President's Newsletter: October 2026
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Build your Knowledge, Build your Network |
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Dear Colleagues,
I hope everyone is well and, if you are like me, you are looking forward to moving beyond the cooler months into Spring and Summer. Across our institutions, activity continues to ramp up as students approach the end of their academic year and our groups complete 2026 activities and look towards 2027. The TEFMA Board and Committees continue to progress the 2025–28 Strategic Plan action items and I sincerely thank all Board and Committee members who generously give their time to advance TEFMA’s activities alongside their institutional responsibilities.
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TEFMA 26 Conference
On behalf of the TEFMA Board, I would like to extend our appreciation to all those that were able to attend our annual TEFMA 2026 Conference in Melbourne in September. We reached a record milestone with over 660 delegates attending, a fantastic outcome reflecting the value our annual conference provides to our members. We welcomed our colleagues from the USA (APPA), UK (AUDE) and Southern Africa (HEFMA) to provide an insight into how institutions are managed in those locations – invariably, we are all facing similar issues and challenges. We also released the TEFMA Benchmark Insights publication at the conference, which is now available to members in the TEFMA Community Portal. Deeper insights will be provided at the 27 November 2026 webinar.
The feedback on the Conference has been extremely positive, building on our prior Conference successes. I wish to warmly thank the Conference Organising Committee, our keynote speakers and session presenters, our conference organiser – TAS Events - our exhibitors and sponsors, and all delegates. Thank you also to the Melbourne institutions, venues and workplaces who hosted several site tours across the Conference days.
We are reviewing all feedback received following the Conference to ensure learnings inform the success of future TEFMA events. The Education Services Committee has already started planning the 2027 workshops (see below) and the TEFMA Conference in Adelaide 12-15 September 2027 at the Adelaide Convention Centre – you may want to put a placeholder in your calendar! |
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Changing our governance structure
As mentioned in my last Newsletter, TEFMA was proposing to transition from an Incorporated Association to a Company Limited by Guarantee. I am pleased to announce that the Special General Meeting held on 12/13 October 2026, endorsed the proposal, with unanimous support from all Institutional members who voted. The Executive will now progress several administrative actions to assist the transition, and we will continue to provide further updates as the process progresses.
UNE Partnerships Diploma of Facilities Management
TEFMA has been working with UNE Partnerships to promote the Diploma of Facilities Management. UNE Partnerships are currently offering a 10% discount on the course enrolments which may appeal to TEFMA members. Further information on the course can be found here. 2026 Scholarships and Awards
Our scholarships and awards were announced at the TEFMA Conference Awards Gala Dinner on Wednesday 16 September 2026 in Melbourne. I would like to thank all Scholarship and Award assessors and to congratulate all winners on their achievements.
TEFMA 2026 Award and Scholarship recipients are: |
We look forward to hearing from our Scholarship winners during the next 12 months when they have completed their area of study/research. Applications for the 2027 TEFMA Scholarships and Awards will open in March 2027. Upcoming events
Monthly Webinars
TEFMA’s monthly webinar programme continues to be very popular, which is a credit to all members. Details of upcoming Webinars are provided below, and you can register here: |
Events Planning is underway for the following two workshops for 2027. |
Share Your Story with the TEFMA Community
We’re inviting TEFMA members, Business Partners and Conference Sponsors to share their insights, experiences and stories. Your contribution will help us showcase the people, projects and expertise shaping tertiary facilities management through TEFMA’s LinkedIn community. Select the survey that applies to you: |
New Business Partners
If you have not done so recently, we encourage our member institutions to view information on the TEFMA Business Partners list on the website here to understand how they can assist you with the goals and objectives at your institutions. I am delighted to welcome the following TEFMA Business Partners:
Lunr - Onset Design delivers compliant collaboration results around CAD drawing, asset, project and document management solutions. Onset have a platform called Lunr, which is an Engineering Data and Drawing Management System that takes the hassle out of storing and collaborating on engineering documentation. It does this by providing a single cloud-based platform to upload, version, securely search, and revise your content - Lunr puts every drawing under revision control, makes the text inside a scanned drawing searchable, opens CAD and BIM in the browser, and finds documents by where they sit on a map. While covering many industries, in the tertiary education sector, Onset offer a platform to make campus facilities information management easy with a single source of truth for all facilities information.
Deloitte - Deloitte has extensive experience in supporting universities and TAFEs to make informed decisions about their campuses and assets. Services provided include asset strategy and maturity, lifecycle costs and budgets, space, systems and data, and contracts and procurement. Deloitte’s asset and workplace management specialists help facilities teams strengthen asset management, plan maintenance and renewal investment, improve space utilisation and get more value from systems and data. They combine sector experience with lifecycle costing, benchmarking and procurement advice to support better estate planning and asset performance. Contacts at Deloitte are Theo Psychogios, Partner, tpsychogios@deloitte.com.au or Tom Abbot, Director, tabbot@deloitte.com.au
We extend a big thank you to all our Business Partners for their continued support - you are crucial in bringing relevant services and educational offerings to TEFMA members and appreciate the contribution and value you provide to the sector. |
TEFMA Community
Please remember to view the TEFMA Community portal with the aim of fostering a culture of collaboration through sharing and engaging with the resources available in the library. Anyone from a member institution or business partner organisation is welcome to join. The information is intended to generate discussion, build relationships with peers and learn from one another. Thank you for all your great contributions to the Community Portal to date – a place to collaborate, network and learn.
Thank you for taking the time to read our Newsletter and should you wish to contact TEFMA, please email info@tefma.com. |
Kind Regards, Shane Jennings TEFMA President
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For all enquiries, please contact: TEFMA Secretariat
E: info@tefma.com Ph: 02 9431 8692 |
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