Academic Board
February 2005
by Peter Cardwell
UniSA regional engagement
The Director: Regional Engagement and Dean: Whyalla, Professor Len Pullin,
gave a special presentation on the University's regional engagement initiatives.
Prof Pullin reported that regional engagement is a strategy utilising the University's resources to create sustainable university experiences in regional and rural South Australia. It is a holistic strategy comprising teaching and learning, research and community engagement.
The Centre for Regional Engagement, which has its headquarters at the Whyalla Regional Centre, is still forming and has recently been extended with the establishment of the Mt Gambier Regional Centre.
The organisation of the unit's structure, governance and policy framework is still developing. The centre has its own funded load and budget, but does not own academic programs. All programs and courses are sourced from divisions, and the three main programs offered are business, nursing and social work.
The University's regional engagement strategy has two main goals. Firstly, to contribute to the sustainability of targeted regions by providing access to higher education and research through community engagement, and secondly, to extend the University's equity mission by building greater access to the teaching and research capability in regional areas.
Current regional engagement projects involve putting Mt Gambier on a care and maintenance basis, scoping regional teaching and learning opportunities, exploring the delivery of the Bachelor of Nursing to regional Indigenous health centres, exploring the delivery of education in rural centres and implementing a regional seminar series.
The success of the Centre for Regional Engagement will be dependent on developing strong collaborative relationships with TAFE, professional association links and gaining regional community and industry support.
At the same time it needs to raise public awareness, recruit school and non-school and building community engagement. It is clear there is strong demand for tertiary education in regional SA. The 80 students already studying in three of the University's degree programs at Mt Gambier are strong testament to this.
The Ehrenberg-Bass Research Institute
Academic Board approved the establishment of the Ehrenberg-Bass Research
Institute, which will become the University's fifth research institute.
The new research institute is named after two eminent academics, Professor Andrew Ehrenberg from Londons South Bank University and Professor Frank Bass from the University of Texas.
The institute will further the success of the Marketing Science Centre, which is currently the largest funded research centre in the University with $2.3 million in research income
The centre already receives $700,000 annually in R&D money from 60 companies.
The Gavin Wanganeen Indigenous Scholarship
The Board approved the establishment of the Gavin Wanganeen Indigenous Scholarship. The scholarship is valued at $5,000 and was awarded for the first time in 2005. (For more information please refer to the story on page 3).
Program Development
The following program development proposals were approved:
Division of Business
Category B Amendment Bachelor of Business (Management Information Systems)
New Program Master of International Business
Division of IT, Engineering and the Environment
Category B Amendment Bachelor of Information Technology (Software Engineering)
Category B Amendment Bachelor of Financial Science
Category B Amendment Master of Quantitative Science
Category B Amendment Master of Science (Computer and Information Science)
New Program Graduate Certificate in Engineering (Energy Management)
Program Withdrawal Bachelor of Engineering (Mobile)