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Media Release

December 1, 2004

UniSA wins national award for educational services to the community

The University of South Australia has won an institutional award in the 2004 Australian Awards for University Teaching for providing educational services to secondary students in Adelaide's northern suburbs.

Raising the educational aspirations of students in the Northern regions of Adelaide was the winning project developed to improve the tertiary participation rates of students in a region with high youth unemployment but with significant growth in the automotive, defence and electronics industries, according to Mike Elliott, Director of UniSA Northern Adelaide Partnerships (UNAP).

"The project seeks to demonstrate to school students that tertiary study is within their reach through a number of initiatives. Among these are special programs that highlight opportunities in areas such as electronics and emphasise the importance of studying science and mathematics," Mike Elliott said.

UniSA's winning team, led by Associate Professor Brenton Dansie, Dean: Teaching and Learning in the Division of Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment (ITEE), focused on the innovative use of UniSA undergraduate students as peer mentors in a general peer tutoring program and the Robotics Peer Mentoring Program within secondary schools. The Senior Mathematics and Science program and the University orientation program were also designed, in partnership with secondary schools, to provide opportunities for secondary students to interact with UniSA students and to experience university life and learning on the University's campuses. The University works closely with the Northern Adelaide State Secondary Principals Network and the independent schools in the region in the design and implementation of these programs.

"The programs have already won national recognition for their innovation, and attracted more that half a million dollars in funding from government and industry sources," Professor Dansie said. "In particular, the support of the Federal Government through its Sustainable Regions program and the State Government through the Premier's Science and Research Council has been instrumental in the success of these programs.

"They represent genuine leading edge collaborations between government, industry and education and form part of a broader commitment by the University to improve opportunities and outcomes for students who have suffered educational and social disadvantage. This includes the UniSA Northern Adelaide Partnership and USANET, a major tertiary access scheme for students from low socio economic areas and rural and isolated backgrounds.

"Responses to these initiatives have been enthusiastic. They have had a positive impact on school students in terms of their interest and skill development, as well as providing school teachers with opportunities to experience new technologies," Professor Dansie said.

Ms Helen Paphitis, Principal of Salisbury High School, said this was a fantastic outcome for UniSA as these are very prestigious awards.

"We have highly valued UniSA's initiative to work closely with secondary schools in the north and to make university pathways more accessible and equitable for students. The flexible and innovative approaches make UniSA a leader in university institutions and we are proud to be working with them," Ms Paphitis said.

The project team includes Professor Dansie; Mike Elliott; Fiona Underwood and Amanda Walsh, both from ITEE; and Zorica Nedic, a lecturer in UniSA's School of Electrical and Information Engineering.

The $50,000 prize money will go towards furthering the programs in the region.

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