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Volume 6, Edition 4 – July 2010 |
ATN in PROFILE
The ATN says the elevation of Julia Gillard as Prime Minister should auger well for higher education in Australia. ATN Chair, Professor Ross Milbourne said, “With this change in leadership and Ms Gillard’s comments this week about education remaining a portfolio that is “very close” to her heart we are confident that higher education will continue to receive the attention it deserves.
The Australian Technology Network of Universities (ATN) congratulates Simon Crean on his appointment to the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations portfolio.
Any promises of additional funding for regional education initiatives must be underpinned by sound policy rather than ‘band-aid’ solutions which may undermine current successful initiatives. In commenting on the recent announcement by the National Party, ATN Chair, Professor Ross Milbourne says, “The commitment from the National Party to provide funding to help regional Australians get to university is a welcome recognition of the importance of higher education to the national economy. However, the ATN seeks clarification about how and over what time the fund would be allocated.
Following the recent announcements made in June by then-Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, all ATN universities have now been successful in securing funding from the $2 billion Education Investment Fund (EIF).
The ATN congratulates the Government for following through on reforms proposed by the 2008 Bradley Review of Higher Education, with the passage last week of the Higher Education Support Amendment (Indexation) Bill 2010.
Whilst enthusiasm for building Sino-Australian research partnerships has been high in all members of the NanoNetwork, some of our Chinese members in particular have been very enthusiastic and active in their efforts to build strong partnerships. Southeast University has continued its strong commitment to the NanoNetwork with recent visits to Australia designed to strengthen both joint research activity, as well as bilateral teaching and exchange of PhD students.
Australian and Canadian researchers will work together to address challenges in health and the environment in the first round of a new exchange program between the ATN and the University of Waterloo.
Further increasing linkages between Australian and Chinese NanoNetwork
partners in preparation for joint PhD supervision, Professor Cheng Peng has
been appointed an Honorary Associate within the Department of Physics and
Advanced Materials
at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS).
Seven weeks into the 16 week Global Corporate Challenge, RMIT Power leads the ATN challengers with a team average of 16,380 a day.
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