Opinion: Western Sydney University developing app to show how to keep students engaged

The following opinion piece by Vice-Chancellor and President, Distinguished Professor George Williams AO, was first published with full links in the Daily Telegraph (pg 13) on Tuesday, 21 October 2025.

Education changed my life. I was raised by a single mum in tough circumstances.

I went off the rails — until one teacher saw something in me.

She put me on permanent detention every Thursday lunchtime, not as punishment, but to get me into the classroom and help me with my work.

I started to love learning.

That was a turning point in my life, and every student deserves the same opportunity to be seen and heard.

Yet across Australia, fewer students are finishing high school, and more are dropping out of university.The challenge at hand is clear: keeping our students engaged and supported in study.

Western Sydney is one of the most dynamic and diverse regions in Australia.

It sits in the nation’s biggest growth corridor, but it is also one of the most challenged areas in terms of educational disadvantage and equity gaps. 

It’s a place where many students face real challenges, from cost of living pressures to being the first in their family to attend university.

Education is about investing in people and giving students the support they need to thrive.

That’s why we are launching Western HOW, an app that will support students throughout their university journey.

The first of its kind platform will allow students to have personalised support quite literally at their fingertips. 

Our students are used to connecting with people through apps and devices.

So, we’ve decided to join in on that. Powered by Microsoft technologies, Western HOW will use real-time data and personalisation to ensure that every student, regardless of background, is known, supported, and able to succeed.

With over 50,000 students, our cohort is diverse, and many balance study with work, caregiving, and other financial pressures. Two thirds of our students are the first in their family to undertake a university degree. 

Western HOW represents a step-change in how Western is redesigning its student success ecosystem to reflect the lived realities of our students.

Conventional indicators of “at-risk” students are no longer enough. AI allows us to move beyond static demographics to real-time signals of need and opportunity. 

Critically, the app gives us the ability to scale human connection and proactively support our students rather than waiting for them to reach out in crisis, or worse – drop out altogether. 

For example, using our behavioural risk model it might detect when a student is in need of support, which then alerts our success coaches it’s time to give them a call and connect them to the right service whether that’s counselling, academic assistance, financial advice, or student life activities and the like.

At Western Sydney University, our approach to AI is fundamentally equity-driven. We’re not interested in technology for its own sake, we’re building AI tools that amplify human care and connection, not replace it.

Every student, first-in-family or otherwise, deserves access to the kind of personalised support and success pathways that will define universities of the future.

ENDS

21 October 2025

Media Unit.