

Themed Thriving Students at the Centre: Industry-Connected Learning that Builds Belonging, Agency, and Capability, the symposium brought educators, students, industry leaders and researchers together to reflect on progress and explore what the sector needs to focus on next. 

Professor Heidi Le Sueur, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) at ICMS, framed the challenge directly.  

“We need to prepare our students for a lifetime of careers and no longer for a career of a lifetime,” she said.  

In a world of ongoing technological disruption and economic uncertainty, a qualification alone is no longer enough.  

Graduates need to be both work-ready and world-ready: capable of adapting, exercising ethical judgement, and creating lasting value for the organisations and communities they join. 

“This symposium is not simply an occasion to report on scholarship,” she added. “It is an expression of what scholarship is for.” 

Ideas that matter beyond the campus

The themes that ran through the day were practical and urgent. Belonging, it turns out, is not the same as engagement.  

Opening keynote speaker Professor Abby Cathcart, Executive Director of Student and Academic Success at Queensland University of Technology, pointed to evidence that while student engagement has broadly recovered since the pandemic, genuine belonging has not.  

That gap has real consequences for how students learn, persist and perform in professional settings. 

AI was another thread woven through the discussions, approached with nuance rather than enthusiasm or alarm.  

The strongest argument to emerge was not about what AI can do, but about what it should do: handle the administrative and diagnostic load so educators can focus on the relational, human work of teaching.  

Dr David Hason Rudd, subject matter expert at ICMS and Dennis Singh, CEO of Altamir, explored how governance frameworks can keep that balance ethical and human-centred.  

That came alongside a pointed challenge from Natalia Tapia, CEO of Gradstack, around AI literacy: self-reported skills are not a reliable measure of graduate capability, and institutions need better, more verifiable ways to understand what students actually know and can do. 

The question of genuine industry connection also shaped much of the conversation, explored through the afternoon keynote by Future of Work expert Lindsey Leigh Pearson.  

The consensus was that authentic learning experiences, where students apply knowledge in real contexts, work alongside industry partners and take an active role in shaping their own education, produce something different from a standard degree.  

They produce graduates who can move confidently between study and work. 

Students as contributors, not just recipients

One of the clearest demonstrations of ICMS’s approach came from a student.  

Master of Event Management student Si Tu Anh Truong, known as Gin, presented her own research on how orientation experiences shape international students’ sense of belonging, while also coordinating the event’s logistics on the day.  

Her dual role was a practical expression of what the symposium was arguing for: students as active contributors to knowledge and practice, not passive recipients of it. 

Recognising scholarship and mentorship

The day also marked the launch of ICMS’s inaugural WIL Mentor Awards, recognising staff whose mentoring in Work Integrated Learning makes a measurable difference to students.  

Dr Hadi Rezaei Vandchali received the Outstanding WIL Mentor Award, with a commendation going to Associate Professor Ilja Nastjuk. 

Scholarship Excellence Awards were presented to Katrina Denoux for her contribution to sustainable regional tourism and to Darren Coughlan for his thought leadership in sport policy.  

Coughlan also received a Scholarly Practice Grant to present research at the European Association for Sport Management Conference in Thessaloniki, Greece. 

What the day reflected

The ICMS Symposium 2026 reflected something important about how the institution sees its role.  

Scholarship at ICMS is not separate from teaching. It is what keeps teaching honest, current and accountable to the students it serves. 

The conversations that filled the Great Hall on 28 August were not abstract. 

They were focused on what educators, industry partners and institutions can actually do differently, and what students deserve as a result. 

The ICMS Symposium 2026 was held at the ICMS Northern Beaches Campus. The event was organised by Sophia Hofer, Executive Officer (Learning and Teaching), and Associate Professor Betul Sekendiz, Associate Dean (Scholarship) alongside the abstract review panel and a team of academic and professional staff.