Andy Williams sang of Christmas-time as the most wonderful time of the year but frankly, I think he got it wrong. It’s this time of year --- the start of Term 1 and Orientation for thousands of CQUniversity students that’s the most special.
I was so very pleased to be at the opening ceremonies for Orientation this week and met lots of new students – all looking extremely, calm, cool and collected. Far more composed than I can recall when I was enrolled…
2011 will be an extraordinary year for approximately 4000 commencing students, especially, and CQUniversity overall. We’re currently the fastest growing University in Queensland and are offering truly innovative and in-demand programs – twenty new and refreshed programs -- in areas such Law, Medical & Health Sciences and Engineering. Ours is the only accredited 3-year On-Line Bachelor of Laws in Australia. And our programs in Sonography and Medical Imaging have been developed by world-class experts in partnership with local and international medical providers including the leader in medical imaging, Philips.
It’s also a period of renewal and rebirth at CQUniversity, with more than $50million invested – in new Learning & Teaching infrastructure, student accommodations and research development. This year and next you will also witness a resurgence in CQUniversity Research as we engage more effectively with our community stakeholders, recruit new lead investigators and experts and establish research teams that will build on our emerging reputation for world-class research in such areas as Engineering and Medical & Health Sciences. We’ll also be growing fields such as Education, Simulation Science, Human Factors Analysis, Environmental Management and Policy, Clean Energy, Sustainable Regions/Communities, Industrial Ecology and more.
At CQUniversity we have a very strong ‘engagement’ agenda. Many of our commencing students will find themselves involved in workplace-related learning in the first months and years of their program.
They’ll also find that we want to hear from them frequently and learn from their experiences. I’ll have my second annual I’m All ears Tour this year when I will hold meetings on campus and host a live e-forum on line with students to hear first-hand what it’s like. And I won’t just listen and shrug my shoulders. The conversations I had last year with students have had a direct impact on the academic and support services we’re providing today.
Commencing students (and all students) will hear me talk a lot about making CQUniversity a ‘great’ University. They are studying with us during a very special and formative period in our history; one of significant advancement which will benefit all of us and our communities for decades to come.
It’s the start of Term 1, so --- as the holiday classic says --- be of good-cheer. After all, it’s the most wonderful time of the year.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
The Floods
I walked around Mt Archer this morning and took in the views around Rockhampton and the great “sea” of Rockhampton which wraps around much of the city. I also rescued my plane from the airport on New Year’s day. I have included a picture of what I saw taking off from Rocky airport.
I spoke this morning to our colleagues at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba. Amazing and utterly devastating. Tragically, I’ve been informed that some USQ staff are unaccounted for this afternoon – our thoughts and best wishes are with our friends at USQ. We have offered any help we can provide.
These floods, now affecting most of the state, have and will continue to have an impact on our students, staff, stakeholders and communities for months and years to come. In the midst of this, CQUniversity has put some financial measures in place to aid some students in need, and over the next few weeks we’ll be directing research funds into projects directly tied to the Central Queensland Flood and the its social, economic and environmental impacts. I’m very pleased that CQUniversity has been able to provide shelter to hundreds of displaced residents and animals at the CQ Community Sports Centre at Rockhampton and at our facilities at the Ag College in Emerald and am very grateful to our Facilities and Security staff, especially, who have liaised with the Red Cross to ensure enough resources are available to manage the evacuation facilities.
Some of our staff are stuck, unable to return to their campuses, but are working from other CQUniversity facilities or at home. Many here in CQ– students and staff – are hampered by the flood waters which have yet to really recede. I know, too, that this is also a worrisome time for many of us as we have families and friends in flood-stricken and flood-prone areas. I want you to know that your continued safety and well-being is my utmost priority. We can put processes and procedures in place to deal with flood-related administrative and academic issues, but we can’t replace people. The weather is unpredictable and no doubt there will be more harsh storms and flooding in the weeks to come.
Evacuation centres will remain operational for (at least) weeks to come as the communities we serve deal with the aftermath. CQUniversity is and will contribute to the recovery by providing services and expertise. Free mental health care for example is being provided by staff at the CQUniversity Psychology Wellness Centre in Rockhampton. Our experts have been talking with stakeholders about the floods’ impact on the Reef, the long and short-term economic issues we’ll be dealing with, as well as the infrastructure challenges we face across the state. As with other disasters CQUniversity will make donations to causes, in this case to organisations with which we have strong relations through our workplace giving program: the Capricorn Rescue Helicopter, the Royal Flying Doctors, CQUni Cares and more. Alumni and students have approached us wanting to contribute their talent and time as well….
For now, it is business-as-usual best-we-can in most circumstance, as we follow through on our engagement agenda. The construction of new Learning & Teaching and student residences in Mackay is on schedule for completion next month and the ongoing renovations of Rockhampton’s Engineering Precinct and Library are proceeding. Student applications and commencing numbers appear very strong. Some staff will be inconvenienced by the Evacuation Centre operations but I know they will understand under the circumstances.
As we prepare for T3 exams and T1 orientation and try to make some sense of the unfolding tragedies let’s please look out for one another and continue to be considerate of the personal circumstances of our friends, colleagues and neighbours.
I spoke this morning to our colleagues at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba. Amazing and utterly devastating. Tragically, I’ve been informed that some USQ staff are unaccounted for this afternoon – our thoughts and best wishes are with our friends at USQ. We have offered any help we can provide.
These floods, now affecting most of the state, have and will continue to have an impact on our students, staff, stakeholders and communities for months and years to come. In the midst of this, CQUniversity has put some financial measures in place to aid some students in need, and over the next few weeks we’ll be directing research funds into projects directly tied to the Central Queensland Flood and the its social, economic and environmental impacts. I’m very pleased that CQUniversity has been able to provide shelter to hundreds of displaced residents and animals at the CQ Community Sports Centre at Rockhampton and at our facilities at the Ag College in Emerald and am very grateful to our Facilities and Security staff, especially, who have liaised with the Red Cross to ensure enough resources are available to manage the evacuation facilities.
Some of our staff are stuck, unable to return to their campuses, but are working from other CQUniversity facilities or at home. Many here in CQ– students and staff – are hampered by the flood waters which have yet to really recede. I know, too, that this is also a worrisome time for many of us as we have families and friends in flood-stricken and flood-prone areas. I want you to know that your continued safety and well-being is my utmost priority. We can put processes and procedures in place to deal with flood-related administrative and academic issues, but we can’t replace people. The weather is unpredictable and no doubt there will be more harsh storms and flooding in the weeks to come.
Evacuation centres will remain operational for (at least) weeks to come as the communities we serve deal with the aftermath. CQUniversity is and will contribute to the recovery by providing services and expertise. Free mental health care for example is being provided by staff at the CQUniversity Psychology Wellness Centre in Rockhampton. Our experts have been talking with stakeholders about the floods’ impact on the Reef, the long and short-term economic issues we’ll be dealing with, as well as the infrastructure challenges we face across the state. As with other disasters CQUniversity will make donations to causes, in this case to organisations with which we have strong relations through our workplace giving program: the Capricorn Rescue Helicopter, the Royal Flying Doctors, CQUni Cares and more. Alumni and students have approached us wanting to contribute their talent and time as well….
For now, it is business-as-usual best-we-can in most circumstance, as we follow through on our engagement agenda. The construction of new Learning & Teaching and student residences in Mackay is on schedule for completion next month and the ongoing renovations of Rockhampton’s Engineering Precinct and Library are proceeding. Student applications and commencing numbers appear very strong. Some staff will be inconvenienced by the Evacuation Centre operations but I know they will understand under the circumstances.
As we prepare for T3 exams and T1 orientation and try to make some sense of the unfolding tragedies let’s please look out for one another and continue to be considerate of the personal circumstances of our friends, colleagues and neighbours.
Scott
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Great times
I have to apologise for not blogging – a very discreet reader has prompted me to get my act together and post. Indeed it’s been a while and admittedly I’ve been less than great when it comes to sitting down to write even though I am attached to two great devices: my iPad and iPhone…
Great as they are --- and they are --- I’m not convinced that I’m working any better. I’m doing things differently for sure. But better? The jury’s still out.
On a larger scale I’m struggling with that question on an organisational level as we progress through a Renewal Plan and make changes --- are we doing it better? Will the changes we’re making lead to ‘greatness’?
We’re seeing evidence of new ways of working together which has resulted in new programs in Law and Medical Science and so on; we’re employing different mechanisms to engage with our communities; we’re trying to be more consultative and transparent; and perhaps – most importantly – there’s a level of involvement from staff and stakeholders at CQUniversity that I have not experienced in other learning environments.
These, to me, seem to be great things. But I’m not the arbitrator of this. Our students, staff and partners are. They are the ones who will show us/me --- through enrolments and research activity, for example – if our rhetoric is matching up to what we are doing.
In 2011 the University will investigate improving, at all levels, the student learning experience. Our researchers, too, are taking on a challenge to develop new, talented, up-and-coming researchers and build on the quality and quantity of research output that already has CQUniversity operating – in terms of the global impact of our research – in the top 10% among all universities.
The sense I have is that greatness is coming. I am very pleased to be able to acknowledge known greatness later this month when the University presents awards in numerous categories to staff. I know, for a fact, we’re a better University because of their efforts and accomplishments.
Still, I admit that I remain challenged by the idea of defining and measuring greatness in ways that just don’t just tick boxes but are truly inclusive and reflective of other people’s perceptions of success and achievement, not just mine. I think I’ll add that my e-Task List --- in the meantime maybe someone out there can develop a simple Ap I could use?
Scott
Great as they are --- and they are --- I’m not convinced that I’m working any better. I’m doing things differently for sure. But better? The jury’s still out.
On a larger scale I’m struggling with that question on an organisational level as we progress through a Renewal Plan and make changes --- are we doing it better? Will the changes we’re making lead to ‘greatness’?
We’re seeing evidence of new ways of working together which has resulted in new programs in Law and Medical Science and so on; we’re employing different mechanisms to engage with our communities; we’re trying to be more consultative and transparent; and perhaps – most importantly – there’s a level of involvement from staff and stakeholders at CQUniversity that I have not experienced in other learning environments.
These, to me, seem to be great things. But I’m not the arbitrator of this. Our students, staff and partners are. They are the ones who will show us/me --- through enrolments and research activity, for example – if our rhetoric is matching up to what we are doing.
In 2011 the University will investigate improving, at all levels, the student learning experience. Our researchers, too, are taking on a challenge to develop new, talented, up-and-coming researchers and build on the quality and quantity of research output that already has CQUniversity operating – in terms of the global impact of our research – in the top 10% among all universities.
The sense I have is that greatness is coming. I am very pleased to be able to acknowledge known greatness later this month when the University presents awards in numerous categories to staff. I know, for a fact, we’re a better University because of their efforts and accomplishments.
Still, I admit that I remain challenged by the idea of defining and measuring greatness in ways that just don’t just tick boxes but are truly inclusive and reflective of other people’s perceptions of success and achievement, not just mine. I think I’ll add that my e-Task List --- in the meantime maybe someone out there can develop a simple Ap I could use?
Scott
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Sharing our gratitude
Well I have been back in Australia for over two weeks. How soon you get over holidays. It has been a hectic couple of weeks. On Sunday Anita and I were invited to the Chinese Association Moon Festival on campus in Rocky. We had fun. Yes fun. We met up with all our Chinese staff, students and their families. Played games and ate Moon Cake - fun!The first week back was spent on the road attending the Metropolitan Campus graduations. They were fantastic, as always. The best bit for me is meeting with the students and their parents after the graduation. We have so many proud parents traveling from across the globe. It really is quite humbling to meet these parents and hear how they have in many cases trusted us with their children and the future of their family.
Yesterday and today I am in Mackay, tomorrow in Rocky, Thursday in Gladstone and Friday back in Mackay. So hopefully I will be able to catch up with many of you.
Rockhampton graduation was also a great event - one that the Chancellor called the best Rockhampton graduation ever. I was particularly keen to see so many staff on stage and so many helping out in the centre. Well done to you all. We also have lots of back room people working to make the event a success such as the IT and security folk. They also did a great job.
And that brings me on to the point of this blog. We all love recognition. I am very lucky to have a boss - the Chancellor who is very generous with his praise. There is nothing better for me (well maybe one or two things!) than when he makes a positive comment about me or the University. I try and say thanks and well done as much as I can. I try and recognise a job well done or a person that goes beyond the call of duty. I know I don't do it was often as I should but I do.
I would ask you all to say well done to someone who has done a good job in the next week or so. Use the email to do it. Copy in their boss and copy in me. I want to hear about all the great work that is going on. I have heard it said in some parts of the University that we should not be doing this and it is only trying to seek praise. What utter rubbish. Let's all give praise where praise is due and let me know about it.
Let's make this CQUniversity recognition week!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Thoughts of home
Well it has been a hectic week. I am writing this sitting on a delayed airplane in Xian airport. We were told it had been delayed for an hour but there has just been an announcement that they do not know when it will take off. Oh well, no stress. We are in holiday mode.
A great day was had at the Forbidden City. There was more politics going on in pre-Revolutionary China than in modern day CQUniversity and that is saying something. One evening we went out to one of of Beijing's famous Peking Duck restaurants. We got a little carried away and ate ducks liver with scorpions. I have to say that for the past few days I have felt a little under the weather - I am not sure if this is due to the scorpions or not.
We travelled by China Eastern Airlines to Xian. Our main reason for the visit to this city was to see the Terracotta Warriors. These lived up to all the expectations. Our guide said that there were 8000 warriors that had been made by 720,000 slaves over 2000 years ago. I upset him a little when I pointed out that the slaves were not that productive - about ten thousand slaves to make each warrior!
Until visiting I had not realised that Xian was such an historic city in it's own right. It has an incredible city wall which encloses a fascinating Muslim area. There are enough replica terracotta warriors to form your own army.
Only a couple of days left and then back to work. I am on the road next week traveling to graduations around the country. I do enjoy the international graduations. I love meeting our graduates from overseas and their parents. Many of these graduates want to return to their own country and who can blame them when you look at the economic growth rates in China and India.
Just as many want to stay and make a life for themselves in Australia. What a fantastic resource they are for our country. At the moment we seem to make it very hard for people to come and join us in Australia. I truly believe that in the future with an ageing population countries will be competing to bring young talented people to their shores. If we get it wrong now we are going to find it very hard to compete in the future.
I hear people say that Australia cannot support many more people. Get real - there are cities in China that have more people than the population of Australia. What is driving economic growth in China and India is a large domestic population. I believe that we need to grow the population of Australia. What better way to do this than to bring in clever young people who are willing to pay for their own education, teach them in English and then keep then here to have a great life and to contribute towards Australia and help support it's ageing population?
International education has got a bit of bad name in recent years. To some extent criticism has been focused on the VET sector. I have heard a lot of scorn poured on back street colleges that have set up to train hair dressers and commercial cooks. This has culminated in these disciplines being taken off the migration list. But go to any tourist area or mining town in Australia and you will find a massive shortage of - you have guessed it cooks. I think that regional universities and TAFEs (or a dual sector university!) could play a very productive role in this area. Why not keep commercial cookery and the like on the migration list for students that had trained in regional universities or TAFEs and then require graduates from such programs to have to work in their discipline area for two or three years.
We have got to stop seeing international education and international students as some kind of threat. It is a sector that should be supported and international students should be encouraged to join us as Australians.
Some would argue that that it makes more sense to recruit people from overseas who have already qualified in their own country. But is this morally sustainable. By doing this we are taking talent away from some of the poorest countries in the world after their countries have invested scarce resources in them. With our migration points system we tend to take young people who have not had a chance to give any kind of return on the investment that has been made in them. This may be attractive to us - but does it make us good global citizens?
I guess I have some personal experience in all of this. I came to Australia for a better life about twelve years ago. I do sometimes feel uncomfortable that the UK invested in my education and I then left. I did leave after 15 years of service to the UK health and education sectors - that makes me feel better. I now feel more Australian than British in everything, with the possible exception of cricket!
So over the next week I look forward to meeting all our graduating international students and reflecting on how they will contribute to their own or our country.
We are now off to Shanghai where Anita is threatening to go into a shopping frenzy. I am looking forward to getting back home. I will be really interested to see if we have a government. Strange times!
A great day was had at the Forbidden City. There was more politics going on in pre-Revolutionary China than in modern day CQUniversity and that is saying something. One evening we went out to one of of Beijing's famous Peking Duck restaurants. We got a little carried away and ate ducks liver with scorpions. I have to say that for the past few days I have felt a little under the weather - I am not sure if this is due to the scorpions or not.
We travelled by China Eastern Airlines to Xian. Our main reason for the visit to this city was to see the Terracotta Warriors. These lived up to all the expectations. Our guide said that there were 8000 warriors that had been made by 720,000 slaves over 2000 years ago. I upset him a little when I pointed out that the slaves were not that productive - about ten thousand slaves to make each warrior!
Until visiting I had not realised that Xian was such an historic city in it's own right. It has an incredible city wall which encloses a fascinating Muslim area. There are enough replica terracotta warriors to form your own army.
Only a couple of days left and then back to work. I am on the road next week traveling to graduations around the country. I do enjoy the international graduations. I love meeting our graduates from overseas and their parents. Many of these graduates want to return to their own country and who can blame them when you look at the economic growth rates in China and India.
Just as many want to stay and make a life for themselves in Australia. What a fantastic resource they are for our country. At the moment we seem to make it very hard for people to come and join us in Australia. I truly believe that in the future with an ageing population countries will be competing to bring young talented people to their shores. If we get it wrong now we are going to find it very hard to compete in the future.
I hear people say that Australia cannot support many more people. Get real - there are cities in China that have more people than the population of Australia. What is driving economic growth in China and India is a large domestic population. I believe that we need to grow the population of Australia. What better way to do this than to bring in clever young people who are willing to pay for their own education, teach them in English and then keep then here to have a great life and to contribute towards Australia and help support it's ageing population?
International education has got a bit of bad name in recent years. To some extent criticism has been focused on the VET sector. I have heard a lot of scorn poured on back street colleges that have set up to train hair dressers and commercial cooks. This has culminated in these disciplines being taken off the migration list. But go to any tourist area or mining town in Australia and you will find a massive shortage of - you have guessed it cooks. I think that regional universities and TAFEs (or a dual sector university!) could play a very productive role in this area. Why not keep commercial cookery and the like on the migration list for students that had trained in regional universities or TAFEs and then require graduates from such programs to have to work in their discipline area for two or three years.
We have got to stop seeing international education and international students as some kind of threat. It is a sector that should be supported and international students should be encouraged to join us as Australians.
Some would argue that that it makes more sense to recruit people from overseas who have already qualified in their own country. But is this morally sustainable. By doing this we are taking talent away from some of the poorest countries in the world after their countries have invested scarce resources in them. With our migration points system we tend to take young people who have not had a chance to give any kind of return on the investment that has been made in them. This may be attractive to us - but does it make us good global citizens?
I guess I have some personal experience in all of this. I came to Australia for a better life about twelve years ago. I do sometimes feel uncomfortable that the UK invested in my education and I then left. I did leave after 15 years of service to the UK health and education sectors - that makes me feel better. I now feel more Australian than British in everything, with the possible exception of cricket!
So over the next week I look forward to meeting all our graduating international students and reflecting on how they will contribute to their own or our country.
We are now off to Shanghai where Anita is threatening to go into a shopping frenzy. I am looking forward to getting back home. I will be really interested to see if we have a government. Strange times!
Friday, August 27, 2010
Off the wall
We have just got back from the Great Wall of China. Truly awesome. It is one of those places that lives up to all expectations. How could human beings build it? The term wall does not do it justice - it is a series of forts linked by the steepest set of stairs you can imagine.
The experience got me reflecting on walls and CQUniversity. I know I am really very sad and I should not be doing this on holiday - but I can't help it. I think we can truly claim to be a University without walls. We are the most accessible University in Australia.
I am confident that we can become one of Australia's great Universities. We are going to do this through engagement. We are also going to do this through expanding our program offerings. In doing so we will provide some of the more popular programs. Some would call them elite programs. In doing so we are going to have to take care that we do not start to build walls around these programs and hence our University. That is not what we are about. It might be quite appropriate for some universities to have walls - but not ours. I think this is going to be another challenge for us as we move forward. It maybe that we have higher entry requirements for some of our programs but we still need to give people pathways to meet these requirements.
Like most walls the Great Wall was build to keep people out - that is the last thing we want to do.
Tomorrow we are off the the Forbidden City. I have not seen it yet but already it sounds like a few universities that I can all think of!
The experience got me reflecting on walls and CQUniversity. I know I am really very sad and I should not be doing this on holiday - but I can't help it. I think we can truly claim to be a University without walls. We are the most accessible University in Australia.
I am confident that we can become one of Australia's great Universities. We are going to do this through engagement. We are also going to do this through expanding our program offerings. In doing so we will provide some of the more popular programs. Some would call them elite programs. In doing so we are going to have to take care that we do not start to build walls around these programs and hence our University. That is not what we are about. It might be quite appropriate for some universities to have walls - but not ours. I think this is going to be another challenge for us as we move forward. It maybe that we have higher entry requirements for some of our programs but we still need to give people pathways to meet these requirements.
Like most walls the Great Wall was build to keep people out - that is the last thing we want to do.
Tomorrow we are off the the Forbidden City. I have not seen it yet but already it sounds like a few universities that I can all think of!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
China on track
Iam writing this blog on a train somewhere between Shanghai and Beijing after an interesting night on the train. I mentioned in my last blog that half the population of China were at the world expo yesterday. Well, last evening I found out where the other half were. They were at the Shanghai train station waiting for the T104 to Beijing. And that's a lot of people! You will see from the picture that the waiting room was "quite" full.
We seem to be the only non Chinese people on the train. People here are very friendly -- always ready with a kind smile and help when the silly Australians do something else stupid or don't understand some simple request.
We had sleepers in a compartment made up of two triple bunks. I had the top bunk and Anita the bottom one. The middle one was taken by a Father and his rather large son. Anita was the only female in our compartment of seven. She did not seem to mind too much.
My top bunk
was interesting. It was about 60cm wide, which would have been good except that I am about 62cm wide. I had another 60cm of head room. That put my ears about 20cm from the speaker which came on full volume at exactly 7am with the sounds of some demented birds singing. This was followed by light classics and the Carpenters. The music was interspersed with a very nice sounding young woman chatting away in Mandarin. I am fairly confident that she was wishing me the best for the day ahead.
Guys come along the train every few minutes offering all manner of food. If I wanted snake chow main for breakfast - no problem. About an hour ago we saw a man with coffee. Anita almost fell out of her bunk trying to catch him but alas she let him get away. Since then we have not seen the coffee man. Obviously the sight of the Westerner crawling after him down the train scared him off. If he comes back we are both going to jump on him.
So we are traveling rather than being transported. Cecilia from CMS helped us to book our travel and accommodation in China. What a star she is. She was, however, worried when we said we wanted to travel on trains rather than fly within China. She really should not have worried. Anita and I have backpacked all over the world. To be honest the trains in China are comfortable and very clean. We have always been of the opinion that we are happy to be transported for work but for pleasure you need to travel.
We seem to be the only non Chinese people on the train. People here are very friendly -- always ready with a kind smile and help when the silly Australians do something else stupid or don't understand some simple request.We had sleepers in a compartment made up of two triple bunks. I had the top bunk and Anita the bottom one. The middle one was taken by a Father and his rather large son. Anita was the only female in our compartment of seven. She did not seem to mind too much.
My top bunk
was interesting. It was about 60cm wide, which would have been good except that I am about 62cm wide. I had another 60cm of head room. That put my ears about 20cm from the speaker which came on full volume at exactly 7am with the sounds of some demented birds singing. This was followed by light classics and the Carpenters. The music was interspersed with a very nice sounding young woman chatting away in Mandarin. I am fairly confident that she was wishing me the best for the day ahead.Guys come along the train every few minutes offering all manner of food. If I wanted snake chow main for breakfast - no problem. About an hour ago we saw a man with coffee. Anita almost fell out of her bunk trying to catch him but alas she let him get away. Since then we have not seen the coffee man. Obviously the sight of the Westerner crawling after him down the train scared him off. If he comes back we are both going to jump on him.
So we are traveling rather than being transported. Cecilia from CMS helped us to book our travel and accommodation in China. What a star she is. She was, however, worried when we said we wanted to travel on trains rather than fly within China. She really should not have worried. Anita and I have backpacked all over the world. To be honest the trains in China are comfortable and very clean. We have always been of the opinion that we are happy to be transported for work but for pleasure you need to travel.
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