Celebrating 20 Years

One of the things I love most about my job as VC are the opportunities I have to chat with students – whether it’s at a BBQ lunch on campus, celebrating their success at a graduation ceremony or welcoming them to campus at orientation week – it is always refreshing to remind myself of the role we play in helping students reach their full educational potential.

I had the chance to meet Renee, one of our BA Professional Communication students recently, who is currently completing her third and final year at CQUniversity. Over the summer semester, Renee is undertaking a work placement with the CQUniversity Corporate Communications team.

CQUniversity offers one of the best mixes of classroom and workplace-based learning of any Australian university and the Corporate Communications team were very keen to have Renee on board for this opportunity.

Interestingly enough, the project Renee has been tasked with during her placement is CQUniversity’s 20th anniversary celebrations. 2012 is a very special year for CQUniversity – and Renee. Although founded in 1967 as an institute of technology, 1992 was the year we gained full university status. Renee just happens to be holding her own ‘20th celebrations’ next year as she was born the same year we became a university.

You might say 20 years doesn’t seem very long in the world of higher education and you’d be right. I like to think of us as being ’20 years young’. One definition I found for young was “being in the first part or period of growth”. I think this describes CQUniversity’s current period of renewal perfectly – this is only the beginning – there are bigger and better things to come.

We have a unique history and a most interesting story to tell. There are countless achievements and successes to be proud of over the past twenty years and I’m very excited to have CQUniversity’s Professor Denis Cryle compile our history since 1992. You’ll be hearing more about our plans to celebrate our 20th anniversary and I’m sure Renee will do us proud – as one of our students – to help bring this all together.

$73.8m funding boost for CQUniversity

It’s been a long time coming, but we finally have confirmation!

It was extremely pleasing to receive official word from the Commonwealth Government last week regarding our funding application for higher education investment monies.

CQUniversity has received $73.8m, part of a total pool of $377m from the Structural Adjustment Fund (SAF) and Education Investment Fund (EIF) for 2011.

These funds will allow the University to enter its next phase of development and is a major step forward in the process to revolutionise post-schooling education to better meet the unique skills needs of this region.

At a special briefing event held this morning to mark the funding announcement, it was fantastic to be joined by so many supporters such as Member for Capricornia Kirsten Livermore and Central Queensland Institute of TAFE Director Gary Kinnon. A large crowd of university and TAFE staff joined with community members, Rockhampton region Mayor, Councillors and representatives from Capricorn Enterprise, the CQ NRL Bid and Central Queensland Indigenous Development to hear how the funding would be utilised.

There are several major projects set to benefit from these funds:

• readying the university for our proposed merger with Central Queensland Institute of TAFE, including new interactive teaching and learning spaces across the numerous CQIT and CQUniversity sites in Central Queensland, to allow for better interaction between campuses;
• a new state-of-the-art engineering precinct at CQUniversity Mackay which will feature purpose-built workshops and learning centres; and
• a further stage of the public-access allied health clinic at CQUniversity Rockhampton.

I believe this funding announcement demonstrates just how crucial CQUniversity is to the national higher education sector and to the communities of the booming Central Queensland region.

These funds represent one fifth of the overall SAF/EIF funding pool for 2011, which is a massive vote of confidence from the Government in the CQUniversity, and our plans for dual-sector status and the development of a world-class engineering school in Mackay.

I look forward to sharing more details about these projects as they progress, but for now, I would like to express my thanks to the Commonwealth Government for its foresight in recognising the immense contribution a dual-sector university, offering world-class engineering programs, will make to a region like Central Queensland and to the many staff who helped put this funding application together – it has certainly been worth the effort.

Leading Australian nurse authors

Earlier this year, CQUniversity was extremely fortunate to appoint one of its senior researchers – Professor Brenda Happell – as an Engaged Research Chair for Mental Health Nursing. We always knew at CQUni that Brenda was an amazing person – an esteemed researcher and Professor with a highly-regarded research track record.

So I was delighted to see a recent Journal of Clinical Nursing (JCN) article confirm what many of us already know – that Brenda is one of Australia’s top nursing academics, based on a detailed analysis of research publications undertaken by the JCN.

The analysis of research citations published in the JCN includes a special index where a score between 10 and 14 indicates an ‘excellent publication record'. Professor Happell's special index of 20 puts her in the top three on the ranking table.

CQUniversity has a strong and proud history in the nursing discipline. From our first offerings on the Rockhampton campus, we have now expanded to be located on another four campuses of CQUniversity – Mackay, Bundaberg, Noosa and Emerald – with both on-campus and distance learning. 2012 will see CQUniversity celebrating not only 20 years as a university, but also celebrating 20 years of graduating nursing students.

As the JCN so aptly put it “despite the many ways that publication outputs can be measured, calculated and ‘crunched’, it is important not to lose sight of the primary aim of nursing research – that is to improve patient care, enhance the health care experiences of patients and families, and strengthen the skills, sustainability and well-being of the nursing workforce.”

Whilst we are extremely proud of Brenda’s ranking in the JCN, it is the dedication and skill of Brenda and her colleagues that we are most proud of.

Representing Queensland on the world stage

I had a very busy and productive visit to Brisbane earlier this week.

I was very honoured to join the Deputy Premier and Treasurer Andrew Fraser for the launch of a new industry-led peak body the Study Queensland Industry Council (SQIC) on Wednesday. I was invited to be a member of this board – Chaired by Professor Bill Lovegrove, VC of the University of Southern Queensland – which aims to represent Queensland’s international education and training sector on the world stage.

CQUniversity is already one of Australia’s leading providers of international education and I believe this peak body will assist greatly with presenting a cooperative and holistic face for Queensland when we market overseas.

Mr Fraser spoke yesterday at the launch about how the SQIC will expand Queensland’s reputation as a world-class base for education and training services.
Education services are already Queensland’s third largest export industry, generating over $2.8 billion in export revenue in 2009-10 and providing jobs for around 17,000 Queenslanders – and CQUniversity is very proud to play a major part in this.

Internationalisation permeates all aspects of CQUniversity and the concept of international activity is not new to us. Over the past two decades, CQUniversity has grown to be multi-campus, multi-city university focused on preparing highly diverse learners for internationally-engaged and effective professional practice wherever they may be situated.

I think Queensland will have plenty to gain by boosting cooperation among providers, as international students may wish to experience ‘lifestyle’ study locations along the coast as well as city and rural campuses, while moving seamlessly between vocational and tertiary programs.

Speaking of our international students, I had a great evening with a group of CQUniversity Alumni in Brisbane following the launch of SQIC yesterday. Chancellor, Rennie Fritschy and I joined staff from the Brisbane campus and our Office of Development and Graduate Relations to host a reception for graduates and university donors. It was wonderful to hear stories about what our alumni have been up to since graduating and all said it was a nice feeling to be back ‘on campus’.

This was also an opportunity for me to thank our donors and other supporters as we truly value these relationships and love catching up with past students whenever possible.

Dual-sector progress

Things are progressing at a steady pace with our aim to be Queensland’s first dual-sector university.

Since the Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh paid us a visit in August this year to announce her approval for merger talks to proceed between CQUniversity and Central Queensland Institute of TAFE (CQIT) (see previous blog), I am pleased to say I was in Brisbane recently to meet with Julie Grantham, Director-General of the Department of Education and Training (DET) (pictured).

During this visit, Julie and I signed a Heads of Agreement document between the State of Queensland (represented by DET) and CQUniversity that records another significant milestone in the progress of the proposed merger between CQUniversity and CQIT.

This agreement commits CQUniversity and DET to more intensive negotiations leading to a detailed merger agreement down the track. I am looking forward to continuing the work we are undertaking with DET and CQIT to ensure this proposal achieves a positive outcome not only for the Government, CQIT and CQUniversity, but most importantly for the communities in Central Queensland.

Whilst we are waiting to hear from the Federal Government about our application for funding which will assist with this process, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Nik Babovic and his team are working hard to ensure we are ready to proceed to the next level of our journey to dual-sector status.

I’m sure this will pay off in years to come with greater study choices and career pathways for our regional students, helping them tap into our ongoing resources boom.

I look forward to sharing more information with you as progress is made.

Investing in our future

Figures released recently by the Minister for Tertiary Education, Senator Chris Evans, paint a very bright future for Australia’s universities.

It is pleasing indeed to see operating surpluses on the increase, revenue for the sector up 8.2% and Government funding increased by 8.9% in 2010.

CQUniversity was attributed as having an operating deficit for 2010 in this DEEWR report - Finance 2010: Financial reports of Higher Education Providers – which on the surface, may be cause for concern, but when put into context, comes as no surprise given our current rate of rapid expansion.

These figures are based on information we provided to the government for the 2010 reporting period and if you look closely at other sections of the report, it shows CQUniversity to have a ‘retained surplus’ of $205 million and a ‘total equity’ value of $284 million.

So, what does this all mean exactly? To put it simply, it means we have been using a large portion of ‘our own money’ to fund a rapid expansion of infrastructure, research and academic talent and fresh degree programs over the past two years. The University Council and I made a commitment when I was appointed Vice-Chancellor that we would ‘put our money where our mouth is’ and reinvigorate investment in our future and embark on a path of renewal at CQUniversity.

The first major milestone of CQUniversity’s Renewal Plan was to be financially sustainable by 2011 – and I am very pleased to say that we have achieved this goal. CQUniversity’s finances are in good position which means we have been able to draw largely on our own resources, knowing there is still plenty of ‘money in the bank’ to retain an overall surplus.

Dozens of projects are contributing to the university’s renewal program of upgrading teaching infrastructure and building new teaching and community facilities such as a multi-million dollar relocation of CQUniversity Brisbane; a brand new 72 room student accommodation facility and medical science laboratories in Mackay (pictured above); a $13M allied health clinic and $10.5M redevelopment of our engineering teaching precinct in Rockhampton; construction of sonography laboratories in Sydney and refurbishment of research centres in Adelaide and Rockhampton to name just a few.

It could be argued we are Queensland’s fastest growing university and if anything, the table contained in the DEEWR report reflects our ambitious renewal program – we aren’t sitting on our reserves, we are investing it in our future – our students.

We are looking forward to 2012 and another strong year of enrolments. We are expanding program and course offerings at all campuses and developing fully-fledged university cities, increasing participation in higher education and addressing workforce needs. In fact, I recently found out our new Paramedic Science program is 65% over enrolled for next year and (unfortunately) we will need to turn students away.

So it is all good news – we are not going broke – far from it.

International Engagement

I was fortunate enough to travel to the Middle East recently as part of a CQUniversity business delegation along with colleagues Ken Hawkins, Geoff Wessling and Jamie Palmer. Whilst overseas, the Chancellor, Rennie Fritschy and I also travelled to India and Singapore.

The Middle East is truly a remarkable part of the world and it was very exciting to explore possibilities such as joint research projects, delivery of training programs for workers in the resource and health sectors and reconnect with CQUniversity alumni who have returned home after completing their studies in Australia.

I believe being a leading provider of international education brings with it a responsibility for ‘giving back’ to the students and countries that chose CQUniversity as their preferred study option.

During my overseas trip, I was very honoured to officiate CQUniversity’s partnership with one of India’s most progressive NGOs, Salaam Baalak Trust, to improve educational opportunities for Indian students and to provide assistance to street children. This is all part of our aim of being Australia’s most engaged university and helping to facilitate access to higher education for all individuals.

My earlier blog on the Salaam Baalak partnership generated some interest from people wanting to know more about how they can be involved with this initiative. Once I have spoken with staff next week, I will post further details about how the wider community can assist CQUniversity with this inspirational programme.