Charles Darwin University offer $2.3 million in scholarships boost elite engineering course

Scholarships valued at more than $100,000 each are on offer to build the infrastructure of the Northern Territory.

A new Bachelor of Engineering Co-operative degree program has been created by Charles Darwin University (CDU) to link with local and national industry, combining paid work with study. The Northern Territory Government Department of Planning and Infrastructure (DPI) is providing $2.3 million to fund up to 20 scholarship places on the new course. The scholarships are valued at up to $117,156 each, with recipients receiving a stipend of $15,000 for each full year of the four and a half year degree course. The remainder of the scholarship award – almost $50,000 for each student – is in the form of paid work placements with the DPI.

Chief Executive Officer of the DPI, Richard Hancock said students would gain practical knowledge and work experience on a range of infrastructure projects to build the Territory.

“These work experience placements will provide students with on-the-job skills and experience, and opportunities to develop close working relationships with professional engineers,” Mr Hancock said.

The scholarship program also will allow students to participate in relevant work placements in both the private and public sectors. CDU’s Head of School of Engineering and Information Technology, Professor Friso De Boer said the quality and structure of the Co-op degree would provide benefits to the NT by supplying more job-ready engineers to the workforce, while the scholarship program would attract and retain the best and the brightest in the Territory.

No application is required. Eligibility for the Co-op degree and DPI scholarships will be assessed on academic merit, with a minimum TER score of 85 for high-school leavers. Eligible candidates will be contacted directly.

Visit the CDU Scholarships website for further information.

Armidale welcomes its international students

Photo: Sayaka Nunotani from Osaka with UNE VC Professor Alan Pettigrew (left) and Armidale Mayor Peter Ducat.

More than 100 students, newly arrived at the University of New England from 21 overseas countries, received a civic welcome to Armidale in the Town Hall on Friday 22 February 2008.

They represented a total of 222 new overseas students at UNE this year – about double last year's number.

The Mayor, Councillor Peter Ducat, said it was "a great honour" for him to be welcoming the students in a Town Hall decked with the flags of so many countries. "And it's a great honour for Armidale that you've chosen our city as a place to study," he continued.

Councillor Ducat welcomed each of the UNE students – as well as several overseas students at Armidale schools – in person. "The people of Armidale enjoy the cultural experiences you bring," he told them. "We want to participate in your cultures, and we encourage you to participate in ours."

He invited them to continue their relationship with Armidale after completing their current study programs by returning for further study or on business.

The Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Alan Pettigrew, urged the students to enjoy their Armidale experience and to consider the possibility of subsequent degree courses at the University. He remarked on the increasing numbers of overseas students coming to Armidale.

The largest national group at the welcome, comprising more than 40 students, was that from China, while the second largest (20 students) was from Japan. Among the largest of the other groups were those from Bhutan, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Thailand.

Sayaka Nunotani (pictured here), a second-year UNE student from Osaka in Japan, thanked the City and the University on behalf of all the international students. Ms Nunotani said she had arrived at UNE's English Language Centre in 2006 and, having completed the English language course, was now in the second year of a Bachelor of Business degree program.

"Coming to Armidale has changed my life," she said, "and I feel very lucky that I made the choice to come here. On behalf of us all, I thank the people of Armidale who have accepted and welcomed us into their community."

She told the newly-arrived students that Armidale – with its University – was a place of "fresh air and clear skies", surrounded by a rich natural environment, and inhabited by friendly people.

University of New England re-organises - 10 new professorial heads of schools to be appointed

I was fascinated to read that the University of New England, the oldest university located in Regional Australia, is advertising no less than 10 professorial heads of schools.

The move is one outcome from the University's latest strategic review during which it redefined its role as "achieving regional and global impact", thus trying bridge and integrate two key elements that have always existed within the institution.

All of Australia's universities have been, to use the old quote, "living in interesting times." Because of demographic change, numbers in the traditional feeder cohorts are down from their peak, increasing competition for students. Funding has been squeezed, making universities more reliant on international full fee paying students. There is also more competition for research dollars.

In all this, Regional Australia's universities continue to offer a more personalised alternative than many of the metros.

Part of the reason for this lies in size. Some of the major metro universities are simply huge.

According to the latest stats that I could find, in 2006 the University of Sydney had 45,848 students, UNSW 38,776 and UTS (Sydney) 32,712. In theory, size allows the universities to offer a wide range of courses. In practice, size often translates to bigger classes and tutorials, to remoteness, to lack of contact with staff.

Overseas, full fee paying students, is another variable. In 2006, Sydney had 9,680 overseas students, UTS 8,954 and UNSW 8,618. These are big groups. In theory, the presence of overseas students should enrich campus life, and indeed it does in some cases. The problem in practice, however, is that the very large number of overseas students makes for lack of integration and interaction between them and local students.

In all this, the University of New England faces a particular challenge because of the small size of the immediate population base surrounding the University. New England has to persuade its internal students to move from home to live on or near the main Armidale campus. While this makes for an intense student experience, the University still faces a significant challenge because of the stay at home nature of a high proportion of the nation's metro young.

Despite the problems, the University's collegiate, residential, feel remains one of its greatest strengths because it clearly differentiates the University from its metro rivals.

Regional Australia's universities- engines for regional development

Interesting short article in the Sydney Morning Herald by Professor Gerard Sutton, VC at Wollongong University, on the role that Regional Australia's universities play in driving regional development. Unfortunately I cannot give the link.

Unlike New Zealand where university development was relatively widely spread, the establishment of universities in Regional Australia really lagged. It would be 1928 before the Armidale Teachers College was established as the first higher educational institution outside the metro centres, 1938 before the New England University College was founded. There was then a very long gap until the creation of Newcastle University first as a University College and then as a full university in 1965.

Professor Sutton makes the point that Regional Australia's universities are working hard to create university cities outside the metros - at places like Wollongong, Newcastle, Armidale, Bathurts, Lismore, Wagga Wagga, Townsville, Toowoomba, Ballarat and Geelong, just to mention a few.

These universities have very different roles in their communities as compared to the metros. As an example, they often have to drive the creation of infrastructure, rather than taking what is there as given. In doing so, they greatly enrich their local communities.

They are also major employers, injecting billions of dollars into regional economies directly and through their attraction of students who have to be fed and housed.

Now here Professor Sutton makes the point that regional universities have a responsibility to provide much more by acting as catalysts for development in ways in which metro universities need not and, often, could not match.

He is, of course, correct. Regional Australia's universities have acted as pioneers not just in the development of new teaching and learning approaches, but also through their contributions to regional development.

University of New England scores high on student satisfaction rankings

In my last post I mentioned the problem of cheating by overseas students at the University of New England.

While the post focused on the general issue and was not negative about the university, this type of problem is still difficult to handle and can leave doubts in people's minds about the institution.

Given this, I thought that I should also record that UNE has, yet again, scored top marks in the latest national survey on student satisfaction.

University of New England acts to stamp out cheating by overseas students

One thing that overseas students planning to study at Australian universities need to understand are the Australian rules on plagiarism. In essence, you must not use other people's work without attribution.

I mention this point for two reasons.

First, it is a breach of good academic practice that is banned in most universities. Secondly, and this is an important point for many overseas students studying in Australia looking to use their studies as a visa entry point, if you get caught you can lose your visa or chance at a visa.

The importance of both points has been highlighted by the firm action taken by the University of New England upon discovery of potential cheating. In the words of the University:

After suspicions regarding plagiarism by an individual student were raised and reported to UNE senior management in November 2006, a range of actions were swiftly undertaken by the University. Following confirmation that the initial allegation was indeed a case of plagiarism, a working party was formed. This working party commissioned a sample audit to determine if there were further cases of plagiarism within the unit. The results of this audit caused sufficient concern to warrant a full audit covering all students who completed the unit in question from 2004 – 2006.

These processes have revealed that, of the 210 theses involved in the unit under review, a significant proportion are alleged to be plagiarised. Having set out the allegations, these cases must now be the subject of fair process before the consideration of any penalties can be put to the University Council.

This is not the first such Australian case. The internet can make it very hard for a staff member to detect cheating on an individual basis. However, modern textual techniques do make it much easier to detect patterns of cheating once a University has been alerted.

Those who cheat not only damage themselves and their university, but also create problems for other students. The new techniques cannot always distinguish between deliberate cheating and inadvertent errors by other students in the way they present material.

Regional Living Australia's University Index - Australia's top universities ranked by student experience

Photo: IT Building, University of the Sunshine Coast, a surprise performer in the Regional Living Australia university rankings.

Discussions about Australia's universities tend to be dominated by the so-called Gang of Eight, a group of eight universities - Western Australia, Adelaide, Melbourne, Monash, ANU, Sydney, NSW and Queensland - that are trying to position themselves as the dominant Australian universities.

These universities attempt to focus the debate on higher education, and with some success, on those attributes that best suit them in the battle for funding and position. The same type of thing comes through if you look at existing ranking systems, they focus on things that the universities themselves think are important

I have been concerned for some time that the discussion ignores the single most important thing, the student experience. Some of the most highly ranked universities offer the worst student experiences. So I thought that it might be interesting to try to create an undergraduate student centric ranking.

To do this, I have taken data from the Good Universities Guide 2007 and attached numbers to the star system they use to rank performance in different areas. So five stars gets five points, four stars four points and so on. Universities are then ranked by their total score.

In doing so, I have had to make judgements about the relevance of different areas to the student experience. Detailed notes on methodology follow at the end of the post.

At this point, the rankings cannot claim to be rigorous. However, the process and results are interesting.

The Rankings

A list of Australia's top 32 universities follow ranked by student experience. The M and the R indicate whether the university's main campus is in metro or Regional Australia. Many university's have a number of campuses.

I found the results very interesting.

There is a spread of 18 points between the top university, Wollongong, and the bottom group. Four of the top five universities (Wollongong, New England, ANU and Sunshine Coast) are located in Regional Australia.

I had expected UNE to be in the top group because it scores well on a number of student indicators. However, the presence of Sunshine Coast and Avondale College in the top 15 came as a surprise.

There is an interesting change process here in that many of the newer and smaller institutions (Avondale is actually long established but has only broadened its tertiary role recently) are obviously strongly student focused and hence score very well on student indicators.

Some of the major metro universities actually performed better than I expected. While not in the top group on some of the key student indicators, they score better on student entry demand and tend to score better on immediate jobs and salaries after graduation, thus pulling their rankings up. Queensland did best of the metros because it got reasonable scores across a range of indicators.

I mentioned the Gang of Eight. Their position in the rankings are Queensland (second), ANU (4=), Melbourne, Sydney and Western Australia (6=), Monash and the University of New South Wales (16=) and Adelaide (35th, 17 points). Not bad overall, but hardly sufficient to warrant their claims for university supremacy.

Within the Group of Eight, I was surprised at Adelaide's low ranking. Intuitively, and this is based on recent experience with both institutions, I would also have ranked Sydney lower, UNSW a little higher.

The rankings are:

• 1 University of Wollongong 40 points (R)
• 2= University of Queensland 35 points (M)
• 2= University of New England 35 points (R)
• 4 = Australian National University 33 points (R)
• 4= University of the Sunshine Coast 33 (R)
• 6 = University of Melbourne 32 points (M)
• 6= University of Sydney 32 points (M)
• 6= University of Southern Queensland 32 points (R)
• 6= University of Western Australia 32 points (M)
• 10= Charles Sturt University 31 points (R)
• 10= Murdoch University 31 points (M)
• 12= Avondale College 29 points (R)
• 12= Central Queensland University 29 points (R)
• 12= James Cook University 29 points (R)
• 12= Swinburne University of Technology 29 points (M)
• 16= University of Canberra 28 points (R)
• 16= Monash University 28 points (M)
• 18 Victoria University 27 points (M)
• 19= Australian Catholic University 26 points (M)
• 19= Macquarie University 26 points (M)
• 19= University of New South Wales 26 points (M)
• 19= University of Technology Sydney 26 points (M)
• 23= Charles Darwin University 25 points (R)
• 23= Curtin University of Technology 25 points (M)
• 23= Southern Cross University 25 points (R)
• 23= University of Tasmania 25 points (R)
• 27 University of Ballarat 24 points (R)
• 28 Flinders University 23 points (M)
• 29= Edith Cowan University 22 points (M)
• 29= Griffith University 22 points (M)
• 29= La Trobe University 22 points (M)
• 29= Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology 22 points (M)

Methodology

My focus is on the undergraduate experience. Postgraduate study raises different issues.

I have also focused on HECS funded places because I did not know how to weight full fee places.

Bond University is a case in point. I ranked all universities including Bond which scored 40 points, equal to Wollongong. But all Bond students pay fees. How do I balance this in terms of value to get a like for like index? This was too difficult, so I excluded Bond for the present.

The Good Universities Guide 2007 provides star rankings from one to four for universities across a number of dimension. At this stage in the development of the index I simply converted stars to point, adding them up to get a score.

I included the following criteria and for the following reasons:

• student demand. I included student demand because this shows what students think of universities at the time they enter. This criterion favours the established metro universities.
• entry flexibility. I included entry flexibility because this is important to students. This criterion favours the smaller universities who tend to be more flexible.
• gender balance. I hesitated about this one, but finally included it because most students like having members of the opposite sex around.
• Educational Experience - overall experience. I included this and the following criteria because they bear directly on the student experience while at university.
• Educational Experience - teaching quality.
• Educational Experience - generic skills.
• Educational Experience - overall satisfaction.
• Graduate starting salary. This and the following criterion are there as a measure of of immediate work outcomes, again something important to students.
• Positive graduate outcomes. Included as an overall measure.
• Cost of living. Included as a negative score from -1 to -5.

I excluded the following criteria and for the following reasons:

• Non-Government Earnings, Research Grants and Research Intensity. These three criteria were were excluded because their linking to the undergraduate student experience is uncertain and is in any event picked up by the educational experience criteria.
• Access and Equity. The Good University Guide has a number of tables under the heading access and equity. With two exceptions, entry flexibility and gender balance, I excluded these on the grounds that they either did not affect the educational experience or, to the degree that they did, the effect was picked up under other criteria.
• Cultural Diversity. I placed no weight on cultural diversity because the effects are too uncertain. In theory, cultural diversity can add to the student experience. In practice, and as seen at some of our larger metro universities scoring high on cultural diversity in part because of the presence of large numbers of fee paying international students, there appears remarkably little interaction between different groups.
• Staff-Student Ratios and Staff Qualifications. You would think that these are important. However, the apparent correlation between these and the educational rankings does not appear high, while they are in any event picked up in educational measures.

Regional Australia's Universities - student satisfaction rankings

I have been browsing the Good Universities Guide 2007 to see if Regional Australia's universities have maintained their high student satisfaction rankings. The short answer is yes.

If we look at the top rankings for the overall education experience, we find that Regional Australia's universities get 10 of the top 16 places :

• Five stars - highest ranking: Avondale, Bond, Christian Heritage College (metro), Murdoch (metro), Sunshine Coast, Swinburne (metro), University of New England, Wollongong
• Four stars: Australian National University, Ballarat, Edith Cowan University (metro), James Cook University, Queensland (metro), Southern Cross, University of Southern Queensland and Victoria University (metro).

If we now look at teaching quality, we find that Regional Australia's universities again 10 get of the top 16 places:

• Five stars: Australian Maritime College, Avondale, Bond, Christian Heritage Centre (metro), Murdoch (metro), Sunshine Coast, Swinburne (metro), University of New England
• Four stars: Ballarat, Central Queensland University, Edith Cowan University (metro), James Cook University, Queensland (metro), University of Southern Queensland, Victoria University (metro), Wollongong

If we now look at the educational experience in terms of the acquisition of generic skills, we find that Regional Australia's universities yet again get10 of the top 16 places.

• Five stars: Avondale, Bond, Christian Heritage Centre (metro), Murdoch (metro), Sunshine Coast, Swinburne (metro), Victoria University (metro), Wollongong
• Four stars: Australian National University, Ballarat, James Cook University, Newcastle, Queensland (metro), Southern Cross, Sydney (metro), University of New England

Finally, if we look at overall student satisfaction, we find that Regional Australia's universities get 11 out of the top 17 places.

• Five stars: Avondale, Bond, Christian Heritage Centre (metro), Murdoch (metro), Swinburne (metro), University of New England, University of Southern Queensland, Wollongong
• Four stars: Australian National University, Ballarat, James Cook University, La Trobe (metro), Queensland (metro), Southern Cross, Sunshine Coast, Victoria University (metro)

I find it interesting that, with the exception of the University of Queensland, none of the best known metro universities appear on these lists.

Why go to a mass university?

On this blog I have often encouraged people to consider the regional option for higher education because I think that it gives a more intense educational experience.

My eldest has just switched to the University of NSW because it gave her a better subject choice. Today was her first day and she is in a state of shock.

In one of her courses, one that she did last year at another place getting a reasonable result, there are 1800 on campus students, many international, with eight parallel lectures and twenty four parallel tutorials.

Like her father, Helen learns from interaction with staff and other students. She also wants to contribute to campus life. She is now wondering just how she might do this.

It's not surprising that the smaller universities located in Regional Australia rank so high on student satisfaction.

International Students and Regional Australia's Universities

This short post is directed at overseas students interested in studying at one of Australia's universities and their parents.

The purpose of your study is obviously critical to your choice of an Australian university. Depending on your objective, I would recommend that you or your children should consider studying at a university in Regional Australia for the following very practical reasons.

First, the cost is likely to be less, in some cases a whole lot less, even taking extra travel into account. By all manner of means pay the extra if you believe that the gains warrant it, but if you are like me and trying to do the best you can with a limited budget, then Regional is attractive.

Secondly, you or your children are likely to find it a lot easier to meet and mix with Australians simply because the local proportion of students is higher. This can be very important if you want to improve English, to learn about another culture. In some courses at some metro universities, the proportion of overseas students is now over 50 per cent. That's fine, but it blocks you off from local contact.

Thirdly, Regional Australia's universities on average consistently rate higher than their metro cousins on student satisfaction. Student numbers are lower, campus life more intense, relations with staff better.

Fourthly, if (and this is one of the hidden agenda items for many parents) the objective is to gain Australian permanent residency, then going to a Regional Australia university will do you no harm and may even do you good.

Finally, the actual standard of teaching tends to be higher in part because the student/teacher ratios are better. In some metro universities, tutorials have up to forty people in them, hardly a conducive environment for effective discussion.

Charles Sturt University - countering the drift to the metro cities

Regional Australia can find problems in attracting professional people even where good opportunities exist. The reasons for this lie in Australia's demographic structure.

Not only do our metro centres contain a significant proportion of the Australian population, they also attract a proportion of regional students to undertake professional training at metro students. Many of these subsequently stay in the metro area. The problem is most acute in our inland areas given the love that many Australians have for the coast.

I therefore read with interest a story from Charles Sturt University (CSU) providing further data confirming that regional education is by far the best way of meeting the professional needs of inland Australia.

With multiple regional campuses as well as a large distance education arm, CSU is one of Regional Australia's leading universities and has a high reputation among its students for the quality of education provided.

The latest research from CSU's Western Research Institute (WRI) shows that between 2003 and 2005 60 percent of CSU’s on campus graduates took up their first employment in regional Australia.

Seventy three per cent of CSU on campus graduates who came from regional locations, took up their first employment in regional areas. These results were in line with the earlier study by WRI which covered CSU graduates from 1995 to 2002.

This latest study also shows that 20 per cent of CSU graduates originally from metropolitan areas take up initial employment in regional areas, a gain of two percentage points on an earlier study. This area is important because it counters to some degree the impact of regional students studying at metro universities.

Overall, there has been a significant increase in regional students being initially employed in regional area, increasing by 1.3 per cent per year from 1995. Professions that particularly showed an increase of regional graduates over this time were involved in commerce, health and science.

Agricultural and environmental professions had the highest levels of initial employment in regional Australia, with 88 per cent of regional students employed in regional areas, followed by 82 per cent in the area of education, particularly teachers. The creative arts area was lowest with 57 per cent initially employed in regional areas.

“The WRI report confirms that the University’s strategy of providing comprehensive education for professions vital for the growth of inland Australia is helping satisfy a real demand,” said CSU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Goulter.

The results of the 2006 survey are drawn from various sources, including offical surveys of University graduates conducted by Graduate Careers Australia and information collected for the Federal Department of Education, Science and Training.

The research did not include the huge group of CSU graduates who studied by distance education, as the vast majority of these hold down full time jobs while they study.

Metro Students Face Housing Difficulties

This is the time of the year when students at Australia's universities start looking for accommodation for the new academic year. This year students in the metro cities and especially Sydney face major problems in finding places to stay at an affordable price.

According to Sydney's Sun Herald (21 January), Sydney vacancy rates are now down to 1.7 per cent, creating a rental crisis, with open for inspections crowded with up to 50 competing house hunters. The problem has become so acute that the Universities of Sydney, New South Wales and UTS have all been forced to advertise to try to find rental places for their students.

In the words of one student, we have to apply for whatever we can get. Another student, a fourth year at Sydney University, has spent all Saturday for the last four weeks inspecting houses. So far she has looked at 40 homes and is astounded at the poor quality of homes on offer.

One $480 per week rental property looked like "a bunch of junkies had been living in it." Students unable to live at home are looking at paying up to $180-200 per week for a single room in share accommodation. Food, travel and communications costs have to be added to this.

Students at universities in Regional Australia's universities are in a much better position. Rental markets can still be tight, but there is a wider range of available accommodation including good college accommodation at much lower rentals. Rental savings can be as much as $12,000 over a three year period for a better standard of accommodation.

Higher Education in Regional Australia - Charles Darwin University

Photo: Palmerston Campus, Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory

One of the interesting features of recent decades has been the rapid spread of tertiary education throughout Regional Australia. It used to be the case that metro students had more options for university study. As recently argued in a story on my personal blog, this is no longer necessarily the case.

One of the things that I do find interesting about Australia's regional universities is the way in which varying regional conditions leads to variations between the universities themselves.

While Australia's Northern Territory has an area of 1.346 million square km, 17 per cent of Australia, its population is only 197,590 of whom 24 per cent identify as Aboriginal. The remaining non-Aboriginal population have one of the most varied ethnic mixes in Australia.

In recent years the Territory's economy has grown very rapidly as a consequence of the mining boom, growing tourism and the relocation of major elements of the Australian Defence Forces to the Territory. The resulting building boom has transformed parts of the Territory and Darwin in particular.

The Territory is the closest part of Australia to Asia, with both Indonesia and East Timor a short plane flight away. This closeness has a significant affect on Territory life.

Charles Darwin University reflects this varied mix.

With 19,000 students covering both vocational and higher education subjects and multiple campuses and study centres throughout the Northern Territory, the University is the Territory's largest tertiary institution and also has the highest proportion of indigenous staff and students of any university in Australia. It offers a wide range of undergraduate and post graduate study opportunities.

The University has a strong research focus and is renowned for its research expertise and leadership in tropical and desert knowledge of the Australian and Asia-Pacific region, with particular focus on indigenous knowledge and addressing problems of importance to the peoples of the region.