https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jeanette-cotterill-a6b73b11b_tripleeawards-capstoneimpact-universityofcanberra-activity-7343493547863527425-9dXa?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAMVKggBgo0RycNs9JXUqq9zwsJMFLVP8OsThe Information Technology and Systems (ITS) Capstone Program at the University of Canberra is a classic example of university–community engagement that delivers lasting educational, economic, and societal value. Through a well-crafted educational design and a model of dual mentorship, all ITS students in their final year of undergraduate and postgraduate study work on real-world projects in collaboration with partners from industry, government, small business or the not-for-profit sector. Since 2019, over 1,500 students have contributed to more than 400 projects addressing the contemporary challenges of the world in areas such as public health, social enterprise, digital infrastructure, and sustainability. The program has become a popular test bed for sponsors, who are eager to harness the innovative ideas of fresh student minds. Renowned organisations such as Cisco, Deloitte, SAS, the industry peak body the Australian Computer Society, and a wide range of government and community sponsors are also creating partnership through their regular engagement. Strongly aligned with the University’s 'Connected' strategy and core values—Change the World, Dare to be Curious, and Walk Together—the program provides an authentic, research-informed learning environment. It enhances employability, innovation, and community contribution by connecting students with end users to solve real-life problems. The Capstone Expo, held annually, showcases student projects to a broad audience and serves as a gateway for future connections. The program’s recent international expansion, including collaborations with institutions in India, demonstrates its adaptability and potential for replication beyond geographical boundaries. Recognised with multiple awards and national commendation, consistently featured in media and commentary, the ITS Capstone Program exemplifies best practice in experiential learning with community impact. Its sustainable and scalable model prepares students to be not only work-ready, but world-ready.
Finalist
Community Engagement Initiative of the Year Award
Innovative Community Engagement and Real-World Learning through University of Canberra’s School of I
Finalist Community Engagement Initiative of the Year Award
University of Canberra - Australia
"Future-ready Graduates: Harnessing community and industry engagement for real-world impact "
Summary
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the support from our university, ACT community, industry, and international stakeholders in sponsoring projects to our students to demonstrate and enhance their skills, and create wider impact by solving real-world problems. We value the guidance provided by our mentors to students leading to improved project outcomes.
Images
ACT Award in Student and Education
Networking at Capstone Expo
Students are winners
Happy students on completion of projects
Capstone team with stakeholders
Students proudly presenting their work
Students at testing centre
Hands-on
Capstone students awarded for community impact
IMPACT STORY
Impacting lifes
Every project in our IT Capstone Program yields some positive impact delivering meaningful outcomes for community and organisations driving change. One such example of community impact is the 2024 collaboration with Her Kitchen Table (HKT), a Canberra-based social enterprise that empowers culturally diverse women through food entrepreneurship. Faced with rapid growth and increasing demand, HKT needed a way to streamline its operations while preserving the personal connections at the heart of its work. Our student team partnered with HKT applying technical skills in a socially meaningful context to develop a custom kitchen management system tailored to the organisation’s unique operational model. This digital solution replaced a suite of manual processes, enabling better coordination of meal artist rosters, automated order tracking, and more efficient customer communications.
The benefits were mutual with HKT’s team reporting significant improvements in day-to-day efficiency and the ability to scale up without sacrificing their core values. The students gained invaluable experience in client engagement, user-centred design, and agile delivery.
As HKT co-founder Nazia Ahmed shared:
“The partnership provided invaluable hands-on experience for the students and will also greatly contribute to the growth and sustainability of Her Kitchen Table.”
Latest example is the Capstone project ‘SmartGate’ that won the ACT AIIA Awards 2025 in the Student and Education category. This is a well-deserved recognition for our students Jordan, Nicholas and Joe, who developed an intelligent monitoring system supporting wildlife conservation. Here is a glimpse of the winning project: https://lnkd.in/gWBCNFCK
LEARNINGS
Lessons learned
The ITS Capstone Program demonstrates how a values-driven, community-based approach to education can deliver lasting benefits for students, partners, and the broader public. Since 2019, the program has grown from fewer than 200 students to over 600 in 2024, reflecting its strong leadership, innovative design, and responsiveness to stakeholder needs.
One of the most significant learnings has been the value of co-design—building curriculum and project structures in collaboration and inputs from the range of stakeholders. The dual mentorship model, pairing academic and professional mentors on each project, emerged as a key feature that not only ensures academic rigour but also strengthens professional relevance and partner engagement.
Leadership of the program has prioritised inclusivity and sustainability. Equity is embedded at all levels—from supporting students of diverse backgrounds, to engaging social enterprises like Her Kitchen Table, to aligning assessment with Australian Computer Society accreditation standards. International partnerships with institutions such as Pega’s University Program and Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College have demonstrated the program’s global adaptability.
Our advice to other institutions is to be bold in forging external relationships, humble in responding to feedback, and committed to real-world outcomes. Recognising students as collaborators rather than just recipients—creates a culture of trust, innovation, and continuous improvement.
Strong leadership involves aligning the work with core institutional values—in our case, Change the World, Dare to be Curious, and Walk Together—and building systems that allow others to lead from within. The result is a resilient, evolving initiative with lasting community impact.
FUTURE PLANS
What's coming?
The ITS Capstone Program is set to enter its next phase of growth, with a continued focus on measurable community impact and integration with real-world needs. A key enhancement is the introduction of industry relevant assessment criteria emphasising the delivery of tangible benefits to sponsors. This shift ensures that students are evaluated not only on academic rigour but also on the real-world value of their contributions—reinforcing accountability, relevance, and impact.
The Program continues to strengthen and diversify its partnerships. We aim to expand engagement further with Australian Government agencies, large IT companies, emerging start-up businesses, social enterprises and technology industry associations, building on the existing networks established through previous Capstone collaborations. These relationships offer rich, varied contexts for student learning and innovation, while supporting positive community outcomes and digital capability uplift.
The program is equally responsive to the emerging demands of the digital economy, with a focus on new technologies—particularly AI in business and government. Students will be encouraged to explore technical, societal and ethical dimensions of AI and related technologies, developing tools that are forward-facing as well as socially responsible.
International exposures and opportunities will be explored further, including joint project sponsorship and certification pathways through various institutional partners. The Program is developing multi-semester partnerships to address more complex challenges over time.
In light of these advancements and our vision for the future, we are committed to shaping the Program not only to remain future-focused but also as a global mission for improving graduate employability. Our goal is to produce graduates who are not only ready for the workforce but also prepared to make a positive impact to the world.
