Open minds make all the difference

Do you know that almost half of the population will experience a mental health disorder at some point in their life?

That’s right, mental health issues are common, but there is still an immense social stigma attached to mental health disorders.  This is most likely why many people prefer not to seek help despite recognising the symptoms.

What’s more mental health will affect most of us on different levels from time to time and I’m sure there isn’t one person who from time to time hasn’t needed time off work for ‘mental health day’. So why is there still such a social stigma? Why is talking about mental health still so taboo in this day and age? Why is it more socially acceptable to get the flue then it is to be suffering from depression?

As life gets busier, mental health issues are going to become more prevalent so it’s everyone’s responsibility start recognising the signs and looking at mental illness without the stigmas. Someone suffering from a mental illness shouldn’t have to hide it, if they choose they should be able to openly discuss it in the same way they would a cold or a sports injury.

Initiatives like Mental Health Week and RU OK? Day have done much in recent years to start addressing taboos around mental health and have quite likely save many lives because people have realised that mental health is something they can talk about and get with.

As depression is predicted to be one of the world largest health problems by 2020, I think we should all continue to check on our loved ones, friends and colleagues (and even complete strangers) from time to time, not just on highlighted days. Importantly we should also take stock of our own mental health and act on it.

CQUniversity is a world leader in mental health nursing research and I am very proud of the innovative work Professor Brenda Happell and her team do in this area.  This important research is not just helping students learn about the complex area of mental health nursing but is helping individuals and communities in achieving better mental health outcomes. Through the work of this team, students at CQUni have the opportunity to collaborate closely with teachers who have a lived experience of mental illness in order to deeply understand consumer perspectives on mental illness and recovery and to de-stigmatise mental health issues. This method helps students to understand that people suffering from mental illness aren’t just patients but people with the same needs, hopes and dreams as everyone else.

This helps our students understand that mental health sufferers are not just patients, but are real people with hopes, dreams and desires that go well beyond their mental illness. This approach is leading the way in Australia and overseas by involving the mental health ‘consumer’ in their own recovery, delivering empowerment to both the caregiver and receiver. 

A true inspiration

As a Vice-Chancellor I am lucky enough to meet people on a daily basis who inspire me. They might be a student who has overcome significant hardship to be accepted into university and go on to top their class, a staff member who thinks of an innovative new way to do something, or a member of the community who is doing their bit to help others.

Every now and then however you will come across someone who complete blows you away. Someone who’s story is so powerful it makes you look deep within yourself to see if you to have those same qualities. For me that happened when I had the pleasure of meeting Matthew Ames.

Matthew is a husband and father of four (as well as the brother of one of our lectures Dr Kate Ames), who just over a year ago suffered from a severe illness, whereby the only way to save his life, was to amputate both arms and both legs. Afterwards he was in a coma for three weeks and spent almost two months in intensive care. In the year since his operation, Matthew has made a recovery that has amazed everyone who has shared his journey, powered by love and support from his family, a positive attitude and focus on what he can do, rather than what he can't.

Matthew is without a doubt one of the nicest and most remarkable people I have ever met. His bravery and resilience in the face of such adversity is nothing short of amazing. To see what he has achieved in only one short year since his illness makes you really believe that nothing is impossible.

Everyone at CQUniversity was lucky enough to have the opportunity to attend a guest lecture with Matthew and I know that every single person who went along would have come away a better person because of it.

Thank you so much for sharing your story with us Matthew, and also to your wonderful wife Di.

If you would like to learn more about Matthew and his story please go to http://renovatingmatthew.com/

Me with Matthew and his wife during their recent visit to CQUni Rockhampton

Success in QS ratings helps to bring about positive focus

QS Stars is a breakaway ratings system from the highly reputable Times Ranking System, that rates universities from around the world in categories such as internationalisation, online delivery, access, teaching, employability and research.

This was our first time participating in the ratings system, and we achieved an impressive 3 stars overall, while scoring specifically a 4 star rating for both teaching and facilities. But the major cause for celebration in all of this was our 5 star rating for internationalisation, access and online delivery.

We pride ourselves on being a university for everyone and to receive ratings like these for student accessibility, online delivery and internationalisation (indicated by our proportion of international staff and students, as well as the strength and number of our international partnerships) is truly a great achievement.

Ratings like these not only give us all a much needed pat on the back but help us enormously to build our global reputation and attract students to our University. Participating in these ratings also provides us with a benchmark for future growth and improvement. 

Pro Vice-Chancellor Ailsa Lamont accepts CQUniversity's award in Istanbul

Real World learning preparing students for the 'Real World'

There’s no doubt about it, the human body is both weird and wonderful and our Allied Health students get to learn every day about its quirks. Specifically they are now beginning to get an even greater insight into human anatomy, thanks to the use of plastinated body parts within our anatomy courses.

For those who have never heard of Plastination, it is a chemical technique developed by Germany’s Gunther von Hagens, made famous by his Body Worlds exhibitions. The technique preserves bodies, or body parts (yes actual human body parts from people who have donated their bodies to science), so that they can be safely used for educational purposes. CQUniversity is one of the first Australian universities to introduce plastinates.

The intricate detail preserved within each plastinate makes them perfect for tertiary level programs, and so there was little hesitation when it was proposed that this ingenious teaching tool should be introduced into our class rooms. Coming from a health background myself, I cannot stress enough the value of learning about the human body from a human body. What’s more the use of these plastinates is a great way to help familiarise students with the human body in way that is much less confronting than the use of cadavers.

The use of such realistic teaching practices is a direction I am proud that CQUniversity is taking. Along with plastinates our School of Medical and Applied Sciences have also introduced displays cast from original bone, from the Bone Clones® Human Adult Skeleton Series and our School of Nursing and Midwifery has gained National and International recognition for the Mask-Ed (KRS Simulation) pioneered by our very own Professor Kerry Reid-Searl. 

This ‘real-world’ approach is not only preparing our students for clinical practice but is preparing them for their careers. Click here to see a video about plastinates at CQUni.

From the Torres Strait to the Pilbara, via CQUni

The great thing about universities is that every student who comes through the door has a different story to tell - how they got there, why they chose to study and where they are going next. Every story is unique and so is every student.

In our latest CQUniversity Be Magazine there is a great example of this, in the story of Adeah Kabai.

Adeah is from Sabaii Island, a remote island in the Torres Strait, located just four kilometres from Papua New Guinea. He talks about his homesickness after leaving the Island, to attend boarding school in Yeppoon and the struggles he faced being away from his family at such a young age, before going on to become a student at CQUniversity.

At the age of 15 Adeah’s life changed when he was asked to attend an Indigenous engineering summer school at the University of New South Wales. It was this experience that opened his eyes to the possibilities that lay ahead and his future career in engineering.  It also made him understand that by attaining a good education he could one day go on to apply his skills to helping the community of Sabaii Island.

Adeah’s higher education journey initially began in Sydney, but after a semester he decided that he preferred life in Central Queensland and was accepted into the CQUniversity Bachelor of Engineering Co-Op program.

The Co-Op program is unique in that it offers students the chance to embark on paid work experience with organisations in their chosen industry. In Adeah’s case he gained a cadetship through Rio Tinto’s Indigenous Cadetship Support Program. Not only did Adeah get to learn through paid, real-world, work experience but he was also guaranteed full-time employment after graduation.

Adeah will now be taking up a full-time position with Rio Tinto in an iron ore mine in the Pilbara, commencing next year. Adeah is a great ambassador for CQUniversity and I am sure his story will go on to inspire other Indigenous students living in rural and remote areas. 

Click the image above to read more about Adeah's story

Everyone a winner

More than 150 students from across our campus network, visited Rockhampton last week to take part on some friendly sporting action and take in the local region. Many of the students were international students from our metro campuses, so they really relished the opportunity to visit Central Queensland and the heart of their university.

The home team took home the prize at the end of competition, but all participants were winners at the end of it all – making new friends and sharing new experiences.

Many thanks to all the students who participated and the fantastic staff who make the competition possible!

The sky is the limit for distance ed

CQUniversity has long been a provider of distance education within the Australian higher education Sector. We have been doing it for decades (almost 40 years to be precise) and I’d like to think we’ve made plenty of advancements since then.

People choose distance education for many different reasons – flexibility being number one. Many students realise that external study is the most convenient way for them to combine study with personal commitments, as they work towards a post graduate qualification, or seek to change their career path.  

The demand for distance places and programs is most certainly increasing, with many Australian universities now realising this need. Notably those that have not previously had a presence in the space are now moving towards delivering courses and or programs via distance mode.

Aside from flexibility, it goes without saying that technology, particularly mobile technology is the key driver in the uptake of distance programs. Rapid developments in technology are changing the way we learn and retrieve information, and most importantly changing expectations. Ten years ago many of our students were still receiving hardcopy learning materials in the post and weren't able to take advantage of the lectures and tutorials that on-campus students could. Now they can receive learning resources instantaneously in the palm of their hand and attend classes just by following a link.

As well as contributing to a more interactive learning experience for students, technology is also allowing universities to expand distance program offerings. In fact one of the most exciting programs being offered by CQUniversity, via distance education is paramedic science. In this instance technology has made all the difference in being able to effectively deliver this program, to hundreds of student’s right across Australia.

I’m sure there will be many cynics out there that can’t possibly see how such a hands-on discipline could be studied by distance. In response I can only say that the program recently received glowing feedback from the Council of Ambulance Authorities (CAA) at a site evaluation. 

Paramedic Science educators with representatives from the CAA

CAA members themselves, admitted to be sceptical about how effective the delivery of this program would be via distance, but left CQUniversity convinced that this was a way forward for education. What’s more they commented that CQUniversity was leading the way.

Of course we don’t completely rely on the online delivery of courses for distance education, with many of our distance programs having a residential school component. The schools allow our distance students to come together in realistic settings to gain hands on practical experience.

I have absolutely no doubt that in the next few years distance education will take off as both demand grows and new learning technologies emerge. It is a very exciting time for not just CQUniversity, but for students and the higher education sector as a whole. 

On the topic of distance education our Cairns Distance Education Study Centre (DESC) is celebrating its first year in operation this month. It’s a great facility that has been well utilised by our students in Far North Queensland. We’ve since opened centres at our metro campuses as well. If you are a distance student and want to know more click here.

Distance students in Cairns celebrating the 1st Birthday of the Carins DESC