Leadership Foundations

You don't need an official title (e.g. president/manager) to be a leader. Anyone can be a leader, and anyone can practice leadership skills. We believe that this program should be part of every student’s development journey as it reflects the UNSW Graduate Capabilities of becoming a globally focused graduate capable of leadership and professional practice in an international community.

We welcome any UNSW student who is interested in discovering their leadership identity and developing their interpersonal and professional skills.

A key strength of Leadership Foundations is the diversity of perspectives, experience and knowledge within the learning community. We encourage students from all faculties and levels of study to apply to the program. If you are a student with a disability and you have access needs, we will work with you so you are able to fully participate in the program.

You will join a learning community of like-minded students to progress through six blended learning modules. This will take approx. 20 hours in total to complete.  

Each module comprises one online learning experience on Moodle, involving personal reflection tasks, readings and/or videos. Followed by a workshop encompassing group-based practice activities and discussions.

Accompanying the learning modules are development tasks which need to be satisfactorily completed in order to successfully finish the program.

In Leadership Foundations, you will:

• Create your own leadership development plan and explore what leadership means to your identity.
• Formulate a purpose statement by reflecting on your personal values, strengths, and life experiences.
• Co-create team agreements to encourage constructive relationships in team environments by considering factors such as psychological safety, effective communication, and conflict management.
• Develop a team culture action plan by applying the principles of social awareness, diversity, and inclusion.
• Construct a wellbeing and resilience action plan to expand personal capacity when encountering challenges.
• Demonstrate the leadership development attributes of courage, growth mindset, curiosity, empathy, active listening and self-reflection.

Leadership Foundations is run multiple times a year, as a term program or intensive program. The term program runs online during the first six weeks of each term, with minimal interruption to normal coursework. The intensive program runs in-person for 1-week, during the break between terms.

Term 1 2024 program dates:

• Welcome Workshop: T1 week 1, Friday 16 February at 10am-12:30pm
  
• Workshop 2: T1 week 2, Friday 23 February at 10am-12:30pm
• Workshop 3: T1 week 3, Friday 1 March at 10am-12:30pm  
• Workshop 4: T1 week 4, Friday 8 March at 10am-12:30pm  
• Workshop 5: T1 week 5, Friday 15 March at 10am-12:30pm.   
• Closing Workshop: T1 week 6, Friday 22 March at 10am-12:30pm.

Note: all workshops are held online via Zoom, except the Closing Workshop which is hybrid.    

The next iteration will be the T1 2024 Intensive program, workshops are in-person at Kensington campus from Friday 10 May until Friday 17 May. Applications will open early in 2024. 

Term 1 2024 applications close at 11:59pm on Wednesday 7 February 2024.

Upon satisfactorily meeting the program participation and development task requires, you will be awarded AHEGS recognition, a program completion certificate, advertisement to post on your LinkedIn profile, and access to the Leadership Foundations LinkedIn Group to continue your professional and personal development.