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Issue No 59 Queensland University of Technology newspaper 18 September 1990
Degree does justice to Fitzgerald
A new QUT degree in justice studies to begin next year will be a key initiative in post-Fitzgerald In- quiry police training, according to academics involved.
QUT guaranteed earlier this month that a minimum of 35 places will be offered to start next February within the Faculty of Law.
In an agreement with a Criminal Justice Commission committee, QUT will also collaborate with the Police Academy at Oxley to train at least half of the 600 new recruits ex- pected next year.
Course organisers, Dr Simon Petrie and Mr Gayre Christie, believe the new degree program and pre-service training scheme will help achieve the Fitzgerald recommenda- tion to "professionalise" the 5000-
trong Queensland police force.
"It will be part of a process to free policing of Fitzgerald Inquiry tar- nishes and see the emergence of police as responsible, autonomous and empowered professionals," Dr Petrie said.
The Bachelor of Arts in Justice Studies will aim to attract school leavers, serving officers, and those involved in associated justice ad- ministration and welfare organisa- tions.
It will p;·epare candidates for both the Queensland and Federal Police Services.
Dr Petrie, an Education Studies lecturer and consultant to the Fitzgerald Implementation Unit, said the degree program was first mooted in his submission to the Commission of Inquiry in March last year.
"It was suggested that something quite drastic was needed in the area of police education and training if real change was to be achieved," Dr Petrie said.
He and Mr Christie, a psychology lecturer who has trained police in interpersonal communication, have designed the course after further consultation with the CJC in February this year.
Mr Christie said the degree would provide a balance of practical professional training and theoretical perspectives.
"It will show that police can be
at the vanguard of critical social thought rather than simply reflecting general public opinion,"
he said.
"We see this as an opportunity to show how the justice profession can
be proactive in justice issues and change rather than reactive."
Subject to final approval, the de- gree, available full-time or part- time, will offer two majors, one in a professional justice field.
Professional majors will include policing, justice administration, cor- rective services, private law enforce- ment and possibly customs and court reporting.
Second majors will be offered in management, business, education, law, language and computing.
Core studies will include ethics, personal and interpersonal skills and contemporary Australian jus- tice issues, like ethnicitv and equal opportunity. Electives will also be offered.
The new Queensland 50-week pre- service training program next year
(which will replace the present 28- week course) will provide a certifi- cate and up to 96 credit points towards the justice studies degree.
Dr Petrie said the new degree was also in line with a national trend towards tertiary-based police educa- tion.
The Police Education Advisory Council, established by the CJC, supported the move in August.
The National Police Profes- sionalism Interim Advisory Com- mittee, chaired by Queensland Police Commissioner Noel Newnham, has also recommended that tertiary studies be compulsory for officers of inspector rank and above.
Under a federal police initiative, 70 per cent of officers will be re- quired to have a degree by 2010.
ew laser spectra
New research fellow, Dr Jeff Wilks, is set to study the marketing poten- tial of the recreational diving industry along the Great Barrier Reef.
Researchers dive in
QUT's first post-doctoral fellow- ship scheme has been launched with the appointment of two re- searchers.
The fellows are Dr Rob Harding, a QUT research scientist, and
p~ychologist, Dr Jeffrey Wilks, from the University College of Central Queensland in Rock- hampton.
Dr Harding, through the Centre for Molecular Biotechnology, will research genetic engineering tech- niques to control the bunchy top viral disease in bananas, while Dr Wilks will study the Barrier Reef scuba diving industry through the Key Centre in Strategic Manage- ment (see stories on page 3).
Office of Research manager, Dr Lyn Grigg, said they were selected from a "highly competitive" field of more than 20 national and interna- tional applicants.
Each candidate was judged on project merit, academic record, and research application to the two centres involved.
They have been appointed for two years on salaries in the lecturer range funded through the QUT re- search budget.
Dr Grigg said more fellowships ould be available next }ear.
"An injection of research exper- tise at this level is essential for QUT's continued development in the research arena," she said.
A highly sophisticated laser spectrometer, the first of its kind in Australia and one of only 12 in the world, looks set to transform re- search at QUT.
The Fourier Transform Infrared and Raman Spectrometer was delivered to the Chemistry Department at the end of August.
Valued at around $150 000, the spectrometer is part of a collaborative research and development program be- tween QUT and the Perkin Elmer Cor- poration, the largest manufacturer of scientific instruments in the world.
Even before it had arrived at QUT, the Raman spectrometer had won an
$8000 collaborative CSIRO grant to study coal and coal derived materials.
Coal and coal materials are so com- plicated, the Raman spectrometer was seen as the best possibility for obtain- ing new data about their structure.
Other researchers who know of the machine's existence are already lining up to maJ..e use of its analytical powers.
Infrared and Raman spectrometry are used to probe the chemical ~true
lure of materials and compounds.
While infrared spectrometry is well known, Raman spectrometry has not found great application.
The Raman Effect, a principle proved in 1928 by probably the best- known scientist in India's history, the Nobel Prize winning Sir C V Raman, is put to the test in the QUT machine by a high-powered laser beam.
It is a far cry from the original Raman experiment which used sun- light refracted through a simple prism.
While the Raman Effect was proven to be sound, the theory languished for many years because no-one had found the right way to put it to use.
The first paper on the Fourier trans- form application of the Raman Effect was only published in 1986 and it took the Perkin Elmer Corporation three years to refine the necessary equipment to put it to use.
In Raman spectrQillf;lry, ~e la~er
light is fired at the subject samPJe and
OUT Central Administration 2 George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 223 2111
the scattered light from the sample is analysed.
The distribution of intensity and wavelength of the scattered light yields valuable information about the chemi- cal features of the sample.
The man responsible for bringing the spectrometer to QUT and the head of the program is physical chemistry senior lecturer, Dr Peter Fredericks.
Dr Fredericks said he was excited about the potential uses of the spectrometer and about the prospect of the department being the first in Australia to be able to plan and assess applications of the equipment.
"It is like being let in on the ground
floor of a whole new area of research,"
"The possibilities for this equip- ment are bounded only by one's im-
agination," he said.
Dr Fredericks said moves were afoot already at the University of Queensland to seek a grant for polymer research using the spectrometer and the Australian Nuclear Science and Tech- nology Organisation had arranged a two-day visit to discuss research pos- sibilities.
He said the department was expect- ing groups from around Au!>lralia to be virtually beating a path to the door in order to use the new technology.
"I think this equipment will even have potential in the biological science area," Dr Fredericks said.
"It has the ability to look at large
molecules and biological material like blood and establish things about their structure."
Mr Eric Martinez, chemistry laboratory technician, with the new laser spectrometer.
Registered by Australia Post- Publication No. QBF 4778
Vice-Chancellor's comment
Democratic process key to restructure
The QUT/BCAE amalgamation was negotiated in the spirit of creating a new university from two equal partners. The Memorandum of Agreement which was endorsed by a Ministerial working party, approved by Councils of both institutions and resulted in an Act of Parliament, provided for estab- lishment of the Consolidation Implementation Committee (CIC) with terms of reference including examination of the organisation of the new university.
Amalgamation was never envisaged as a "take-over". Central to its suc- cess was the democratic process of coming up with a new structure and developing that structure was never going to be an easy task. The current structure (seven large faculties ofQUTand the six large schools of the former BCAE) requires substantial rationalisation and integration of common areas to enable effective management.
CIC established a working party to recommend an academic structure for the new university. I fully support the excellent job done by this working party and the consultative process employed over several months now in coming up with the latest model. As the university senses the developmental process coming to an end with the working party's final recommendations due to CIC, there has been a great deal of lobbying and discussion, not all of it objective. Constructive debate has been invited and taken into account by
the working party.
With the extent of change necessary in this community of 22 000 people, it is natural that a lot of people will feel anxious about how the changes will af- fect them. It will be impossible to please everyone.
However, we have reached the time when we must determine a forward- looking structure, one which will take the new university into the 21st century.
Built Environment students protest against the faculty proposal.
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A new QUT Degree in Justice Studies will help
professionalise the Queensland Police Force (Story Page 1)
University awaits historic academic model decision
University staff and students are awaiting a final decision on the proposed eight-faculty academic structure after months of discussion and debate.
QUT Council is due to consider the Consolidation Implementation Committee's (CIC) final recommenda- tions on 3 October.
The latest model circulated for dis- cussion proposes eight faculties: Arts (or Arts and Design), Commerce, Communication and Management, Design and Engineering (or Engineer- ing), Education, Information Technol- ogy, Law, and Saience and Health.
Academic structure working party chairman and QUT Deputy Vice- Chancellor, Professor Tom Dixon, said the proposal prompted a mixture of
"high praise and deep concern".
The working party held open forum discussions at each campus in the first week of September.
During the Gardens Point meeting on 3 September, Built Environment students staged one of the most vocal protests against the proposed merger of their faculty.
More than I 00 students, waving placards and T-squares, gathered out-
side the forum and later entered to raise concerns. Others held a sit-in along the executive office corridor.
It was believed to be one of the first student protests (over an internal issue) in at least six years.
Speaking on the eve of the response deadline of 7 September, Professor Dixon said the following four areas emerged as major concerns during the discussion process:
• whether to merge the design and construction disciplines within the present Built Environment Faculty into an Arts or Engineering Faculty;
• the location of a School of Life Science within a Science and Health Faculty which would combine two presently separate faculties;
• whether to combine or split be- tween faculties the pedagogical (teach- ing) and theoretical components of Human Movements and Human Ecol- ogy Studies; and
• the proposed creation of two busi- ness-related faculties.
Professor Dixon said the Built En- vironment Faculty's concern was based on feared changes in academic policy and funding.
"Broadly-based faculties, like the
proposed Arts and Engineering Facul- ties, will certainly not seek to influence the content or teaching of existing courses," Professor Dixon said.
"Schools with numerical superiority within a faculty (for example engineer- ing schools as opposed to, say, survey- ing) will not lead to unjust allocation of resources."
The working party was "most im- pressed" by the Built Environment stu- dent demonstration, Professor Dixon said.
"They conducted themselves very well in the meeting and it wa> good to see them showing such concern for their university."
However, many student concerns were based on misinformation, he said.
"Whatever faculty changes do occur, the names of awards will not be changed, accreditation of awards will still be conducted by their professional bodies and subject matter will not change."
The Education Studies Department also expressed concern at the proposal to place Human Movement Studie> and Human Ecology into the Science and Health Faculty.
Deans object to eight-faculty proposal
It fear> that the proposed Education Faculty will lose control over the teacher training (pedagogical) aspect of the two strands.
Human Movement Studie> argues, however. that the pedagogical and theory elements of the course mu>t be united under the same faculty.
Faculty deans who stand to be most affected in the proposed eight- faculty academic structure have united in outspoken opposition.
A common argument is the view that the proposal seeks to ensure ad- ministrative convenience rather than faculty identity.
Inside QUT approached the follow- ing for comment:
Professor Ron Gardiner, dean of the Science Faculty, said the need to retain a free-standing faculty and at least nine faculties was vital to QUT.
"It will lower the profile of the
Science Faculty precisely at a time when the nation is seeing the real im- portance of science in determining our future," Professor Gardiner said.
"We will find it difficult to attract students. Already we have had many students tell us they intend to go else- where if the proposal goes through.
Science and Arts must stand on their own as both have a broadening and liberalising role within a university."
Locating Mathematics, a fundamen- tal discipline, into an applied area like computing would also be an "ill-con- ceived" step, he said.
Professor Tony Webber, Health Science Faculty dean, said the proposal undermined the faculty's efforts to establish comprehensive programs geared specifically towards the health professions.
While all health areas are included in the proposed Science and Health Faculty, the presence of other subjects (eg. chemistry and geology) would blur the health focus in a combined faculty, Professor Webber said .
"The university should seek to build on its existing strengths in health and give a clear indication to the health professions that it aims not only to con- tinue, but to further establish pre- eminence in the area," he said.
"Strong direction of a health faculty is seen as particularly important in seeking to attract the most highly motivated and achieving students, who require professional courses with the clearly defined structure and content to meet existing and proposed statutory registration requirements."
Professor Tom Heath, Built En- vironment Faculty dean, said the proposed abolition of the faculty would damage QUT's reputation in the various professions it represented.
"It is very easy to prove from the
letters we have had from professional bodies and other individuals that they do not see a place for Design within an Engineering Faculty," Professor Heath said.
"We also fear that the very different culture of Engineering will adversely affect the very successful design ap- proach of the schools which at present make up Built Environment." ··'
Page 2 INSIDE QUT, 18 September 1990
Although faculty groupings would not seek to influence the way subjects were taught, they would end up doing so, he said.
"It's the same way when you live with a person. You don't set out to change them, but you do."
The proposal to merge Arts and Design within one faculty was an out- dated nineteenth century concept, he said.
Merging design components into a broadly-based faculty was also not in keeping with a national policy to promote design as a key area in Australia's economic future, he said.
Professor Bernie Wolff, Business Faculty dean, said the proposed forma- tion of two business faculties would be
"catastrophic".
He said a staff survey of other universities in Australia, America, New Zealand, England and Ireland strongly supported the one-faculty business model.
"The conduct of business in today's modem environment requires the very close interaction and interdependency of the disciplines offered in the existing faculty ... and it is inconceivable to im- agine it to be otherwise," he said.
"In order to cater for thjs, univer- sities around the world have .designed business courses which have#>mbfned sub~ect.s_ from ill~e'(tarious) dis-
.
·~·Pi•iies into coherent programs."The best business faculties in the best universities in the world didn't achieve that by being small and frag- mented," he said.
Dr Paul Thomas, School of Teacher Education head, said the proposed structure would lead to the new Education Faculty losing control of the discipline components of Physi- cal Education and Human Ecology courses.
Although the majority of staff in the two departments voted in favour of the move, Dr Thomas said the applied way in which these areas were taught was in danger of being lost.
Teacher education comprised 95 percent of physical education and 80 percent of human ecology courses, he said.
"Curriculum aspects and applied discipline work in all subjects is central to an Education Faculty," Dr Thomas said.
"An Education Faculty must be able to properly represent all the areas taught in schools."
The current push to elevate the status of teaching would increase the demand on the faculty to upgrade teaching qualifications, he said. '
"Unless the faculty can comprehen- sively respond to those demands, it is not a faculty which is responsive to the teaching profession."
The working party met on 12 Sep- tember and is due to meet again today ( 18 September) to com.ider written responses from faculties, department'>
and schools. These responses were due on 7 September. The working party i-, expected to give its advice to CIC on 26 September.
Chancellor wins award
QUT Chancellor, Mr Vic Pullar, has won the 1990 Queensland Engineer of the Year Award.
The annual award, presented by the Institution of Engineers Australia.
Queensland Division, pays tribute to engineers whose profeS'>ional excel- lence and community involvement >eh an example and raises the profile of the profession.
Synonymous with such engineering projects as the Gateway Bridge and Southbank redevelopment, Mr Pullar received his award at a Professional Engineers Week function held at the Brisbane Hilton.
Mr Pullar was appointed chainnan of the QIT Council in 1987 and became the first chancellor of QUT in 19!!9.
Genetics hold new hope in banana disease battle
Bananas, the world's largest fruit crop, will be able to fight off a dangerous viral disease if genetic en- gineering research by QUT post- doctoral fellow, Dr Rob Harding, succeeds.
His project, now backdated to April, has already made a diagnostic breakthrough and has put QUT on the world map as a international testing centre under a new global trade policy.
During the two-year post-doctoral contract, Dr Harding will test two approaches to render bananas genetically resistant to the bunchy top virus.
The disease, spread by aphids, seriously stunts fruit and tree growth causing a "bunchy top" appearance.
It has been listed as one of the world's five most economically threatening plant viruses.
"In Australia it is widespread, but more so in Asia and the Pacific Is- lands and is spreading in Africa," Dr Harding said.
"It therefore threatens a major ex-
port commodity and staple food source in many of those regions."
Strict legislation and quarantine testing has controlled bunchy top in Australia since the 1920s when the disease almost annihilated the na- tional crop.
However, the world banana in- dustry, worth $20 billion annually, faces two distinct problems - preventing the movement of the virus and controlling it where it al- ready thrives.
"The only way to control it at the moment is by cutting the infected crops down," Dr Harding said.
Dr Rob Harding using genetic engineering techniques to make bananas resistant to bunchy top disease.
"That works well in Australia but
11 d'
not overseas in countries where they Crown Ga Isease. The team also found that plants world-wide were infected by the same bunchy top virus, not a variety have no government control, or few
or no inspectors.
"The most practical solution would be to breed from bananas which are resistant to or tolerant of the disease, but none have been found in the field."
Therefore, Dr Harding's first ap- proach will be the "coat protein gene" technique.
Research in America in 1986 found that if the coat protein of a virus gene is conferred to a plant it will become resistant.
This method isolates the coat protein gene and attaches it to an agrobacterium -the only known bac- terium which passes on some of its genetic information during in- fection.
But in order to be effective, the agrobacterium must be "disarmed"
of the genes which usually cause
Once banana plant tissue culture is "infected" with the "hijacked"
agrobacterium, it is then expected to reproduce and multiply and even- tually render the plant resistant.
During a study tour in France in August, the QUT team, led by Professor James Dale, was able to use this cloned virus as a rapid and sensitive technique in actually diag- nosing the disease in a plant - a breakthrough in diagnostic re- search.
After leaving France, the team members attended an international virology conference in Berlin, where they presented a paper on the bunchy top project to 4000 virologists.
Until a few months ago, diagnosis could only be made once the physical bunchy top symptoms developed in a plant.
researchers internationally.
Another member of the team, Mr Tom Burns, will use an approach in- volving "microprojectiles".
Tungsten or gold particles covered with the coat protein gene are literally "shot" into the plant using a sawn-ofT 22 calibre shot gun.
Although it may sound like a Rambo approach, it is actually a controlled technique which avoids the use of agrobacterium.
Dr Harding holds a microbiology doctorate from the University of Queensland and his fellowship will . be a continuation of research carried out since he began as a research scientist at the QUT Centre for Molecular Biotechnology in January last year.
Dive market needs deep research
Investigating the untapped marketing potential of the recrea- tional diving industry along the Great Barrier Reef is the aim of new research fellow, Dr Jeff Wilks.
After arriving at QUT earlier this month fresh from a two-week dive instructor course off Cairns, Dr Wilks plans to publish two books during his two-year appointment.
His market research will be an ex- tension of work he has already com- pleted over the past 12 months through the University College of Central Queensland in Rock- hampton.
Dr Jeff Wilks
A diving enthusiast for more than six years himself, Dr Wilks said his interest in researching the industry started when he became a divemaster on the reef about a year ago.
"It was then I realised that there was very little information available on the industry ... how diving could be made more accessible and more enjoyable for more people," he said.
"We do know that divers spend about $380 million along the Great Barrier Reef every year, so there is enormous marketing potential."
One of Dr Wilks' studies last year surveyed 900 peoples' responses to their first reef dive.
"More than 85 percent rated that first experience as either eight, nine or 10 out of 10 as an exceptional ex- perience," Dr Wilks said.
"That tells us a lot about the tourism potential of diving on the Great Barrier Reef."
The study also showed that people were lured into diving more through frfends and word-of-mouth than by successful marketing.
"Therefore there are tens of thousands of people going up and down the coast who are not being
offered that first diving experience."
Although based at QUT, Dr Wilks will spend considerable time in the Great Barrier Reef area collecting information and feedback from dive shops and charter operators.
Dr Wilks said he hoped his study would provide a unique collection of information and strategic manage- ment approaches to assist various groups within the industry.
He plans to conduct and monitor media campaigns, shopping centre promotions, diver refresher courses and other marketing strategies.
His first book will document the success of these approaches. The second book will feature chapters on the various agencies and groups operating on the reef.
Diver awareness of regulations under the new Workplace Health and Safety Act and equipment statis- tics will also be studied.
Dr Wilks has worked as a psychologist since 1981, specialising in drug and alcohol rehabilitation.
He was appointed to the Univer- sity College of Central Queensland twq ~~rs ago as a psychology lec- tu.rer.'and retaiQii M~
11
w~~~}~e in-stitution as an honorary reseah:lier.
Campus quickies
Students protesting against the proposed eight-faculty academic struc- ture didn't let a sense of humour escape them during demonstrations earlier this month. While placards reading: "Save the (Built) Environ- ment" were waved, an even more amusing tactic was employed-hand-out invitations to a protest shotgun wedding. The invites read: "Mr and Mrs Administration cordially invite you to the double wedding of their daughters, Health Science and Built Environment to the sons of Mr and Mrs Amalgamation, Science and Engineering."
DOD
Speaking of student demonstrations, a seasoned ABC reporter was left scratching his head after covering a story on the new needle exchange program at the University of Queensland. While doing the rounds of the campus, he noted the changing tone of student outcry-parking protests. No doubt a relic of the turbulent 60s and 70s, the bemused journo ended his report with a whimsical "ah, but the times they are a changing".
DOD
It's a case of grin and bear it for a couple of people at University Colleges of Southern and Central Queensland which have been nominated as Distance Education Centres. Seems academic colleagues delight in addressing those in charge as DEC Heads.
DOD
Rocks often pose questions for the experts, but Applied Geology principal lecturer, Dr Lloyd Hamilton, was a little taken aback when one of his students handed him a specimen with a neatly imprinted question mark on it. Dr Hamilton suspects a worm trail in the formative stages, but it will be passed on to the Mines Department for analysis.
DOD
Alternative university slogans continue to emerge. The latest, spied on the terminal of a witty Gardens Point admissions staffer, shows what a difference an
"r '
makes. It reads: "QUT: A university 21: the real world?"Many applicants bid for professor appointments
QUT Council has awarded per- sonal professorial titles to two Health Science academics.
Head of Public Health and Nutrition, Conor Reilly, has been appointed professor and Optometry senior lec- turer, Peter Swann, has been appointed associate professor.
Both positions were keenly con- tested, with seven applicants for professor titles and 35 for associate professor.
Professor Reilly has a wide range of academic experience and an interna- tional research background to his credit.
Born in Ireland, Professor Reilly carried out his doctoral studies at University College, Dublin, before heading to the University of Rochester, New York, to complete his post-doc- toral fellowship (under the Fulbright scheme).
During his early years, he also spent some time in Berne, Switzerland.
After New York, Professor Reilly spent eight years at the University of Zambia where he was reader and head of department of biochemistry, before spending five years at the UK' s Oxford Polytechnic where he was principal lecturer in food and nutrition.
Professor Reilly joined QIT in January, 1979 as head of the Depart- ment of Public Health and Nutrition, and since then has been successful in building up a strong nutrition research facility.
He is recognised as an international expert on trace elements in food and his work has entailed collaborative re- search with the Royal Children's Hospital into metabolic diseases, par- ticularly in relation to PKU or Phenylketonuria.
Professor Reilly has also attracted international recognition for expanding knowledge on selenium deficiencies.
Professor Peter Swann is one of the best known faculty members at Gar- dens Point, having worked at the cam- pus for the past 20 years.
He joined the QIT Department of Optometry in October 1970 as a lec- turer.
Professor Swann studied for his BSc in Optometry at the University of Aston, Birmingham, before taking a fellowship with the British College of Optometrists, a prerequisite for private praCtice in the UK. He spent the fol-
.Ht:~illa , ,
Associate Professor Peter Swann
Professor Conor Reilly
lowing years in private practice before moving to Australia.
Professor Swann's forte is teaching, especially in the areas of eye disease and methods of examining the eye.
He has been heavily involved in the delivery of continuing education and conference lecturing, both in Australia and overseas.
Professor Swann has had a continu- ing involvement in numerous associa- tions and societies, in optometry and allied disciplines.
Since completing his masters degree at QUT, he has been involved in several research projects, one of the most notable being an investigation of eye pressure in the disease glaucoma and how it is affected by sleep.
This work has been carried out in collaboration with two colleagues, As- sociate Professor Brian Brown and lec- turer, Ms Christine Wildsoet.
INSIDE OUT, 18 September 1990 Page 3
$31m boost for image and facilities
The face of QUT will begin to change dramatically next year as a
$31 million capital works program gets under way.
By far the biggest slice of the alloca- tion, $18.4 million, will be spent on the new I3-level Information Technol- ogy/Electrical Engineering building between Gardens Point Road and the South East Freeway.
Goward, said the new building would include three levels of general teaching space, comfortable lecture rooms and large tiered lecture theatres, multiple levels of faculty space and sophisti- cated specialty teaching spaces for In- formation Technology and Electrical Engineering courses.
The school's proximity to hospitals and medical school facilities is seen as a major advantage.
Kelvin Grove will also get a new general purpose building to help the campus keep up with enrolment growth.
Carseldine campus has been allo- cated $3 million towards the construc- tion of QUT's first student residential building, planned to cater for around 200 students.
It will be the second building in a three-stage plan to give the campus a new facade to the expressway. Stage one was C Block, which houses Op- tometry and the Faculty of Law.
The first two levels of the new build- ing will be devoted to car parking, as is the case with C Block. When the build- ings are completed, the carparking in the three buildings will be linked and integrated with the freeway carpark.
Gardens Point Community building will be extended substantially, allow- ing for expansion of dining space and kitchen facilities in the refectory, in- clusion of a sports hall large enough to house an indoor basketball court and provision of office space for the Stu- dent Guild.
According to Mr Goward, however, a final design concept for the facility is still some way off.
The most obvious choices seemed to be the standard collegiate design, with single rooms off main corridors and a central dining area, or the 6-8 bedroom flats design with individual cooking ar- rangements.
The building will be interconnected with the sports centre, which was designed with such a plan in mind.
A model of the Information Technology/Electrical Engineering building.
stepping style up the hill on the north- em side of the campus and, while it will be fully interconnected, no one section of the structure wi II exceed three levels.
school administration area and a nurs- ing laboratory area which will be repre- sentative of a hospital situation. Some further landscaping may occur
on the Domain, further enhancing the QUTimage.
A new $7 million Nursing building at Kelvin Grove will provide much- needed teaching facilities in a modem, purpose-generated and architecturally designed building.
A public nursing facility will offer services like ante-natal and pnst-natal classes and a weight control clinic.
"However, there is another option which is being looked at and given fair- ly serious consideration," Mr Goward said.
University architect, Mr Ron The six-level centre will be built in a It will include staff offices, a modem
CIA team stepping up the hunt for dangerous moles
Australia's alarming record as the skin cancer capital of the world may be eclipsed if a melanoma scan proves to be successful as a diagnostic tool.
The scan, installed at the Mater Adult Hospital late last month, uses the latest in computerised image analysis.
Aptly abbreviated to CIA, it allows a detailed surveillance of skin lesions and therefore could become a powerful weapon in the fight against melanoma deaths.
Life-saving early diagnosis is the major aim of the research.
In Australia I 000 people die each year from skin cancer - 800 from malignant melanoma, the most fatal form of skin can- cer.
Research into the scan started last March through the Centre for Medical and Health Physics in conjunction with the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR).
video monitor. This image is taped and then converted into a computerised repre- sentation.
Information is compared with archived clinical data to assist provisional diagnosis.
Images are archived on both computer discs and video tape.
Lesion colour, size, perimeter, shape and sharpness are recorded. Information is being collected from known benign and malignant lesions. This will allow a cor- relation with the occurrence of malignancy.
The system also incorporates a mapping facility which enables the automatic recording of lesions on a patient.
At subsequent follow-up examinations, the computer will compare lesions with those determined at previous examinations to identify changes which may have developed in the intervening period.
Patient growth is taken into account.
"When the diagnosis of malignancy is not straightforward and there is genuine clinical doubt about whether biopsy or ex- cision is warranted, the computer may be able to assist in discriminating between benign and malignant lesions," he said.
Already about .20 patients at the Mater Adult Hospital have been tested using equipment photographed.
A full analysis of data likely by next August would prove whether the scan was feasible, Dr Thomas said.
If manufacturer interest followed, it would be commercially-available within a few years. he said.
The project is led by QJMR researchers Dr Adele Green and Dr Nick Martin.
It is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Mater Hospital's John P Kelly Research Founda- tion and the Queensland Cancer Fund.
Researcher Mr John Pfitzner at the Mater Hospital demonstrates computerised image analysis.
Equipment involved records digital im- ages which characterise the appearance and position of a mole (or lesion) on a patient.
A hand-held camera head displays a magnified colour image of the lesion on a
Dr Brian W Thomas, Physics Depart- ment head and centre director, said the scan could eventually be used in a GP's clinic using existing computer hardware.
It would benefit patients with melanoma and those with atypical moles.
Others involved in the project include QIMR researchers, Mr Gary McKenzie and Mr John Pfitzner (QUT masters graduates), Mater Adult Hospital surgeon, Dr Michael O'Rourke, and Physics lecturer, Dr Frank Quintarelli.
Uni versities unite for health masters
The three Brisbane universities - QUT, Griffith and Queensland -will hold a special seminar next month to promote a historic joint Master of Public Health degree course.
Potential students will be able to find out about the course at the seminar on 9 October, 6pm-9pm at the Queensland Health Development Centre, 59 Costin Street, Fortitude Valley.
The joint degree course, believed to be the first of its kind in Australia, will be offered from the beginning of next year and will involve study at all three universities.
It will entail five streams, with each university offering subjects within its own area of specialisation.
QUT will offer core and advanced courses in manage- ment and administration.
Griff~th University will offer core and advanced courses in environmental and occupational health, and in the social and behavioral ;ciences in public health.
Core and advanced courses in epidemiology and bios- tatics will be offered at the University of Queensland.
The masters degree program i> the culmination of plan- ning and discussions between the three institutions since 1980, and has been developed in cooperation with the Queensland Health Department.
CAMPUS CHOICE
Evening lecture special
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Choice of 4 pastas •
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Page 4 INSIDE QUT, 18 September 1990
Canbe rr a a sked to think again on research fun ds
QUT has given general support to funding for higher education;
the Federal Government's proposed • the funding formula applied to Relative Funding Model (RFM), but institutions needs to be simple;
has asked Canberra to reconsider its • no single model for a formula will position on research grants. satisfy all groups, so prolonged dis- The university's official response, cussion is unlikely to be very produc- prepared by Management Committee, tive; and
says that while the proposal goes a • the research component of the long way towards overcoming the in- formula should take applied research equities of the old binary system, funds into consideration as well as QUT is clearly disadvantaged because competitive research grants.
privately funded research is ignored in Even without taking the research the Commonwealth funding process. situation into account, the R FM It says: "QUT places a strong em- shows QUT to be one of the most phasis upon technology transfer into under-funded higher education in- the industrial and commercial sectors stitutions in Australia, based on the of Australian society. system still operating for the 1990
"However, the proposed relative year. According to the RFM, QUT funding model penalises universities should receive around $7 million with this mission by ignoring the more than it has been allocated.
moneys earned in privately funded ap- While injecting $30 million into the plied research. system to help under-funded univer-
"The formula disadvantages sities, the RFM scheme divides universities \\-hich encourage staff to universities around Australia into seek non-government research over-funded and under-funded in- moneys, and rewards those univer- stitutiom,, requiring some to shed mil- sities which place all their effort into lions of dollars in resources by taking winning research moneys from on more students.
government schemes. The model was determined by
"This effect of the fonnula will be analysing the distribution of funds to move effort away from technology from within institutions to the variou>
transfer, in contravention of stated disciplines.
government policy to improve the It divides subjects into clusters of contribution of the private sector to relative teaching costs, using a five Australian research." cluster system for undergraduate The four major points put to Can- teaching, three clusters for berra were: r.ostgraduate and two clusters for
• QUT supports an open system' df' "''lilgher degree research.
Buildin g a - bridge is ju st
pasta joke
If you can use your noodle to come up with something new in telecommunications, or communicate your inven- tiveness through the medium of spaghetti, Telecom and QUT have something special in mind for you.
To celebrate Professional Engineers Week and Science in Schools Week, Telecom will hold its Ingenious Inven- tions and Ingenuity Games at the Gardens Point campus on Thursday, 18 October,l0am-3pm.
In the clever category, contestants are required to enter a model of any type, for any reason, before the day to win certificates and prizes for "most ingenious invention".
If you really want to set the brain cells ringing and buzzing, you could enter your model in the "most in- genious telecommunications invention" category.
And if all that sounds too technical and daunting. then you will more than likely turn to spaghetti.
Real spaghetti, that is. Of the stickiest and most solid type.
The idea of this competition is to build a bridge, made of spaghetti, that you could drive a truck over.
Contestants on the day will be asked to build a bridge - or bring one made at home - out of spaghetti and Bostik glue.
There will be certificates for all bridges which stand up to the weight of a model truck and prizes for both the lightest and most aesthetic bridges.
The cash prizes run into hundreds of dollars and categories are open to primary school students, secondary school students, professional engineering students, as well as adults (including teachers) and professional engineers.
Entries close by the end of September. Forms may be obtained from Dr Tee Tang (07) 223 2633 or Dr Rod Troutbeck (07) 223 2775.
Antony Lambert plays Joe in Blood Work.
Play explores AIDS
Drama student, Anthony Lam- bert, plans to encourage public sen- sitivity towards AIDS patients in a play later this month.
Written and performed by An- thony, Blood Work centres on Joe, a 25-year-old Brisbane journalist who is diagnosed with category four or ''full-blown" AIDS.
It traces his life over a two-year period from diagnosis to his death.
Anthony, a final year Bachelor of Arts (Drama) ~tudent, said he hoped the pia) would help expose many of the AIDS myths.
"It pokes fun at a lot of the myths about things like hugging and kiss- ing," he said.
"It really is a play about the ex- periences of an AIDS patient and how they feel and how other people react to them.
"The play's as much my own personal response to the issue."
Anthony's interest in the AIDS issue came alive during an eight- week "work experience" second- ment to the La Mama theatre in Carlton, Victoria, in July/August.
"There were a lot of people around Melbourne who had con- tact with AIDS patients and I learnt a lot by talking to them," he said.
"What really surprised me was the really clinical approach that was taken in a lot of the literature given to people when they are diag- nosed HIV positive.
"I decided then that I wanted to find out more and in talking to people with AIDS I realised that they simply prefer to talk about how they are feeling.
"So the play is really a synthesis of some of the experiences of the people I have met and read about."
Anthony is submitting the play as an independent study for his final elective subject.
The title Blood Work was chosen from a poem by an American AIDS patient who referred to "going to the hospital for more blood work".
It will be performed 24 and 25 September at the Kelvin Grove campus in "L" block room 202 at lpm and 7pm daily. Admission $3.
ELICOS industry suffering through political comment
QUT's Institute of Applied Lin- guistics has hit back at inferences that the national English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Stu- dents (ELICOS) program is in a shambles.
IAL head, Dr Ed Burke, said anum- ber of recent media reports - some of them based on comments by Federal Education Minister, Mr Dawkins, and Opposition Spokesman, Dr David Kemp - were bringing the ELICOS in- dustry into disrepute.
Dr Burke said reputable institutions
part of the private sector and it would almost certainly harm Australia's education services export industry.
A great deal is at stake in education export. Last year that industry grossed
$174 million, compared with less than
$10 million in 1986.
Dr Burke attacked recent comments from Mr Dawkins, who said there was a perception " ... that the private sector has been run by a motley collection of sharks, spivs and fast-buck merchants"
and that "adverse publicity ... is not wholly undeserved".
could not avoid being tainted by com- He also expressed concern over the ments which applied to only a small possible effect of comments made by
Computing can help to gain social awareness
High school students should be taught computing to gain a social awareness, not just technical com- petency, according to a QUT research team.
Believed to be the first study in Queensland on equity and ethical is- sues in computing, the team is due to publish findings later this month.
The researchers - Education Studies lecturers Ms Anne Hudson and Dr Noel Preston, and Mathematics and Computing lecturer Dr Bill Atweh - studied the social, ethical and practical implications of computer education in seven metropolitan and six provincial schools last year.
They conclude that the educational philosophy underlying computer education in schools should foster "so- cially critical" thinking in students.
"We found that the overwhelming majority of schools are not teaching an attitude towards computing and tech- nology," Dr Preston said.
tempted to find which types of students do not use the computer or designed special programs to increase the availability of the computer to these student non-users," the report states.
"Educational authorities as well as the individual schools should monitor how these computers are used and how inequality of use can be remedied."
Other recommendations include:
• computer competence should be developed in all subject areas;
• school computer coordinators should be given more opportunity for professional development;
• teachers should be trained as com- puter users in all subject areas; and
• institutions responsible for teacher training should ensure graduates have some level of computer competence and are aware of social and ethical is- sues concerning technology.
Ms Hudson delivered a paper based on the study to the 5th World Con- ference on Computing in Education in
ydney in July.
Dr Kemp.
Dr Kemp had blamed DEET for being shortsighted in allowing the ELICOS industry to self-regulate, and accused the Minister of wanting to walk away from the problem and blame other people.
Dr Burke said that regardless of the points each politician wished to make, making them in the media would only damage the industry.
"I've worked overseas and I have seen how embassies act as data collec- tion centres," Dr Burke said.
"They can be very selective about the information they pass on to their own media."
Dr Burke said he was not brushing aside problems within the ELI COS in- dustry.
He said he recognised there had been cases of students merely using the scheme to get into Australia and taking up residence illegally, as there had been problems with some privately- run, commercially-minded ELICOS centres maintaining professional stand- ards and approaches.
"But why should we, or any other reputable institution, suffer any student losses when they are totally free of any criticism," Dr Burke said.
He said that at IAL:
• all student monies were held in trust by the university and could be reimbursed to students unable to get visas;
• all materials, equipment and faci I ities were first rate;
• ELI COS students enjoyed life on a university campus, mixing with Australian students and enhancing their English and acculturation; ~
• all instructors were trained teachers with degrees, diplomas in Education and specialist qualifications in TESOL; and
• senior members of faculty held masters degrees.
"Computers should be seen as in- struments to further the aims of social- ly critical perspectives and not merely as a utilitarian tool for jobs and employment."
The team acknowledges the useful- ness of computers in education, but seeks to raise awareness of how this technology can divide society into the
"information rich" and the "informa- tion poor".
' Kitty ' has edg e over an average mousetrap
"Hence computer literacy is a factor not only for sharing the benefits of the twentieth century society but also it is essential for sharing and owning power," Dr Preston said.
The study also identified various in- equities in computer education - high- lighting the poor access and use by girls and students from lower-status schools.
"None of the schools visited at-
Tom and Jerry would find a new comic diversion if they got hold of this speedy mousetrap-mobile designed by engineering student, Daniel Marcus.
Aptly called "Here Kitty Kitty", Daniel's entry won the annual Mousetrap Racers as part of Profes- sional Engineers Week earlier this month.
Designed complete with a Red Nose Day snout and Mickey Mouse ears,
"Kitty" blitzed the Queen Street Mall IS-metre course in a flashy 3.4 seconds, slicing 4.6 seconds off last year's record.
starting pole. Using this principle, Daniel said he was able to achieve and maintain speed sooner than his com- petitors.
For his efforts, Daniel scored $1000 towards new equipment for the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing En- gineering and $100 for himself.
Daniel will pass "Kitty" over to fourth year student Janine Ballard who will modify the design and enter as the first female candidate in next year's race.
New degree in teacher education
The mousetrap races, organised by the Institution of Engineers Australia, aimed to show the ingenuity required to propel a mousetrap as far and fast as possible using its spring mechanism.In another student triumph, Allison Cayzer from the School of Electrical and Electronic Systems Engineering, has won the Institution of Electrical Engineers (lEE) Queensland Centre Student Award.
Q UT will offer a new Bachelor of Teaching (Primary and Early Childhood) degree from the begin- ning of next year.
The three-year degree represents a radical change in preparing teachers and will be part of a highly integrated package of pre-service and in-service courses.
The old three-year DipEd (Primary), DipEd (Early Childhood) and DipEd (Child Care) will be replaced by bachelor level courses.
Head of the Department of Cur- riculum and Teaching Studies, Dr Bob Elliott, described the change as one which would "carry teacher education into the future".
"Teaching has become an ex- tremely complex profession and teachers simply require bachelor level courses now," he said.
"Teachers need a diverse range of skills and understanding and it is im- portant that they have a critically- reflective attitude towards their work, rather than the technocratic approach which was more symptomatic of the diploma cour- ses."
Coordinator of the Early
Childhood program, Dr Susan Wright, said diplomas had become an anachronism in the world of education and there was an interna- tional trend towards making teach- ing a graduate profession.
"We have tried to re-conceptualise the education process to improve the balance between academic and professional skills," she said.
This course will be part of a revamped range of courses to be of- fered by the faculty of Education, which will include a new honours de- gree, graduate diplomas and master and doctorate degrees.
The new Bachelor of Teaching de- gree at QUT will not only integrate with the whole suite of education courses as part of professional development for teachers, but also provide a rigorous foundation for higher degree study.
Dr Elliott said there would be four groupings of subjects: professional education and culture, curriculum and human development, discipline and field experience.
Each grouping would address dif- ferent qualities seen as important to the development of a teacher.
The first grouping would address the need to understand the nature of education and the relationship be- tween education and society.
The second was designed to develop understanding of cur- riculum theories and the processes of human learning and development.
Discipline subjects would help stu- dents understand the knowledge- base upon which curricula could be developed.
Students would have the chance to study in a major area such as mathe- matics, science, and art providing an opportunity for them to study sub- jects available anywhere else in the university, like computing for ex- ample.
Field experience studies would offer extensive school-based studies and supervised work experience.
Dr Elliott said that apart from its obvious benefits to education stand- ards in general, the new courses would create a great deal of satisfac- tion among teachers.
"We believe this move will boost the whole image qf,t};le profession,"
he said. 1 ' ' ' " '
Daniel, a final year mechanical en- gineering sturlent aiming for the engine design field, said his entry took a night to complete.
A string attached to the trap latch is levered by three arm mechanisms and is directed by a pulley onto a hook in a
Allison won the competition with a presentation of her thesis topic "HF Radio Frequency Spectrum in Bris- bane" at the Hawken Auditorium on29 August.
lEE has handed over an official Stu- dent A ward Medal and $1 00.
Daniel Marcus with 'Kitty' the winning mousetrap racer.
INSIDE OUT, 18 September 1990 Page 5
Guild careers
g uide in print Alcohol and driving can mix Japan to offer exchange plan
A new book outlining alternative employment avenues for teaching graduates has been produced by the QUT Northern Campuses Student Guild.
Author and guild student employ- ment officer, Ms Susan Davis, said the book aimed to help students make well-infom1ed career moves.
A teaching graduate herself, Ms Davis said such a qualification was not the narrow career path many believed it to be.
"The world is rapidly changing and we need people who are adaptive, crea- tive and lateral thinkers," she said.
"Graduates with a teaching qualification have a patience and an understanding of the different ways people learn and are able to think on their feet- all essential qualities in both the business and teaching fields."
The book does not disregard the teaching profession as a viable career option, but examines three main areas of potential employment.
It is available from all northern cam- pus guild offices for $2.
Alcohol and driving are mixing safely in a state-wide project involv- ing School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering senior lecturer, Dr Doug Hargreaves.
Organised by the Queensland Cane Growers' Organisation (QCGO), the project is designed to demonstrate the environmentally- friendly and economic advantages of ethanol fuel.
Dr Hargreaves is one of 27 drivers throughout Queensland participating.
During the four-week trial en- ding 24 Sejftember, these drivers are tanking up with a 10 percent ethanol to petrol blend.
This ratio is considered the best way to reduce car emissions without making engine modifications.
Ethanol, an alcohol produced from distilled sugarcane, burns without producing carbon dioxide, a major Greenhouse gas.
Dr Hargreaves, a thermofluids lecturer, said his Ford Falcon XF had adjusted well to its new fuel supplement.
"Fuel consumption is exactly the
Dr Doug Hargreaves tops up with ethanol as part of a four-week trial.
same. I haven't noticed anything different at all in the way the car runs," he said.
The project forms part of the sugar industry's push to establish a viable ethanol industry in Queensland.
The industry argues that rising fuel and oil prices could make ethanol a cost-effective fuel ex- tender. Traditionally, ethanol has
been twice as expensive as petrol to produce.
It also expects that a home-grown renewable product will conserve the nation's dwindling fuel supplies and have balance-of-trade benefits.
Sugar refining company CSR Ltd already has the capacity to produce up to SO 000 kilolitres of ethanol annually in its new plant in Sarina, south of Mackay.
QUT staff and students have been offered the chance to take part in a cultural exchange program with Sonoda Gakuen Women's College in Japan.
QUT has a sister relationship with Sonoda, in Amagm,aki near Osaka, and staff and students who have visited the college in previous years have been highly complimentary about the hospitality they received and the cul- tural insights gained through the homestay program.
The program last five weeks, during the December-January vacation, and all-inclusive cost is about $2500.
For further inforn1ation and applica- tion fom1s telephone 352 8599.
Rental request
Visiting academic renting out his own home in New Zealand requires Brisbane fully-furnished house or three-bedroom unit from the end of September to late January next year.
Happy to mind pets etc. Phone Clinton Alley, School of Accountacy, on 223 2514.
A criminal act
Drama students are continuing to work as partners against crime with Queensland police.
QUT outlines its new entry criteria
As the latest project in a long work- ing relationship with the force, drama students and Queensland Police Academy psychologist, Geoff Dean, combined earlier this month in a train- ing course for Juvenile Aid Bureau of- ficers.
Eight first year Bachelor of Arts (Drama) students volunteered to act in four role-play scenarios - the persistent truant, the uncontrollable teenager, the attempted suicide and the runaway.
Police officers involved interviewed the students in role as supervising of- ficers observed.
QUT has set the field positions which will have ultimate bearing on entry to courses under the new Stu- dent Education Profile system.
Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dennis Gibson, outlined the QUT require- ments in a letter to State Education Minister, Mr Braddy, on 31 August.
Mr Braddy had written to QUT on 20 August asking for details on how the university would implement recommendations of the Viviani Report on Tertiary Entrance in Queensland, but at that stage policy had not been detem1ined.
However, QUT did infom1 the Min- ister that certain general principles
would be adopted:
• applicants would be selected firstly on the basis of prerequisite subject re- quirements, auditions and/or folios as appropriate;
• applicants would then be selected on the basis of their overall position (OP);
• when the OP did not result in fine enough selection to satisfy course quota requirements, field positions (FP) would be used; and
• for each course, a primary and secondary field would be chosen -the primary field could be expressed as a single FP (eg. B) or as two FPs of equal rating (eg. B or C).
In cases where two optional field positions were shown in the primary column, QUT said the fields would be treated as being equal in value and if a student had a position in both, the bet- ter position would be used.
The representative A, B, C, D and E codes are part of the new cluster system under which subjects are given various weightings.
The QUT response also pointed out that prerequisite subject requirements would not be increased, but in some courses could be relaxed.
QUT delivered its final deliberations to the Minister in a follow-up letter on 31 August.
The letter said the university had decided on changes to prerequisite sub- jetxs in three courses:
• Bachelor of Applied Science, Mathematics - six semesters of mathe- matics instead of eight;
• Bachelor of Applied Science, Medical Laboratory Science - physics not required; and
• Bachelor of Applied Science, En- vironmental Health - physics not re- quired.
The new procedures will apply for entry 1993, but review and analysis may find a need for adjustments for years subsequent to \993.
The first thing intelligent people need is understanding.
We understand campus life.
Because if you 're a busy academic and not an idle tourist we arrange convenient appointments to save you time.
Our campus offices can arrange your travel over the telephone and ensure your travel documents are hand delivered to the Financial Services section.
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Page 6 INSIDE OUT, 18 September 1990
