From the Vice Chancellor
2005
has been a rollercoaster year. While years of hard work have been
rewarded, major developments have been completed and the quality of the
work of our staff has been acknowledged, the volatility of the federal
policy environment has had a serious impact at times on the University.
But there have been some real advances.
We have three new University-funded Research Institutes: The Hawke Research Institute for Sustainable Societies, The Sansom Institute for Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Science and The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science – the reward for more than a decade of discipline and hard work by all.
We gained outstanding results in the 2005 round of Australian Research Council Linkage Grants.
More than $6.5 million in research funding was awarded for 14 projects. The result places UniSA first in the Australian Technology Network and first among South Australian universities.
The appointment of Professor Ravi Naidu to UniSA has strengthened our research success with the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CARE) being awarded a $30 million grant under the Australian Government’s 2004 CRC Selection Round.
This will provide a much-needed national focus for research on effective solutions to environmental contamination.
In teaching and learning, Associate Professor Brenton Dansie was named Science Educator of the Year at the Inaugural Premier’s Science Excellence Awards for his work in leading the Robotics Peer Mentoring program, yet another acknowledgment of his great work with South Australian schools.
Internationally, there have been several major initiatives, announcements and achievements.
The Cheung Kong Scholarships, created under the Australian Government’s Endeavour Program, provide a unique opportunity to experience the culture of other countries. This year, UniSA won $165,000 of funding through this program including six Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Awards and three Australian Cheung Kong Student Exchange Subsidies, placing UniSA first among South Australian universities.
More recently, the International Strategic Technology Alliance (ISTA) has invited the Australian Technology Network, of which UniSA is a member, to join its group.
Nineteen of the 22 members of ISTA are major Chinese Universities and ATN’s collaboration with ISTA promises to foster international relationships in applied research and development between Australia and China.
UniSA also celebrated a new decade of collaboration with the Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) this year.
We began working with HKBU’s School of Continuing Education in 1994, delivering a single program – the Bachelor of Business Administration Management to a small cohort of about 30 people. In the past 11 years we have graduated more than 2000 students and now offer 12 programs with HKBU across three Divisions.
Back at home, the first stage of the University’s $100 million capital development program was completed at the beginning of the year. Five new buildings (the Kaurna, the Dorritt Black, the Garth Boomer, the Basil Hetzel and the Mawson Centre) and two major building extensions at the City West and Mawson Lakes libraries were launched in a series of celebratory events from April to May.
The $35 million second stage of the project began in June and is expected to be completed in 2007.
We were delighted when UniSA, in partnership with the Department of Education and Children’s Services and the City of Salisbury won the State and National Premier Commercial Property Awards in the Delfin Lend Lease Grand Masters Awards 2005, for the Mawson Centre.
2005 saw the retirement of a well known and dearly loved University character – Professor Ian Davey.
Some 300 staff and external friends of the University attended his farewell in October. In December we will welcome Professor Caroline McMillen as the new PVC: Research and Innovation.
Finally, we were pleased to reappoint our Chancellor, Mr David Klingberg AM, for a further four-year term.
David has been carrying out this honorary role with grace and distinction and we are delighted that he has agreed to continue to work with us.
While 2005 has been a rollercoaster year for the University, it has been a time of uncertainty, devastation and heartbreak for many of our international students.
The recent global natural disasters, particularly the Asian tsunami in December 2004 and the Pakistan earthquake in October have had an enormous impact on our international students, who make up some 33 per cent of our student population.
Our thoughts remain with affected students and their families as they begin or continue their mourning and recovery from these life-changing events.
My thanks and best wishes extend to all members of the UniSA community for supporting our continued growth.
I hope you enjoy the holiday and look forward, as I do, to another productive and rewarding year in 2006.