In Brief
One year at UniSA builds capacity
Spending one year away from her five children was a sacrifice
that Linda Burquir from the Philippines was willing to make to gain
an education at UniSA.
Burquir is among the latest round of AusAID funded students who have been farewelled by UniSA, and are now ready to apply their new knowledge in their home countries.
Twenty students - 15 from Indonesia, the rest from Kenya, Bangladesh and the Philippines – are moving back home after one year in Adelaide at UniSA.
The national AusAID scholarship program provides educational, research and professional development opportunities to support growth in the Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Middle East and to build enduring links at the individual, institutional and country levels.
"The program is a significant part of Australia’s international capacity building," said Dr Anna Ciccarelli, UniSA’s Pro Vice Chancellor of International and Development.
"They are going home with qualifications, skills and abilities to make a contribution to their home country."
Burquir is returning home during August after completing a
Graduate Diploma in Property which will assist her in her job as
Chief of Tax Mapping with the Provincial Government of Agusan del
Sur.
For Burquir, it was hard to spend a year in Adelaide away from her five children who range in age from 19 to 9, but at the same time they were a significant motivating factor for her decision.
"I am doing this for my children – they are my inspiration," she said. "This is the first time I have travelled overseas but it is something I have always wanted to do.
"It was a great opportunity to be here."
While Burquir was unable to bring her family with her to Adelaide, many of the other students’ families make the move with them. However, it is evident that there is a great comradeship between the international students, as well as other classmates according to Burquir.
Once finishing their year at UniSA, the students will spend three years contracted to their host organisation back home. Since 2006, UniSA has hosted 81 students from 13 different countries.
Leading high speed research
A new partnership in South Australia, following the appointment of a new director for eResearch SA, will deliver significant benefits to the SA research community.
A joint venture between UniSA, the University of Adelaide, and Flinders University, eResearch SA is now headed up by James Tizard who is also the Chief Executive of SABRENet Ltd.
SABRENet is a fibre-optic broadband network that links major research and education sites in Adelaide, while eResearch SA provides advanced information and communication technology (ICT) solutions to SA researchers.
The Chair of eResearch SA, Emeritus Professor Max Brennan AO said the dual appointment of Tizard will benefit the State’s researchers whose work relies on high-speed broadband and advanced ICT services such as data management and sharing, research collaboration, high performance computing and visualisation.
Mathematical attraction
If you have ever felt that prime numbers hold a certain beauty,
that algebra is elegant or that logic is exhilarating, you’ll be
very excited by the fact that South Australia is set to host one of
Australia’s biggest mathematics conferences in September.
The 53rd Annual Meeting of the Australian Mathematical Society will be held at UniSA’s City West campus from September 28 to October 1. And true to the adage that mathematics is one of the most powerful international languages, the conference is attracting more than 200 delegates from across Australasia, Brazil, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, the UK and the US, to Adelaide to talk and think maths.
From fundamental statistics through to geometry and even the history and philosophy of mathematics, the conference will include special sessions on a wide range of theoretical and applied topics.
Highlights include a free public lecture focusing on the mysteries of prime numbers from one of Australia’s most famous mathematicians and Fields Medal Winner, Professor Terence Tao, (pictured).
Besides the Australian Mathematical Society, the conference is sponsored by the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute, the Mathematical Association of South Australia, the International Centre of Excellence for Education in Mathematics, UniSA, the Australian Department of Defence and the Clay Mathematics Institute, famous for its million-dollar offering to anyone who can solve one of the world’s seven toughest mathematical problems known as the "millennium problems".
Registrations can be made online where you will also find more details about the program.
All aboard our history
Australia’s historic Tea and Sugar Train has been revived in an
exhibition at the National Railway Museum in Port Adelaide.
The exhibition, a joint initiative between UniSA and Carnegie Mellon University students, is an interactive, educational display which features the latest in digital sound and vision technologies.
Visitors can view stories and images of the train and have interactive experiences which recreate the past such as buying items from the butcher or shop keeper in shillings and pounds, calling in on the on-board bank teller, or just sitting back and watching the outback fly past the carriage windows.
The display pays tribute to the iconic train, which was established in 1917 to provide goods and services to workers constructing the Trans-Australian Railway across the Nullarbor Plain.
The train was so popular, that once the line had been built, people moved near the Tea and Sugar route, so they could be close to the source that delivered them luxuries from the city.
The Tea and Sugar Train was decommissioned in 1996.
Professor Kerry Green, head of UniSA’s School of Communication, International Studies and Languages, said the project brought real-world experience to university learning.
"Our students have learnt something valuable about the history of their State while honing their skills in the documentary and digital media fields," he said. "Their work will now be seen and enjoyed by thousands of visitors to the museum."
Executive Producer of Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Centre, Professor Don Marinelli, said the Centre was honoured to present the history of the Tea and Sugar Train with UniSA and the National Railway museum.
"Through the use of technology we can achieve a level of immersion and vicarious experience that brings to life a certain time, an era, an epoch, what life was like during a certain period of history," Prof Marinelli said.