| In Tamworth, I was a guest speaker along with my colleague, Prof Alex Zelinsky, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Newcastle, at the very special event to acknowledge and celebrate the very generous bequest of Betty J Fyffe hosted by our Joint Medical Program (JMP). Her singular endowment has provided for some 50 UNE scholarships to support student candidates in medicine from remote and rural regions. This amazing gift will change their lives, and the lives of many across the generations, as once qualified they will fulfill their commitment to community health.
I was also hosted by Tamworth Regional Council who took me on a tour of the city’s facilities, to review their key infrastructure plans and to discuss where UNE might fit their agenda for growing workforce capacity, stimulating innovation and developing knowledge exchange hubs with industry. The goal is to support the city’s wider ambitions for cultural, social and economic development.
Our Tamworth Study Centre is already a valuable asset in our education offering for this region and, when coupled with capabilities of the JMP facility and the Smart Region Incubator (SRI), provides an important capacity building element in the emerging innovation ecosystem. The contributions we make to key events through outreach (e.g. music festival, careers advice, school outreach and business start-ups) extend the provision we already make through the Medical School, our health programmes and other related activities. |
