Archive for the 'BEPP' Category

The University of New England’s most outstanding accounting and finance students have been recognised by Australia’s national accounting peak body, CPA Australia.

More than 178 awards were presented to the New England Business School’s top-ranking students last Friday.

UNE Chancellor, Dr Richard Torbay extended his congratulations to students and staff at the Business School, and said the awards were evidence of the high teaching quality and calibre of UNE students.

Dr Torbay stressed the importance of industry links, and the benefits of strategic relationships between educational providers like UNE, and industry associations, like CPA Australia for young people at the beginnings of their careers.

“New England Business School and CPA Australia have a strong, and long-term relationship that has provides enormous benefits for both students and staff at UNE.

“A key feature of the relationship is the regular visits by high-profile CPA Australia members to the University,” Dr Torbay said.

Vice Chancellor and CEO, Professor Alan Pettigrew suggested the awards provided an opportunity for CPA Australia to meet some of UNE’s top ranking students.

“Regular visits by industry organisations significantly negate the potential professional isolation of being in a regional area, and help establish strong and productive national networks not only for our staff but also for our students.

“When they visit, the people from CPA Australia spend an extraordinary amount of time talking one-on-one with students, as well as giving more formal talks,” Professor Pettigrew said.

NSW Director of CPA Australia Ron Switzer said he was pleased that the strong relationship between the accounting and finance peak body and UNE provided tangible benefits to students.

“The awards are designed to provide an opportunity for both CPA Australia and the University to recognize and celebrate the hard work and commitment of business students upon graduation.

“Today’s business students will be tomorrow’s business leaders, and it’s important that the outstanding achievements of UNE business students are recognized and provided with a much encouragement as possible during the early stages of career development,” Mr Switzer said.

This article was written by UNE’s Marketing and Public Affairs and reproduced here with their permission.

On July 8-12, 2009, the SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise) team from the University of New England travelled to Sydney to compete at the National SIFE Competition, where they performed strongly, proceeding to the final, championship round.

The National competition and conference was facilitated by SIFE Australia and saw the arrival of more than 20 university teams from throughout the country, along with high profile executives from some of Australia’s top corporations.

The program involved career development seminars, individual topic presentations and main round presentations, where each university vied for the championship title and the opportunity compete at the SIFE International conference in Berlin, Germany.

The team from SIFE UNE presented a project they are working on with the Minimbah Aboriginal Corporation Preschool & Primary School in the HSBC Financial Literacy competition. Their performance was praised by both judges and peers for its “ethical responsibility and innovation”, according to Jo Vickery, business lecturer and SIFE organiser at UNE.

Another feature of the conference was the Top to Future Top’s seminar where individuals from SIFE teams were able to sit down with company executives from corporate heavyweights such as Woolworths and HSBC to discuss issues such as climate change and the global financial crisis.

In the Main Round of competition, SIFE UNE presented their Minimbah, Armidale Profile, Farming for the Future and Wool Expo projects. SIFE UNE received accolades from judges, SIFE officials and competing university teams, and progressed first to the Semi-Final round and later to the Championship Round, where they were considered in the top four SIFE teams in the nation.

“This achievement is a testament to the dedication and hard work of all involved in the SIFE UNE team,” Ms Vickery said.

(This article was written by UNE’s Marketing and Public Affairs and reproduced here with their permission.)

At a ceremony in China last week, the University of New England (UNE) and Wuxi South Ocean College (WSOC) celebrated the 10^th anniversary of a highly successful educational partnership.
The partnership has brought about 350 students from the College in Jiangsu Province, China, to Armidale, NSW, to undertake business studies at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels at UNE.
UNE’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alan Pettigrew, speaking at the Wuxi celebration, said that the partnership was “enriching - both personally and professionally - for students and staff at both institutions”.
“While WSOC students gain from UNE’s strong international reputation for academic excellence and outstanding student support services,” he explained, “UNE benefits from the cultural diversity WSOC students bring to the campus and the internationalisation of our academic program.”
Professor Pettigrew said the relationship, begun in 1999 as a Collaborative Teaching Agreement, had become an Advanced Standing Arrangement in 2006. Under this arrangement, Wuxi students undertake 2.5 years of study (including English language) at WSOC, and then move to Armidale, where they transfer with Advanced Standing into an undergraduate program for their final 1.5 years of study. There are currently more than 70 Wuxi students at UNE completing their Bachelor of Business degree studies.
The Director of the Wuxi Municipal Education Bureau, Mr Lu Weidong, also speaking at the ceremony, reflected on the success of the 10-year association and commended all staff members involved for the high quality of the program.
Professor Xiaoxing Zhou, the President of WSOC, was the host for the occasion. He was accompanied by the previous President, Professor Honglu Zeng (a member of the WSOC Council), Dr Kevin Gao (the Assistant President of WSOC, who is a UNE graduate), Mr Michael McAuley (the College’s Associate Dean Academic), and Mr Mark Zhang (Vice Head of School - and also a UNE graduate).
The Head of UNE’s School of Business, Economics and Public Policy, Professor Alison Sheridan, and the UNE team leader for Wuxi, Dr Peter McClenaghan, accompanied Professor Pettigrew to Wuxi for the celebration.
Special guests at the ceremony included Mr Iain Watt, the Minister-Counsellor for Education at the Australian Embassy in Beijing, Mr Kevin Qian, Chairman of the Chiway Holding Group (of which WSOC is a subsidiary), and Dr Xiangning Yang, Vice Director of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education, who is also a Professor at Nanjing University.
During the ceremony Professor Zhou and Professor Pettigrew joined in launching the WSOC & UNE Alumni Association, and Professor Pettigrew presented Professor Zhou with a painting of the UNE building in which Wuxi students attend most of their classes.
The image displayed here expands to show Professor Xiaoxing Zhou (left) and Professor Alan Pettigrew launching the WSOC & UNE Alumni Association.
This article was written by UNE’s Marketing and Public Affairs and published with permission.

UNE is again offering the highly successful Lucy Mentoring Program to women students studying law, business, accounting, finance and economics.  If you are in your third or final year of your studies and have achieved consistently throughout your degree then you are invited to apply to be part of the Lucy Program.

“Lucy” as it is called, is an innovative mentoring program which will inspire, motivate and educate women about the opportunities available for employment and leadership in major corporations and the public sector. Since the Lucy Program began in 2006,  350 students have graduated from the program.

“Lucy” is a partnership between the NSW Office for Women, Women Chiefs of Enterprises International and the University of Sydney, Western Sydney, New South Wales, Newcastle, Wollongong and the University of New England.

The Lucy Mentoring Program aims to match our students with local men and women in senior positions in either the public or private sector.  The purpose of the mentoring relationship is to communicate to women the diversity of opportunities available for them in the private and public sector.

Here at UNE, the Lucy Program is jointly co-ordinated by Ms Airlie Bell and Ms Julia Perryman from Careers Assist and Dr Lou Conway from the School of Business, Economics and Public Policy.  Students are invited to attend an information session on Thursday 12 March from 4-5pm in the Lewis Seminar Room in the Economics Business and Law Building.  Further information is available on the Lucy Blog at <a href=”../../lucy/”>http://blog.une.edu.au/lucy/</a>UNE is again offering the highly successful Lucy Mentoring Program to women students studying law, business, accounting, finance and economics. If you are in your third or final year of your studies and have achieved consistently throughout your degree then you are invited to apply to be part of the Lucy Program.

“Lucy” as it is called, is an innovative mentoring program which will inspire, motivate and educate women about the opportunities available for employment and leadership in major corporations and the public sector. Since the Lucy Program began in 2006, 350 students have graduated from the program.

“Lucy” is a partnership between the NSW Office for Women, Women Chiefs of Enterprises International and the University of Sydney, Western Sydney, New South Wales, Newcastle, Wollongong and the University of New England.

The Lucy Mentoring Program aims to match our students with local men and women in senior positions in either the public or private sector. The purpose of the mentoring relationship is to communicate to women the diversity of opportunities available for them in the private and public sector.

Here at UNE, the Lucy Program is jointly co-ordinated by Ms Airlie Bell and Ms Julia Perryman from Careers Assist and Dr Lou Conway from the School of Business, Economics and Public Policy. Students are invited to attend an information session on Thursday 12 March from 4-5pm in the Lewis Seminar Room in the Economics Business and Law Building. Further information is available on the Lucy Blog at http://blog.une.edu.au/lucy/

Article reproduced with permission from UNE’s news list.

Professor Brian Dollery (pictured here) from the School of Business, Economics and Public Policy, the Director of UNE’s Centre for Local Government, is a widely published authority on Australian local government finance and reform.

His new book, Local Government Reform: A Comparative Analysis of Advanced Anglo-American Countries (Edward Elgar, 2008), looks at local government change over the past 20 years in Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Ireland, the United States and Canada. Link here to UNE’s news list for more information.

SYMPOSIUM - New Pathways to Adoption and Diffusion of Primary Industries Innovations 25 November 2008 John Bessant, Professor of Innovation and Technology Management in the Tanaka Business School at Imperial College London, was the keynote speaker at an international symposium on primary industry innovation at the University of New England in November 2008. Link to UNE’s news blog for more information and to Primary Industries Innovation Centre website for additional news.

Fourteen undergraduate women at the University of New England have embarked on a five-month program that will introduce them to the realities of professional life in government administration, business, and law.Last Friday at UNE, the students met the people who are to be their mentors in the “Lucy” program.