Thank you and Merry Christmas

The past couple of weeks have been hectic!

I have been attending graduations at the Metropolitan Campuses. I never tire of meeting with our graduates and their families. It was a special week for me because my son graduated. Here is a picture of him with his Mum Anita. I could really relate to how the families at the CQUniversity ceremonies were feeling.

We are fast approaching the end of the year and what a year it has been.

We have had a great deal of success in our teaching and learning, research and engagement. Our teaching quality was recognised by the Good Universities Guide and with the outcome of our AUQA audit review. We are also seeing an improvement in our student retention which is very pleasing. We are really starting to ramp up our research efforts and I am sure we are going to excel in coming years. It is great to see so many world class researchers choosing CQUniversity as their academic home. We have defined what we mean by engagement - and our efforts are being recognised nationally and internationally.

Many of our new programs have gotten off to a great start in 2011. This year we had the highest percentage increase of first preference applications of all the Queensland universities. Many of our staff have been working very hard to write new programs and to renew programs for next year and we are seeing very strong applications for 2012 – this is all very good news.

We have also received quite a few early Christmas presents this year. The Federal Government has awarded us more than $70m in SAF and EIF funding (see previous blog) and we have also won over $3m in HEPPP funding which will help us to improve university participation in Central Queensland. On top of this we have been given over $2.5m from BMC and BMA for scholarships. Success follows success and we certainly are very successful!

So the year comes to an end on a high note. I want to thank all the staff of CQUniversity, including those employed through our C Management Services subsidiary, for their hard work this year in moving us towards being one of Australia's truly great universities. In this respect I would also like to thank those who do not work directly for the University but who have also contributed greatly over the past year. This includes Council Members, Engagement Committee members, work placement supervisors, volunteers, alumni and community supporters. Thanks to you all.

I get the feeling 2012 is going to be an even bigger year, with more programs being introduced, many exciting new campus developments and a time when we will be celebrating our 20th anniversary since becoming a university.

I am off early this year for a Christmas break. It is Anita’s 50th birthday on Saturday and we are having a party in Cairns so I am really looking forward to that.

I hope you will have time to view a short Christmas video that has been put together by Elizabeth Tansley - http://youtu.be/JVLxJsVxHS0

Have a safe and happy Christmas and I look forward to continuing the great work next year.