Archive for the 'Programs and Partnerships' Category

The Australian Research Council (ARC) is funding researchers at the University of New England to investigate how energy producers and consumers are adapting to the carbon tax.

The $500,000 research grant to UNE follows the University’s successful completion earlier this year of an ARC-funded project that modelled the impact of the carbon tax – predicting a significant reduction in carbon emissions accompanied by only a small reduction in gross domestic product.

Professor Mahinda Siriwardana, the economist from the UNE Business School who led the earlier project, is now leading its successor, which has just begun. UNE’s industry partner in the Australian Research Council Linkage Grant is the major energy company AGL Energy Limited.

Professor Siriwardana is an authority on the sophisticated “computable general equilibrium” method of predictive modelling that was so effective in the previous project. Using data from AGL, and from surveys of households in rural and regional Australia, he intends to use a similar approach in modelling the relevant behaviour of energy producers and consumers now that the tax has been introduced.

“The most probable outcome is that energy producers will continue to move away from carbon-based energy sources and towards low-emission sources of energy such as wind farms and solar panels,” Professor Siriwardana said. “Nobody’s sure at the moment about the costs and benefits of such a move, as the establishment of wind farms and solar panels is capital-intensive. But if they don’t respond to the carbon tax in that way, the emission levels will not decline, and a higher burden will be placed on consumers to modify their energy use in response to higher prices.

“Using AGL as an example, and monitoring adjustments to its energy production and distribution strategies, we’ll be able to model the effects of changing energy sources on the profitability of such companies as they respond to the carbon tax. AGL is already Australia’s largest owner and operator of renewable energy assets, including wind farms and solar power, and it’s very interested in the development of our model, which will produce both short-term and long-term predictions.”

“We also want to study the impact of the carbon tax in relation to income distribution,” he said, “and develop models of compensation for low-income households.”

Professor Siriwardana’s five fellow-researchers on the project include Dr Judith McNeill, Dr Ian Reeve and Dr Xianming Meng from UNE’s Institute for Rural Futures and two researchers – Professor Paul Simshauser and Tim Nelson – from AGL.

Clicking on the image displayed above reveals a photograph of Professor Mahinda Siriwardana (seated) and Dr Xianming Meng.

Students from the University of New England have helped members of a remote Indigenous community in the Tiwi Islands to manage the health of their dogs.

Accompanied by their lecturer, Dr Wendy Brown, a team of four UNE students visited the Wurrumiyanga community on Bathurst Island for seven days last month and participated in a dog health program.

This followed two visits to the Tiwi Islands by Dr Brown earlier in the year – during the first of which she took part in an annual veterinary visit to the community. “The task was overwhelming,” she said. “We were to provide veterinary care for all the dogs on the island, with a focus on de-sexing and parasite control. The large population of free-roaming dogs created many health and environmental problems for the human and canine inhabitants, and all we could do in the two-day visit was really just a ‘band-aid’.”

As a result of this visit, and in collaboration with AMRRIC (Animal Management in Rural and Remote Indigenous Communities) and the Darwin-based veterinarian Stephen Cutter, she proposed a four-day dog health program at Wurrumiyanga, partly funded by UNE.  “We recognised that the dog population could be stabilised only if we could de-sex a greater number of dogs than can be done in just two days a year,” she said. “The Tiwi Islands Council responded with an acceptance of our proposal, and an invitation to run the dog health program on Bathurst Island immediately prior to the Tiwi Islands’ Milimika Festival so that we could join in the festival activities.

“From my perspective, the aim was both to assist with the island’s dog management problem and to provide an opportunity for UNE students to gain valuable work – and life – experience.”

In preparation, Dr Brown assisted with the training of Indigenous Animal Management Workers employed by Tiwi Islands Shire Council who would be assisting in the dog health program. Then, just under a month later, she was back on Bathurst Island with four UNE students – Chantal Petrosi, Jaya Matthews, Tabitha Francis and Jessica Sparkes – joining Stephen Cutter and two other veterinarians from AMRRIC to conduct the program.

“We were really well accepted by the community,” Dr Brown said, “and the key people were very supportive. They had already conducted a dog census – a good sign that they’re engaging. And the program worked so well that we’re planning more visits. I think it’s the beginning of a long-term relationship for UNE.”

“We all stayed on and enjoyed the three-day festival that followed,” she said. “The people are open and friendly, and their warm welcome made us feel very much part of the community. The festival was a showcase of art and culture – including performance art – and the contribution of our dog health team to the festival was to man a stall providing dog-washing, face-painting and colouring-in.”

Chantal Petrosi, one of the four UNE students (and pictured here with one of the dogs), is in the third year of her Bachelor of Zoology degree program. “We helped in collecting the dogs, giving them anti-parasite medicine, and preparing them for surgery,” she said. “I loved it; it was an amazing experience – culturally as well as vocationally. It was my first real encounter with an Indigenous community.”

Next month (on the 12^th and 13^th of October), AMRRIC will conduct a conference at UNE in partnership with UNE Animal Science. Titled “Outback dogs – challenges and solutions for Indigenous communities, animals and public health”, the conference will feature presentations by UNE staff members (including Dr Brown), UNE students, AMRRIC veterinarians, the RSPCA, and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

Lucy Neylan, soon after her return to the University of New England at the end of ten months’ study in Italy, met up with her professor from Italy during his recent visit to UNE.

Lucy, who is in the third year of her Italian studies at UNE, took advantage of the University’s exchange program with the University of Macerata in central Italy to live and study within the linguistic and cultural environment of Italy.

“All our classes were in Italian, and I was living with Italian room-mates,” she said. “At first my Italian wasn’t that good – but it got better.

“I value the ability to speak another language, and the opportunities it offers for overseas travel. I studied Italian at school, and enjoy the Italian lifestyle and culture.”

She hopes to pursue studies in translating and interpreting after her graduation next year.

Alfredo Luzi, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Italian Literature at the University of Macerata, met Lucy at UNE together with Elisa Lonoce, an exchange student from Macerata.

Professor Luzi said that the exchange program, now in its sixth year, was progressing well, with between three and five UNE students travelling to Macerata each year, and one or two Italian students travelling to Armidale.

At UNE, he said, the Italian visitors did courses mainly in language and literature, with one of them having conducted a study of the Italian/Australian author Raffaello Carboni (1817 – 1875), who wrote the main eyewitness account of events at the Eureka Stockade. He added that there were now plans to enable students of international politics from Macerata to join the exchange program.

Elisa Lonoce spent Trimester 2 this year at UNE, with her studies including German language and the Italian detective novel. “It was a great opportunity and a wonderful experience – and I’m sorry I have to leave so soon,” she said. “I did some tutorial teaching for students of Italian, and they apparently enjoyed it. It was certainly an enjoyable experience for me.”

Now in the second year of her degree program in Foreign Languages for International Cooperation, Elisa hopes to become an interpreter in the European Parliament.

THE PHOTOGRAPH of Professor Alfredo Luzi and Elisa Lonoce displayed here expands to include Lucy Neylan.

The University of New England has re-signed as a Parramatta Eels sponsor for 2013 and 2014.

The Chancellor of UNE, Richard Torbay, said the continued sponsorship meant that the Parramatta Eels would hold their pre-season camp in Armidale again next year, and that it would include a trial match against the Newcastle Knights.

“The Eels sponsorship is part of the University’s strategy to expand its brand awareness and create partnerships to explore new business opportunities,” Mr Torbay said.

UNE’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Jim Barber, said that the partnership with one of the country’s best-known National Rugby League teams complemented the University’s state-of-the-art facilities and new specialties in sports management and physical education.

“We hope to further enhance our reputation for sporting excellence in the coming years, and the Eels are part of that strategy,” Professor Barber said.

“Our partnership with UNE not only offers our players an important pathway to furthering their education, but also gives us access to some of the best sports science facilities in the country,” said the Parramatta Eels’ Chief Executive, Bob Bentley. “We think it’s important to ensure that players have a meaningful career when their playing days are over, and higher education plays a key part in that.”

The newly-appointed Eels Welfare and Education Officer, Luke Burt, said that the continued partnership was in accord with the Eels’ and the NRL’s encouragement of players to undertake higher education and training.

Professor Barber said that the Eels’ territory in Western Sydney was a significant market for UNE, with more than 2,000 distance education students residing in the area.

He said that UNE’s presence would increase in 2013, when the University opened its Future Campus on Church Street, Parramatta.

“The Future Campus will give distance education students the opportunity to collaborate with peers and instructors through cutting-edge video-conferencing facilities,” Professor Barber said. “The Future Campus and our sponsorship with the Parramatta Eels are about reminding people that learning can be fun – and can happen anywhere and at any time.”

The Future Campus is expected to open to students from Trimester 1, 2013.

Clicking on the Eels logo displayed here reveals a photograph of Professor Jim Barber and the Eels’ coach, Ricky Stuart, celebrating the re-signing of the sponsorship.

The University of New England has won a $6 million AusAID grant to set up a National Research Centre for Teacher Quality in the Philippines.

The nationally competitive grant will fund a project in which staff members from the UNE-based National Centre of Science, ICT and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia (SiMERR National Centre) will help the Philippines Normal University (PNU) to establish the new Centre on PNU’s Manila campus.

“This grant represents national and international recognition for the achievements of UNE’s SiMERR National Centre during the past decade,” said Professor Victor Minichiello, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of The Professions at UNE. “SiMERR has made a significant contribution to teacher education, and has enabled both teachers and students to gain the knowledge and skills required to meet essential workforce requirements for future generations.”

Professor John Pegg, Director of the SiMERR National Centre, is leading the project. Professor Pegg said SiMERR’s many research achievements that contributed to the success of the grant application included the validation of national professional teaching standards – a project that will see teachers in every Australian State and Territory come under a common four-stage career framework from 2013.

He said that the three-year project (with an extension of a further two years depending on need and progress) would result in the establishment of a world-class research centre based on the SiMERR model. “At the end of the project, PNU will have an autonomous research organisation of international standing that has active research groups involved across the country,” he said.

“The Government of the Philippines is replacing its current Year 1 – Year 10 school education system with a K-12 system,” Professor Pegg explained. “This will require extensive in-service training for teachers and teacher educators, and the re-conceptualisation of university education – particularly in teacher training.”

“This is the SiMERR National Centre’s biggest and most complex project so far,” he said, “covering everything from curriculum development for teachers and teacher educators to the establishment and monitoring of national Philippine professional teaching standards.”

The project funding will provide for the regular movement of SiMERR and PNU staff members between the two institutions, and additional opportunities for postgraduate student research at UNE. “This project will expand UNE’s international research agenda, and enhance its international reputation through high-level collaboration with another nation in addressing vital and challenging education issues,” Professor Pegg said.

Professor Minichiello said it would result in “the development of shared training and research expertise – in an area of great importance to both countries – in this, the ‘Asian Century’”.

A unique partnership between two Australian and two European universities will establish an MBA (Master of Business Administration) program producing graduates with international perspectives on the social and environmental impacts of business activities.

Led by the University of New England, NSW, and ESC Rennes School of Business in France, the MBA International Social Entrepreneurship program is being developed with funding from the Australian Government and the European Union.

The two other universities involved are the University of Western Sydney and – in Spain – the Open University of Catalonia.

“Increasingly, higher education institutions around the globe need to collaborate in the development of shared courseware and internationalised curricula to help graduates develop the skills required for working in international situations,” said Professor Victor Minichiello, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of UNE’s Faculty of The Professions. “This project aims to achieve this objective in an area of high relevance to the business sector.”

“While the program will be taught in English, the students will experience a variety of social, cultural and business environments,” said Professor Alison Sheridan, Head of the UNE Business School. “They will emerge from the program as leaders able to use global business skills to address key social issues such as poverty, hunger, environmental degradation, the integration of excluded groups, and access to education and health services.”

Delivery of the four-semester program will be a blend of face-to-face and online teaching, and all students will spend time in each of the three countries – Spain, France and Australia. The program will support their travel and accommodation.

Professor Sheridan explained that an established relationship between UNE and the Open University of Catalonia had been the catalyst for the initiative. “We were exploring options for collaboration,” she said. “We identified an opportunity capitalising on UNE’s expertise in international business and the Open University of Catalonia’s expertise in social entrepreneurship, and then sought the complementary expertise of the University of Western Sydney (with which UNE has a partnership in the delivery of distance education) and ESC Rennes.

“An important dimension of the program is its blend of online and face-to-face teaching, and both UNE and the Open University of Catalonia have distinguished reputations in distance education.

“It’s all about relationships. Each of our four institutions will make a distinctive contribution to the program.”

With funding totalling $730,000, development of the program will continue into 2013 and teaching is expected to begin in January 2014.

Lectures by a pair of internationally renowned experts in economic development will mark the launch of a new postgraduate degree program at the University of New England.

Professor Anis Chowdhury and Dr Michael Kortt will speak at the launch of the Master of Economic and Regional Development program in the John Dillon Lecture Theatre on Thursday 23 August.

Professor Chowdhury (pictured here) is the Senior Economic Affairs Officer in the Office of the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Department of Economic & Social Affairs. He has taught at the University of Manitoba in Canada, at the National University of Singapore, and at the University of New England, and was a member of the Visiting Faculty at North South University, Bangladesh.

Professor Chowdhury worked as a consultant for the United Nations Support Facility for Indonesian Recovery, the International Labour Organisation and the Commonwealth Secretariat, and was Visiting Fellow at the World Institute for Development Economics Research in Helsinki, the Institute of South-east Asian Studies, Singapore, the Development and Project Planning Centre, University of Bradford, UK, and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. He is Founding Managing Editor of the Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy.

Dr Michael Kortt is a Senior Lecturer in the Southern Cross Business School at Southern Cross University’s Riverside campus in Tweed Heads. Prior to joining Southern Cross University, Dr Kortt spent 10 years working in the government sector as a research manager for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, and the Department of Health and Ageing.  His principal research interests are in the field of local government economics and health economics. He is an alumnus of the University of New England.

Dr René Villano, coordinator of the Master of Economic and Regional Development degree program, said that Professor Chowdhury and Dr Kortt were ideal choices to speak at the launch of the new program since they could – respectively – offer insights into international economic development and the development situation in regional Australia.

“This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to provide students with knowledge and skills for a range of potential careers, including development organisations, NGOs, and government,” Dr Villano said. “Students can choose from a variety of majors, including Asian Studies and Indigenous Futures.

“We felt that, between them, Prof Chowdhury and Dr Kortt could illustrate the breadth of issues in economic and regional development faced by Australia and the wider region.”

Proceedings will begin at 2 pm, and will be followed by celebratory refreshments at 4 pm. Anyone wishing to attend is requested to respond by e-mail to hosbusiness@une.edu.au, or by telephone on (02) 6773 3222, by Wednesday 15 August.

School students, school-leavers, tertiary students and their parents will have a unique opportunity to explore local training and career opportunities at the ‘Live.Train.Work’ Expo & Careers Forum to be held at UNE’s Lazenby Hall in Armidale on Thursday August 9.

Regional Development Australia – Northern Inland (RDANI) Executive Officer Nathan Axelsson said information sessions would span a wide range of careers including: counselling, law, media, marketing and communications, early childhood services, I.T, medicine, community services, accounting and finance, nursing and aged care, science and primary industries, sport and recreation, vet and animal care, dental, optical, automotive, creative arts and design, hospitality, metals and engineering, transport and aviation,  as well as sessions on job seeking, how to write a CV, volunteering, casual work, gap year opportunities and applying for TAFE and university courses.

“Local employers, industry representatives and tertiary education providers will present across a wide range of contemporary industries and advise how attendees can find their chosen career path locally without feeling compelled to leave the region. The Northern Inland region offers diverse career opportunities,” said RDANI Executive Officer, Nathan Axelsson.

“This event will have something for everyone and is aimed at both parents and students alike. By promoting local training and career pathways, we have the opportunity to retain our youngest and brightest in the region as well as helping local organisations attract and retain the skilled staff they need to run an effective business,” Mr Axelsson said.

Regional Development Australia Northern Inland (RDANI), in conjunction with local partners including UNE, TAFE, BEST Employment,  Jobs Australia, Speedie Staff Solutions, Armidale Business Chamber, EACH Youth Connections, Armidale Dumaresq Council, Community Mutual Group and many local businesses and employees are supporting the event. Careers Network Partnership Broker Program is helping to bring together the partners for this important event to address the lack of knowledge about training, education and career pathways across many local industry sectors.

“Career Expos have been run very successfully in Armidale in the past by a dedicated team; however there has been a lapse for a few years owing to a lack of funding. It is very exciting that we now have an effective partnership working to bring about this great opportunity for students and parents. The event will combine an expo with stalls and forums and we have broadened the forums to include many more professional occupations as well as retaining traditional trades,” said Marg Baber from Careers Network Inc.

Bookings are essential and further information can be found at www.rdani.org.au/projects/livetrainwork.

The University of New England and the New England Institute of TAFE are collaborating to provide online degree programs with embedded vocational qualifications.

The programs will allow students to graduate with a UNE degree and, along the way, acquire a succession of VET (vocational education and training) qualifications through TAFE. They will also allow students to exit from – and re-enter – the degree program at various points along the way after acquiring the VET qualifications.

“Employers are, increasingly, seeking people who are work-ready as well as having a university degree,” said Eve Woodberry, UNE’s Pro Vice-Chancellor Students and Social Inclusion. “These new programs will enable students to work towards vocational and university qualifications concurrently, and graduate with two or more qualifications.”

Ms Woodberry explained that UNE already had “vertical articulation” arrangements with TAFE, under which students with VET qualifications could enrol in a UNE degree program at an advanced level. One example of such arrangements is in the field of early childhood education. “The programs under development, however, will follow a ‘concurrent articulation’ model,” she said. “It’s a model that is still quite rare in Australia – allowing students to enrol at two institutions in the one process without having to navigate their way through independent pathways. And it encourages people to enter a university degree program earlier than they might otherwise have done, while giving them access to multiple exit and re-entry points corresponding to the vocational qualifications they have earned along the way.”

Pat Walls, Acting Director of Educational Development at the New England Institute of TAFE, said the project was “an exciting opportunity for a VET provider and a university to work together”. “It’s exciting because of its use of online technology, and because it gives students the opportunity to gain employment through the acquisition of VET qualifications while continuing their university studies,” she said.

The first of the “concurrent articulation” programs being developed are in the fields of agri-foods (business and technology) and health and community services. “These are both areas in which employers want people with practical skills rather than graduates who they have to send back to TAFE for practical training,” Ms Woodberry said. “Overall, we’ll be working in areas where there is a well-documented demand for people with these kinds of qualifications, and we’ll be seeking partnerships with employer groups that have an interest in employing such people.” These first two programs should be open for enrolment in 2014. Their development is one of eight projects being undertaken at UNE, with the support of a $36.6 million grant from the Australian Government’s Structural Adjustment Fund, aimed at aligning UNE degree programs with regional workforce requirements.

Both Ms Woodberry and Mrs Walls agreed that the key to the successful delivery of these “dual sector” educational programs was the long-standing, productive relationship between UNE and TAFE that has seen, among other developments, the establishment of UNE Regional Study Centres at seven TAFE locations in the New England North West Region. “It’s a reflection of the growing maturity of the UNE/TAFE relationship,” Mrs Walls said.

Twenty senior students from schools around the region visited the University of New England earlier this month to share their keen interest in the science that supports primary industries.

The full-day event, part of UNE’s Primary Industry Centre for Science Education (PICSE) program, brought together students who held PICSE Industry Placement Scholarships last summer and students who have applied for next summer’s scholarships.

The scholarships are part of the national PICSE program, which is addressing the shortage of scientists in agricultural industries by building relationships between school students, teachers, universities, and local scientists and employers associated with these industries.

Morgan Murtagh, a Year 12 student from O’Connor Catholic College in Armidale, worked with a UNE animal scientist, Associate Professor Julie Roberts, during his week-long industry placement in January. “The placement – and the preceding Science-to-Industry Camp – gave me an insight into the amount of work that goes into preventing disease in livestock and producing what consumers want,” he said.

“We also had the opportunity to look around the University,” Morgan said, “and that really confirmed my desire to study at UNE.”

Rachel Fenwicke, from Walcha Central School, worked at the Walcha Dairy during her industry placement, and tried her hand as milking, herding cows, fencing, and calf feeding.

Rachel, who comes from a Walcha beef property, said that she had always thought about agriculture as a career, and that her PICSE scholarship activities last summer had opened her eyes to agricultural industries other than beef. She said that, after a gap year in 2013, she’d like to study at UNE.

The reunion event, on Monday 2 July, gave the former scholarship holders a chance to renew friendships formed last summer, and to pass on their experiences to some of this year’s scholarship applicants. The day included hands-on experience in a UNE animal science laboratory, a visit to a goat farm, talks by researchers, and information about scholarships.

The UNE PICSE program has received more than 40 applications for Industry Placement Scholarships next summer. “This is the greatest number of applications ever received – and the quality of the applicants is of a very high standard,” said Susanna Greig, Science Education Officer for the UNE program. “Twenty of the applicants will be awarded scholarships, and we very much look forward to working with those students.”

Clicking on the PICSE logo above reveals a photograph of Susanna Greig (centre) with Rachel Fenwicke and Morgan Murtagh.