Bttl ampus News t UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG Issue No.6 Print Post approved number: 255003103485 December 1998 Pi STAGESTRUCKI PROFILE 1 1 .^^> ^ STRIKES GOLD Page 4 \ Pau\A/els PAGE 5 1 UOW triumphs in Kirsten walks dog whelk from research grants he University of Transformation Studies Wollongong (UOW) has (CAPSTRANS). from 1999-2004. T confirmed its place as one It will respond to the needs of of the nation's leading research Australian business, govemment and universities, outperforming other stakeholders for a high-quality significantly larger institututions research and teaching capacity in the latest round of hotly dedicated to understanding social contested Australian Research change in the Asia Pacific region and Council (ARC) grants. its consequences for Australia. Proving size was no barrier to The Director of CAPSTRANS research excellence, UOW secured will be UOW's Migration and funding for two out of seven Multicultural Studies program available Key Centres, matching the director Professor Stephen Castles. ancient Rome to Wollongong University of Sydney's effort. Professor Castles has earned an From fashion savvy ancient Romans, to the poetry of Browning and the The successful proposals were a intemational reputation in this field sex life of shellfish, a casual conversation with Kirsten Benkendorff can Smart Foods Centre in the Faculty of of study and has a long record of go anywhere. Health and Behavioural Sciences and policy advice and consultancy for the The young scientist, pictured above, quotes Browning with aplomb and a centre examining global migratory UN, governments and business. He good reason. issues in the Faculty of Arts. is the co-ordinator of the Asia Pacific Migration Research Network: a 12- When Browning wrote: In the ARC'S Research 'for who has not heard how Infrastructure Equipment and country research network associated Tyrian shells enclose the blue? Facilities (RIEF) grants. UOW with the UNESCO-MOST That dye of dyes ranked fifth, behind the universities (Management of Social whereof one drop works miracles of Sydney, Melbourne. Queensland Transformations) program. and colored like Astarte 's eyes and the ANU. The Deputy Director will be raw silk the merchant sells..." UOW also ranked fifth in Associate Professor Charles Stahl he was referring to a mollusc Kirsten has come to know better than most. Strategic Parnership in Industry (University of Newcastle), a Diacathais orbita. or Dog Whelk, is found along the Illawarra coast. It was Research (SPIRT) grants, ahead of prominent scholar of human also valued in the Roman empire as a source of deep blue or purple dye, still significantly larger institutions. resource development issues in Asia known today as Tyrian purple. UOW ranked ninth nationally for and an adviser for APEC and other The dye was rare, difficult to extract and consequentiy. at times, worth ARC Fellowships, gaining four. intemational bodies. more than gold to the Romans. The universities of Wollongong About 30 social scientists, Its rich colour was only activated when exposed to sunlight. and Newcastle jointly secured Key including economists, sociologists, Modem synthesised copies mean the molluscs are safe these days from Centre funding to establish the geographers, historians and plundering Romans but they are still vulnerable to pollution and destruction Centre for Asia Pacific Social • Continued Page 11 of habitat. And it has taken Kirsten to bring new meaning to Browning's use of the Seasons greetings word "miracle'. I would like to take this opportunity in the last Campus News for 1998 Kirsten hopes the bio-chemical precursor to Tyrian purple she has to wish all our readers a happy and safe Christmas/New Year period. isolated in the egg capsules of the mollusc will 'work miracles', not just as a Thank you to everybody who forwarded their story ideas. The next natural medicine, but as an impeUis to protect endangered invertebrates issue will be published at the start of the academic year in 1999. everywhere. Bernie Goldie, Editor See story page 4. 'Hard call' pays off: UOW the State's best education exporter ive and 10-year investment plans, finks Technology Corporation (ITC), which is the with the World Bank, AusAid and the University's private company. FOECD, are not concepts most people UOW was the first university to estabUsh a usually associate with the tertiary sector. business relationship with the World Bank. But such planning and relationships have, for "While other universities work with the World almost a decade, been part of the strategic direction Bank, UOW remains the bank's largest partner in of the University of Wollongong (UOW). the Australian tertiary sector. , ^y , rime Minister and Minister for ^ The success of this approach was publicly ITC adapts education products for offshore and mn Fischer, centre, with UOW Vice- / acknowledged in October, when UOW won the distance delivery and tenders for intemational Chancellor Professor Gerard Sutton, right anil Austrade-sponsored 1998 Education Export Award education and training projects. Vice-Principal (International) and ITC Managing Director Jim Langridge at the in the NSW Premier's Awards. It has established strong Unks with education national export awards. UOW consequently reached the national final organisations and industry groups here and on 1 December, where RMIT was announced the overseas through its base in Wollongong and In 1991 the University, through the TTC, took Australian export award winner in the education offices in Sydney, Bangkok, Dubai and Tokyo. the strategic decision to compete in the difficult category at a gala dinner at Sydney's Star City ITC also works with the Asian Development overseas education marketplace. Complex. Bank, UN agencies and the Asian private sector. "We decided on this path even knowing that we UOW won the NSW award for its outstanding In 1993, UOW became the world's first would have little chance of successfully bidding for export achievement in education, education university to establish itself in the United Arab any tender contracts for at least five years," Mr services, facilities, expertise and curriculum. Emirates, and its Dubai campus now delivers Langridge said. The award recognised substantial achievement degree courses to 300 Middle East clients. "Despite our limited resources, persistence has in the University's overseas earnings in 1997, University amalgamations under the Dawkins now paid off, not only for educational consultancy which grew by more than 35 per cent. administration, in the late 80s, were a watershed for contracts but also in attracting full-fee paying "Innovation and risk are well-known terms for higher education. overseas students," he said. the University of Wollongong," according to Mr •While UOW was not part of this process, as a By recraiting these students, the University's Jim Langridge, the 'Vice-Principal (Intemational) direct result, its size in relation to other universities export earnings grew from nothing in 1986 to more and the Managing Director of the Illawarra was significantly reduced. than $20 million in 1997. Teaching award successes wo University of to UOW. All are collaborative grants Tasmania in "Changing History Wollongong academics with other universities. Teaching". The grant is for were shortlisted in the The University has received one $127,705. recent 1998 Australian Organisational grant — only nine Sandra Wills and Richard T have been awarded nationally from Caladine in CEDIR are Awards for University Teaching. Gordon Waitt, Geosciences and 85 applications. The grant is valued collaborating with Charles Sturt Caz McPhail, Mathematics and at $ 189,894 which is about $40,000 University, Southern Cross Applied Statistics, were among a over the usual maximum for this University, Griffith University, ANU small group of teachers who reached type of grant. and Central Queensland University the final of the keenly contested The organisational grant has on behalf of the National Council for awards, now in their second year. gone to Greg Hampton and his team Open and Distance Education on the The pair attended the awards at Student Services (Neil Trivett, Jan project, "Staff Development for ceremony with 300 people in the Skillen, Margaret Merten and Alisa Flexible Learning and the Use of Great Hall of Parhament House in Percy) for their project, Resource Based Learning Materials: Canberra in late November. "Development of interactive A National Initiative". The grant is While neither won their category, unileaming online resources". UOW for $114,050. both shortlisted nominees were are collaborating with the University Peter Rose in the University proud to have reached the final. of Western Sydney and the Foundation is collaborating with Meanwhile, the University of University of Melbourne. Swinburne University of Wollongong's notable achievements UOW also won three Staff Technology, RMIT and Central in this year's ARC grants, UOW has Development grants with only 12 Queensland University on the awarded. project, "Unleashing the potential of •Pictured Caz McPhail and also achieved excellent results in the Gordon Waitt 1999 teaching and development John McQuilton (History and work-integrated-learning through grants. Politics) is collaborating with professionally trained academic and Development and Organisational The Committee for University Griffith University, University of industry supervisors". The grant is grants close in February. Contact Teaching and Staff Development Melbourne, ANU, University of for $96,580.