NEWS RELEASE
May 29 2002
New
appointments give UniSA’s graduate
business school a fresh focus
Former
director of the SA Film Corporation,
Professor Helen Thorne, has been appointed as the new head of
UniSA’s International Graduate School of Management (IGSM).
Professor
Thorne brings a wealth of experience to her new role, most recently as the
former Dean of the Graduate School of Management at the University of
Adelaide (1997 to 2001), director of the SA Film Corporation (1995 to
2000), and before entering academia, as a senior management accountant in
a multinational manufacturing business. She will also continue in her role
as a director of SA’s Playford Centre, a government funded body helping
to float high potential SA business ideas in the communications IT sector.
Professor Thorne says it is an exciting
time to be heading the IGSM as the School enjoys strong growth as a
provider of postgraduate management education in Australia and abroad.
“The IGSM is experiencing a period of
very rapid growth and great success in the Asian market,” she says.
“It is a dynamic graduate business
school and is well on the way to becoming one the largest of its kind in
Australia.”
The IGSM has 3,200 students enrolled in
postgraduate programs, with 2,500 of those studying offshore, mostly in
Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and the emerging market
of China.
Professor Thorne says she hopes to further
improve the IGSM’s success and its reputation by focussing on high
quality teaching, a strong research profile and by instilling a corporate
culture of quality across every facet of the IGSM’s operations.
“Our students – or clients as I prefer
to call them – are all middle level or higher managers,” she says.
They are paying substantial fees to be a part of our programs and they
have a right to a very client-focussed experience.”
According to Professor Thorne, the breadth
and depth of the School’s experience across Asia offers a unique
opportunity for the IGSM to contribute to the internationalisation of
Adelaide businesses through both its teaching in Adelaide and its
extensive network of students and graduates across the Asian region.
On the local scene, the IGSM has been particularly active in
building its Strategic Partnerships program, which focuses on bringing
IGSM’s programs to the workplace.
Also joining the IGSM recently are Professor
Bobbie Banerjee, Associate Professor Robert Heath and Dr Travis Kemp.
Banerjee, who joins UniSA from RMIT
University, has been appointed Professor in Strategic Management, and will
be concentrating on IGSM’s research output. He has extensive experience
in research across the broad field of management, although sustainability
is one of his major areas of interest. Heath, an Associate Professor in
Strategic Management, specialises in risk management, while Kemp brings
expertise in business development, psychology and education to the IGSM.
Media
contacts - Professor Helen Thorne: (08) 8302 0027,
email: helen.thorne@unisa.edu.au
Charlotte Knottenbelt: (08) 8302 0578 or 0407 726 175,
email: charlotte.knottenbelt@unisa.edu.au
