Staff Insights
Dr Carol Grech
Senior Lecturer, Division Health Sciences
19 years with UniSA
I’ve
worked for UniSA since 1989. My background is in nursing – I used to work as
a nurse educator at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. After upgrading my skills,
I wanted to be part of an innovative teaching environment outside of a
hospital setting. This was one of the main attractions to joining UniSA – it
offered exposure to different ways of learning in a more stimulating way.
On a day-to-day basis my work is extremely varied. I’m looking after both onshore and offshore transnational programmes. This involves curriculum design and good practice around teaching and learning. I’m also involved in marketing UniSA to students and their families, taking time out to talk to them on a one-to-one level. And then of course there’s the teaching! I found with my last role there was a very didactic approach to teaching; with UniSA I can now see the end result of my work - it’s all about preparing nurses for a contemporary environment.
My colleagues and students make UniSA such a great place to work. If you think about other ‘sandstone’ universities, they’re called that because they’re bricks and mortar. At UniSA it’s all about people. You spend a lot of time at work so you have to enjoy interacting with your colleagues. With UniSA I do. I love the rewards that come from forming strong working relationships. I get a real high when I help students and staff work through complex issues. When many students, particularly those from overseas, arrive at UniSA it really can be a life-changing experience; being part of this experience is one of the most rewarding aspects of my work.