QUT Central Administration 2 George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 3864 2111 Registered by Australia Post – Publication No. QBF 4778 Q u e e n s l a n d U n i v e r s i t y o f T e c h n o l o g y N e w s p a p e r ■ I s s u e 162 ■ May 6-19 , 1 9 9 7
Karyn charts interesting career path
Page 4
by Andrea Hammond
QUT has called on the Federal Government to investigate more market-driven alternatives to the present, centralised funding system for higher education.
The university’s submission to the West Review of Higher Education Financing and Policy flags the possibility of a “voucher” system which may provide more choice to students
Submission calls for market-driven alternatives
“Students would choose the university and the courses that they wished to study and the level of demand
— or lack of it — would determine if the course was offered or not,”
Professor Gibson said.
“In a situation like that, it would be up to universities to respond to the market and if there’s a good product that nobody’s buying, we have to get out there and tell them about it.
“A ‘voucher’ system would also expose courses which were not attracting students and then we (universities) would have to get out and do something about that as well.”
Professor Gibson said the viability of a “voucher” funding system would depend on the level of funding, scope for students to move between institutions and courses, protection for disadvantaged students and the associated administrative costs.
As part of its Fightback election policy earlier this decade, the Liberal Party advocated a voucher system but dropped the idea more than two years ago.
Other facets of QUT’s 11-page submission to the current West review included a call for the Federal Government to fund university research through “open and competitive” schemes, rejecting arguments that research funding should by Andrea Hammond
QUT’s first law PhD graduate, Dr Des Butler was expecting to feel proud and excited when he graduated — but he did not expect a standing ovation from a packed ceremonial hall.
A fiercely applauding crowed leapt to its feet in an impromptu sign of heartfelt congratulations for Dr Butler, a former first-class honours student, law medalist and senior lecturer in law at QUT.
Now 33, he completed his PhD study in an intensive four years and nine months, while still carrying a full teaching load. His thesis examined the laws concerning nervous shock caused by negligence.
“It was very touching to have that (a standing ovation). I work with some wonderful friends and colleagues — I must admit I had a tear in my eye — it was so unexpected,” Dr Butler said.
Dr Butler, who has been in a wheelchair since an accident in 1987, said he was also pleased that his graduation ceremony had fallen in QUT Law Faculty’s 20th anniversary year.
By happy coincidence, the guest speaker at the Faculty graduation ceremony on April 23 was Tom Cain, who founded QIT’s School of Law and was the first Dean of QUT’s Faculty of Law.
Mr Cain was also the lecturer in charge of contract law when Dr Butler was a fresh-faced QUT undergraduate.
And, ironically, Dr Butler is now the university’s lecturer in charge of contract law.
“It was, in a real sense, the completion of a circle, because I took Tom Cain’s place on the teaching team when he retired in 1989 and now I’ve taken over as the lecturer in charge of his own subject,” the happy graduate explained.
Dr Butler’s thesis identified deficiencies in the way courts in Australia and Britain compensate victims of nervous shock and outlined what he believed were fairer methods.
He spent almost a year teaching himself psychiatry in order to understand the condition — which is an inability to pick up the threads of one’s working or social life after witnessing or being involved in a traumatic incident — and argued that the condition was so infrequent that courts need not set restrictive criteria for recovering compensation.
“I argue that arbitrary criteria that the law sets down are not necessary and that greater emphasis should be placed on a true medical perspective of the condition,” Dr Butler said.
“While the law is not there to help you work through what is a normal emotion or a normal grieving process, the law ought to be there to compensate for injury and physic injury in its true sense.”
Homegrown PhD makes Law history
Chaired by retired Trinity Grammar School headmaster Roderick West, the review is collecting submissions from universities throughout Australia to devise a blueprint for higher education for the next 20 years.
QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Dennis Gibson said individual students would benefit most from the introduction of a “voucher” system because courses and course places would be determined primarily by demand.
be concentrated in a self-elected elite group of universities.
“Good researchers must be able to pursue research funding on the basis of merit, regardless of which university employs them,” the submission says.
“This should be achieved by continuing to allocate the bulk of Government research funds on a contestable basis through merit-based schemes which are open to all researchers from all universities.”
The submission also argued that new information technology and the Australian tradition of distance education offered more appropriate ways of expanding access to higher education than expensive investment in new campuses.
It recommended the establishment of reciprocal scholarship schemes with countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
The submission advocated the introduction of a “teaching quantum”
which would allocate part of operating grant funding to universities according to their teaching performance, which would be measured by agreed criteria.
The West review committee visited QUT recently as part of a whirlwind tour of Queensland universities.
It will release a discussion paper in October and present its final report to the Federal Government in March next year.
National Tertiary Education Union state secretary Howard Guille puts his signature to QUT’s academic enterprise bargaining agreement watched over by the Vice- Chancellor, Professor Dennis Gibson, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Peter Coaldrake, and the NTEU’s QUT branch vice-president, Dr Yoni Ryan.
Enterprise agreement formalised
QUT’s first Law PhD, Des Butler, celebrates his hard-earned degree
Spencer spins special
morning magic
Page 5
Stanthorpe welcomes back Interarts
Page 5
From the Inside… by David Hawke
A word from the Vice-Chancellor
Multimedia artist and communication design lecturer Paul Brown will judge the 1997 Computer animation Fetival Awards at the Disney Studio’s new Skunkworks facility in Los Angeles in early May.
Mr Brown and other jury members will select the world’s best entries in animation and digital special effects.
“I’m the only overseas member of the jury and it’s both a great honour and also a special responsibility,” Mr Brown said.
“I have been asked to pay special attention to the independent sector — individuals and organisations who don’t have the multi-million dollar budgets of studios like LucasFilm or Fox.”
Mr Brown said entries in the past had ranged from special effects for feature films like Terminator 2 — Judgment Day to low-budget works made on home computer systems.
Other members of the Computer Animation Festival committee and jury include Ed Catmull of Pixar (makers of Toy Story), David Forsey from the
Computer artist to judge world’s best animators
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G r a d u a t e s a t Q U T ’ s B u i l t E n v i r o n m e n t a n d E n g i n e e r i n g ceremony on April 28 received a healthy dose of home-spun, feet-on- the-ground wisdom from Brisbane business luminary Ron Paul.
M r P a u l , t h e c h a i r m a n o f Brisbane-based engineering giant E v a n s D e a k i n , w a s a w a r d e d a n honorary doctorate in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Queensland business and cultural life.
He counselled graduates that it was “better to wear off the soles of your shoes than the seat of your pants”.
“ E v e n i n t o d a y ’ s t e c h n o l o g y - driven world, the importance of
‘management by walking around’ is still relevant,” Mr Paul said.
“Faced with a problem and seeking a solution, I always say ‘show me’ — this has the effect of bringing issues d o w n t o b a s i c p r i n c i p l e s a n d practicalities.”
It is an approach which has worked for Mr Paul who left school at 15 before becoming a clerk in the Commonwealth Public Service in the Taxation Department.
“The public service at that time had a salary bar for people who weren’t ex-servicemen or qualified so I made the financially influenced decision to become an accountant,”
he said.
“Three and a half years of night school later, I had my degree. I
Engineering chief tells it like it is
continued in the public service for another six years but was quickly becoming the oldest chorus boy in the line so I got out.”
Mr Paul applied his accounting k n o w l e d g e i n a r a n g e o f organisations, gradually acquiring g r e a t e r r e s p o n s i b i l i t y a n d a reputation as a manager who could bring struggling businesses back to profitability.
“I always run a business as if I own it, as if all the money invested in its success is mine,” he said.
He also stressed the importance of teamwork.
“I am very proud to receive an h onor a r y doctora te fr om Q UT, although the work and achievement it represents is the work of all the teams of which I have been a part during my career,” Mr Paul said.
“Nobody ever really gets anything important done on their own.
“Everyone must be a team player and contribute to the end product.
This is as true for individuals as it is for companies contributing to the economy as a whole.”
Mr Paul told graduates the skills they had acquired belonged not only to themselves and their employers but to the Australian community at large to which they should strive to make a contribution.
“You are the future of this country
— y o u r s k i l l s w i l l p r o v i d e t h e
solutions for tomorrow’s world,” he said.
“ D o n ’ t u n d e r e s t i m a t e y o u r capacity to contribute and your r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r e f f e c t i v e m a n a g e m e n t o f t h e w o r l d ’ s resources.”
He urged graduates to look beyond Australia’s shores for their futures, compelling advice in light of the fact that Evans Deakin has twice been named Queensland Exporter of the Year.
“The growth of Australia relies in i t s d e v e l o p m e n t o f w o r l d w i d e competitiveness,” he said.
“We’ve got to realise Australia is no longer an island but part of a world market.
“Technology has meant that even small countries like ours can compete on a global scale.”
In addition to his responsibilities at Evans Deakin, Mr Paul has also been chairman of the South Bank C o r p o r a t i o n B o a r d a n d , u n t i l r e c e n t l y , c h a i r m a n o f t h e Q u e e n s l a n d D i v i s i o n o f t h e A u s t r a l i a - M a l a y s i a B u s i n e s s Council.
A keen supporter of the arts, Mr Paul served on the committee of the 1990-91 Brisbane Biennial and in 1992 was appointed the board of the Lyric Opera of Queensland (now Opera Queensland).
In 1993 Mr Paul received the Order of Australia for services to business and the community.
by Tony Wilson
I n 1 9 9 6 , Q U T l a u n c h e d a n a d v e n t u r o u s p r o j e c t t o a s k u n d e r g r a d u a t e s t u d e n t s w h a t they thought could be improved i n t h e u n i v e r s i t y ’ s s u p p o r t services.
T h e s t u d e n t f o c u s p r o j e c t gathered feedback through 24 focus groups of undergraduate s t u d e n t s w h o o f f e r e d t h e i r perceptions of all services at QUT other than teaching.
As a result of that project, QUT set itself three simple goals for i m p r o v i n g s e r v i c e d e l i v e r y t o students.
First it wanted to achieve an improved orientation program for new students.
Secondly, improved timetabling is being targetted so that students w i l l k n o w t h e d a y , t i m e a n d campus for their classes for the f i r s t s e m e s t e r o f 1 9 9 8 b y November 1997.
Finally, the university is seeking to streamline its enrolment process.
The first fruits of the orientation component of the student focus project were clear to anyone who took part in the splendid welcome ceremony for new students in February.
We are looking forward to an even better orientation program in 1998.
The next aims are to finalise timetables well in advance for next
University of British Columbia, Midori Kitagawa DeLeon from Ohio State University, Judith Crown from computer effects specialists Digital Domain and Jim Hillin from Walt Disney Feature Animation.
Mr Brown entered the field in 1980, establishing the United Kingdom’s first computer animation company.
Since 1984, he has been responsible for establishing new media training programs in the UK, US and in Australia.
He assisted with the development of the new communication design course at QUT’s Academy of the Arts in early 1996.
Editor of the Internet’s oldest magazine FineArt Forum — which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year — Mr Brown is also the sculptor of “Mud Flats” (a new fountain for the Redlands Shire Council) and the winner of the Shell Freemantle Print Award for his computer-generated artwork Ceiling Detail from “The House of Signs”.
Making a difference
year so students can plan their programs with more certainty and to reduce the amount of paper work involved in enrolling in, or changing, units.
A lot of energy has already gone into the student focus project.
The next phase of the enrolment project will see volunteer students and staff join a variety of reference groups. (see story page 8)
I invite you to take part in these groups, as they will present a great opportunity for members of the QUT community to build a more student-focused university.
– Professor Dennis Gibson
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When Queensland Police need evidence in a suspected arson case they turn to their newest forensic scientist and QUT academic medal winner Karen Crawford.
After completing her Applied Science (chemistry) honours, Ms Crawford began working in the Queensland Police Force scientific section in January. In her work she examines and runs a multitude of tests on fire
debris and also conducts glass and paint comparisons on material collected from break-and-enter and hit-and-run cases.
“The tests I conduct basically tell us what accelerants, if any, have been used on material police officers collect from houses, from burnt-out cars and vandalised schools,” Ms Crawford said. “I am enjoying the work very much — forensic science is an area I’ve always wanted to get into.”
She was presented with a QUT medal for academic excellence at the Science Faculty graduation on April 22 and is pictured above being congratulated by her boyfriend, honours graduate Idriss Blakey, who also studied Applied Science (chemistry).
During her honours study at QUT in 1996, Ms Crawford compared the effects of enzymatic treatments and chemical treatments on denim. Her work was sponsored by the multi- national Danish company Nova Nordisk, one of the world’s largest producers of pharmaceutical and bio-industrial products.
The guest speaker at the Science Faculty graduation was Sir Bruce Watson whose current positions include directorships with National Australia Bank and Boral Limited as well as the chairmanship of the Gas Corporation of Queensland. Sir Bruce has been chairman of the Co- operative Research Centre for Diagnostic Technologies board of management since its inception in July 1995.
— Andrea Hammond
Medallist hunts for new clues
New centre to train State’s first crop of reading recovery ‘trainers’
by Tony Wilson
A State Reading Recovery Centre has been established at QUT in collaboration with Education Queensland to address early literacy lag in Queensland schoolchildren.
The centre — which will be opened officially by State Education Minister Bob Quinn on May 12 — is responsible for the professional development of tutors who will train reading recovery teachers throughout Queensland.
State Reading Recovery Centre director Dr Sue Burroughs-Lange said Queensland tutors would have access to a local training program which was based on Queensland needs for the first time.
“In the past we have had to send people overseas to get them trained or to other states in Australia,” Dr Burroughs-Lange said.
“Last year we sent them to New Zealand because that’s where the program originated.
“Research shows reading recovery to be really effective.
“It’s the best model you will find for actually bringing theory and practice so forcibly together in teacher development.
“We try very much to adhere to the proven training program as it is offered in New Zealand but the context is very much shaped by Queensland characteristics.”
Dr Burroughs-Lange said six tutors were enrolled in the inaugural program which commenced at the end of January, representing regions from around the State.
“The course is a one-year, full-time, on- campus course which is quite rare in education now apart from the pre-service training,” she said.
“People get a year’s study leave from their job to be based in Brisbane full-time.”
Dr Burroughs-Lange said the tutors produced by the program would, in turn, train reading recovery teachers in their local area who would deliver the program in schools.
“The tutors in the field will train about 12 teachers a year,” she said.
“The sort of people we recruit as reading-recovery teachers are good early childhood teachers — people who have classroom experience, particularly in early literacy.
“They teach reading recovery half-time and the other half is ideally spent back in the classroom.
“The program is aimed at six-year-olds who are experiencing difficulty in acquiring literacy and they receive a half- hour lesson every day for about 15 weeks.
“The majority of the work with children is in the schools but periodically, as a part of our professional development process, the teachers and children come into the centre so the children’s responses and the teacher’s practice can be observed and critiqued.”
Dr Burroughs-Lange said attention was paid to children with literacy acquisition problems identified in the Year Two Net where all schoolchildren were assessed for literacy and numerary skills.
“Ideally, all schools will have (a) reading-recovery (program) available to
them but we have had to start with just some and they were selected by looking at the Year Two Net results to identify schools with the greatest need,” she said.
Dr Burroughs-Lange rejected claims that technology reduced the need for traditional literacy in children, arguing instead that demands could increase.
“You here a lot of talk about it being a technological age and children only have to sit in front of the telly and listen and that books will vanish but it’s a complete nonsense,” she said.
“Our whole lives are surrounded by literacy.
“The school curriculum is largely mediated through text and print — children have to interact with a lot of textual material in their school and everyday lives — the text might be on a computer screen, but it is still text.”
She said a failure to acquire literacy early in their school lives disadvantaged children for the remainder of their education and affected their self-image.
“Literacy is the doorway to the curriculum as well as an end in itself.”
Dr Sue Burroughs-Lange takes a break from training at the State’s new Reading Recovery Centre at QUT
Girls are reluctant to ask questions, but keen to have answers when it comes to science, a three-week study in Brisbane’s Sciencentre has found.
The study of 113 primary school children by visiting United States professor Dr Scott Paris discovered children learned nearly twice as much when exhibits were explained to them.
However, girls’ enjoyment was lower and they learned less than boys from exhibits when there were no “explainers”, Dr Paris said.
The Sciencentre’s explainers are trained volunteers who demonstrate how exhibits work, outline the scientific concepts behind each exhibit and field questions from visitors.
Girls are more shy – Sciencentre study
Dr Paris said his study showed girls also appeared more reluctant than boys to ask questions or to approach the explainers, with only 2 per cent of girls asking questions while around 8 per cent of boys did so.
In fact, most children did not ask questions of adults frequently, he said. In spite of their reticence, 93 per cent of girls clearly said they liked to talk to explainers, compared to 79 per cent of boys. Ironically, however, it appeared explainers were more likely to talk to boys than girls at exhibits.
“The story that emerges from the data is that girls like to talk to explainers and benefit from the help, because they enjoy
and learn more from exhibits on which they receive help,” Dr Paris said.
“However, they are reluctant to ask questions and may be approached less often by explainers so they may not receive as much attention as the boys in the Sciencentre. We can only speculate that, over time, this pattern may affect girls’
attitudes about science and their own perceptions of their abilities.
“It is consistent with other research which shows girls develop diminished expectations in the classroom for science when adults expect girls to have difficulty and give boys more attention.”
Dr Paris, a professor of psychology and education at the University of Michigan, said the study clearly showed that adult assistance played a significant role in children’s experiences at the Sciencentre during school field trips.
“Children reported they enjoyed exhibits at which they received adult help more than 60 per cent of the time,” he said.
“In the same fashion, they reported that they learned a lot at nearly 50 per cent of the exhibits where they received help. In contrast, they reported learning a lot at only 30 per cent of the exhibits on which no adult helped them.”
Children in years four to seven, with an average age of 11, participated in the random survey and interview-based study conducted during Dr Paris’ two-month research fellowship with the School of Early Childhood.
by Andrea Hammond
A Sciencentre “explainer” with school children
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by Tony Wilson
Some people cannot get enough of QUT . . . just ask Karyn Brinkley.
I n a r e l a t i o n s h i p w i t h t h e university which stretches back a l m o s t 1 5 y e a r s , t h e B u s i n e s s graduate has at various times been a full-time undergraduate, part-time postgraduate, full-time general staff member and a part-time academic.
T o d a y s h e i s a m e m b e r o f t h e university’s Council.
K a r y n c o m p l e t e d a communication degree in 1985, majoring in advertising.
“ T h e l a s t s i x m o n t h s I w a s studying I was working at an ad agency, Norris Brown, part-time and went full-time when I finished the degree,” she said.
“They were bought out by Mojo, so I worked for a very brief time for Mojo.
“From there I went to a string of advertising agencies — the mid-’80s w a s a v e r y t u r b u l e n t t i m e i n a d v e r t i s i n g a n d o n e p l a c e a f t e r another was closing down.
“I seemed to pick all the ones who got the phone call on Monday from N e w Y o r k s a y i n g ‘ C l o s e ( t h a t agency) down’.
“I think I had eight jobs in the space of three or four years in
From communication grad to convocation to Council . . .
advertising — but I was never out of work for longer than two days.”
Fed up with the insecurity, Karyn began working for the Queensland F o r e s t r y D e p a r t m e n t a s a n information officer.
“I got into community liaison and consultation roles — it was about the time of the Fitzgerald inquiry into Fraser Island — the other Fitzgerald inquiry,” she said.
“At the same time I was studying m y m a s t e r s d e g r e e i n c o m m u n i c a t i o n m a n a g e m e n t a t QUT in environmental conflict resolution — I started that degree in 1990 and finished in 1993.”
I n e a r l y 1 9 9 4 , M s B r i n k l e y returned to her alma mater as deputy director of QUT’s Public Affairs Department.
“I was really thrown in the deep end
— I had one morning’s briefing and then the director went overseas for three months and I was it,” she said.
“While working at QUT I also t u t o r e d u n d e r g r a d u a t e s a n d postgrads in communication.”
Karyn left QUT in 1995 to take up her current position as manager of corporate communication for the Port of Brisbane Corporation.
Shortly after leaving QUT she was elected as one of two convocation representatives on QUT Council.
“I enjoy the ethos of QUT and I really believe in what the university is trying to do. QUT has given me a l o t , b o t h p e r s o n a l l y a n d p r o f e s s i o n a l l y , a n d s e r v i n g o n
Council is an opportunity to give something back,” she said.
Karyn said that involvement in Council was a way of preserving the prestige of the degrees held by graduates.
“ I t i s i m p o r t a n t t h a t t h e university you went to continues to h a v e a g o o d r e p u t a t i o n f o r i t s c o u r s e s a n d t h e q u a l i t y o f i t s graduates.”
Karyn Brinkley takes a break from her duties as Corporate Communication Manager for the Port of Brisbane Corporation and convocation representative on QUT’s Council
Super seafood sooner is the target of a
$650,000 international collaborative project involving scientists from QUT and Fiji.
The collaborative team is examining ways to optimise the size and maturity times for two popular species and its work could underpin new, multimillion dollar export industries for Fiji and Australia.
To begin in July, the three-year project is being funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.
Project co-ordinator and research head Dr Peter Mather, a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Science at QUT, said the project was the result of a joint proposal submitted by the university’s Centre for Molecular Biotechnology and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forests in Fiji.
He said aquaculture was a relatively new industry in both Fiji and Australia.
“Aquaculture in Australia, to date, has not been very successful for a
International team targets lucrative aquaculture exports
number of reasons, but one of the species — the red claw crayfish — is considered to have good potential, particularly as an export product and for the local restaurant market,” Dr Mather said.
He said both countries saw great potential in expanding their respective industries.
“In Fiji, the primary species targeted for development are the tilapias while in Australia, a number of native and exotic species, including the red claw crayfish, are being developed in culture,”
Dr Mather said.
“This will be achieved via artificial selection of the best-performing individuals for a number of important quantitative traits from a base population.”
Dr Mather said the development of improved breeds would happen alongside the generation of sets of genetic markers.
“These will be used to describe levels and patterns of genetic variation in both species and for genotyping tagged individuals with divergent quantitative traits,” he said.
Dr Mather said the team intended to bring a new strain of tilapia from the Philippines to Fiji under quarantine conditions and compare that strain with the best-performing strain in Fiji.
Besides Dr Mather, key personnel in the project include the director of Fiji’s Fisheries Division, Mr Maciu Lagibalavu, and QUT’s School of Natural Resource Sciences’ Dr John Wilson, who is responsible for the project’s management and administration.
Dr Mather said QUT, along with t h e Q u e e n s l a n d D e p a r t m e n t o f Primary Industries and the CSIRO, would collaborate in the development of a microsatellite marker-assisted genetic selection program for red claw.
He said preliminary selection trials were underway at DPI’s Walkamin Research station in North Queensland.
He said DPI Fisheries had recently completed a study of selection for increased red claw crayfish growth rate in two river stocks.
“Fisheries has already produced a crayfish which will grow 20 per cent faster than the wild stock without having to provide extra food or better water conditions,” Dr Mather said.
“Ultimately, we would like to produce one that grows even faster and, when that becomes available to the farmers, the industry will get better productivity.
“At the moment, you are looking at nine months’ growth to get a marketable crayfish of 150 grams.
“What we are looking at is to compress that time by about two or three months to about six months and, with a bit of luck, the industry may get two crops a year.”
Dr Mather said it was difficult to know the potential of the market, but there had been considerable demand for fresh, live crustaceans in Japan.
He said there was a big market for live prawns in Japan which fetched up to $(Aust)100 a kilogram.
It was also a matter of finding a niche in the market for red claws, he said, and to be able to supply sufficient quantities so that it was not just haphazard production of small export volumes.
“There is a big potential market available in Japan,” Dr Mather said.
“Australia offers advantages in terms of low pollution, high-quality research and development support and large, available ground areas which make development of a red claw industry for export to Japan a viable proposition.”
In Australia, at the conclusion of the project, Dr Mather said he believed there would be a faster-growing strain of red claw which would provide an important impetus to the industry.
“In Fiji, we will develop a better- performing strain of tilapia which will lead to higher returns for farmers and an expansion of the industry which will address Fiji’s decline in marine fisheries production,” Dr Mather said.
Bred for a potentially lucrative market . . . Dr Peter Mather examines a red claw crayfish
Accountability — both individually and professionally — was the cornerstone of an address given to graduating QUT Information Technology and Built Environment and Engineering students last week.
David Merson, chairman and managing director of software development company Mincom, told graduates at the April 30 event that accountability was about “finding your place in an organisation”.
“We read about and experience new models of organisation and management
— empowerment of workers, autonomous teams and workgroups and flattened organisational structures,” Mr Merson said.
“These changes are necessary and liberating for the individual, but they can also be very confusing.
“You will be required to understand what your organisation wants to achieve and obtain from your boss a clear definition of exactly what you are being held accountable for.
“If you don’t know your accountabilities, take the initiative and ask.
“If your boss can’t tell you, you need a new boss.”
In 1979 Mr Merson and five colleagues founded Mincom, which has since grown from its roots as a supplier of coal mine planning software to become an enterprise which develops and markets a variety of sophisticated software tools to clients in more than 20 countries.
He said information technology was at the heart of a shrinking world.
“I am often asked, in relation to my own company, if it is realistic to try to build an internationally competitive software company in Brisbane,” he said.
“It is – thanks to emerging communication technologies, the tyranny of distance and a small domestic market which might hinder the development of secondary and tertiary industries are gone.
“Access to a telephone line is all that is needed today to enter the global market.”
Mincom chief offers advice
to graduates
by Noel Gentner
by Andrea Hammond
When Spencer Howson imagines people listening to his morning show on ABC Radio 612-4QR he visualises them stretching and yawning in his bed or enjoying breakfast at his dining table.
It is an unusual technique for keeping in touch with audiences, but one that obviously works, as the y o u n g a n n o u n c e r h a s c u t l a r g e swathes through the radio ratings jungle since taking on the prime breakfast spot six months ago.
Latest figures show he is winning over “core” 40-plus ABC listeners — many of whom were devoted to their d a i l y d o s e o f h i s l o n g - t i m e predecessor, Peter Dick — and is attracting more listeners.
If ABC marketing strategists prove to be correct, Spencer Howson, 25, will be the lure that will have 30- something audiences turning off commercial stations and tuning into the national broadcaster much sooner.
So what is the secret of Howson’s style that his seen him go from relative obscurity — after graduating from QUT in 1991 with a Bachelor o f B u s i n e s s ( C o m m u n i c a t i o n ) majoring in journalism — to the ABC’s plum breakfast broadcasting spot in less than five years?
Opinion is divided, but an amiable style, impeccable manners and a faint Lancashire accent combine to make
Spencer spins a special place for breakfast listeners
him the new, friendly and reasonable voice of the breakfast listening in South-East Queensland.
Produced by Zara Horner, Breakfast with Spencer has moved away from
frothy and gossipy interviews into a format firmly based on local stories and trimmed with quirky snippets.
“We try to focus the program on information that is local, interesting and
useful to people to help them through another day in South-East Queensland,”
Howson said.
“This year we are doing something that’s not being done by anyone else.
“I think we are treating our audience with a bit more respect than we did in the past and that’s nothing against the previous presenter (Peter Dick) — he’s a terrific broadcaster.
“We still have fun, because people don’t want to be bombarded with p o l i t i c s a n d d i s c u s s i o n s o f t h e effectiveness of the Criminal Justice Commission at 7am.
“Nobody wants politics at the breakfast table.”
The emphasis on local and useful information has been underlined by the use of “roving reporter” Patty Beecham, who is sent on unusual assignments suggested by listeners — such as finding out how the bulbs are changed in the big lights at the
’Gabba.
Listeners tuning in for the first time will learn that the eye of an ostrich is bigger than its brain, that garden gnomes really are stolen and taken on trips around the world, and take in budgeting tips with the day’s news headlines.
The new breakfast presenter’s talkback segments also give eager listeners a chance to have their say on some of the soft news issues of t h e d a y — g r a n d m a s f i n e d f o r driving too slowly, the ethics of commercial radio stations alerting people as to where speed cameras a r e p o s i t i o n e d a n d h o w K i e r e n Perkins should balance fatherhood and his career.
Interarts ’97 — the second biennial collaboration between QUT’s Academy of the Arts and the local arts community of Stanthorpe — hits the streets from May 13 to 25.
Focusing on the sharing of art-making between professional and student art workers and all members of the community, Interarts ’97 will again see many projects on show and workshops being run in and around the bustling southern Darling Downs township.
QUT Interarts co-ordinator Julie Martin — who was involved in the first event in 1995 — said organisers were aiming for an even broader community involvement in the festival this time around.
“We are confident the Stanthorpe community will be strongly supportive over the two-week period this year,”
Ms Martin said. “We’re planning a more comprehensive program and we are thrilled that a number of profesional artists from Street Arts will be with us this time around.”
Ms Martin said important dates to remember included the spectacular fire event along the banks of Quart Pot Creek on Friday, May 23, and the final celebration on Saturday, May 24, where participants will show off their final creations.
For further details about Interarts
’97, call Ms Martin on (07) 3832 1446 or the Academy on (07) 3864 3249.
Students head for Stanthorpe
As a school girl in the 1950s in the Sunshine Coast hinterland town of Cooroy, the bright lights of Brisbane and the possibility of a university education and a career seemed a world away to Ruth Kerr.
However, with the encouragement of the local chemist and the support of her parents, she turned an embryonic dream of becoming a school teacher into a career as one of Queensland’s leading historians and archivists.
“Cooroy was full of farmers and practical women but few, if any, educated people other than the doctor, the dentist and the chemist,” Dr Kerr said.
“The local chemist stimulated a half dozen bright students in the 1950s to be educated properly. He told us how to further our studies and told our parents too.”
Today Dr Kerr and her husband continue this tradition of fostering a love of learning with generous donations to a range of institutions including QUT’s Foundation.
Historian puts philanthropy into practice
“We are interested in fundamental research in science and the humanities,”
Dr Kerr said.
“I give money to QUT’s School of Humanities led by Professor Cameron Hazelhurst who, I believe, is a very solid scholar of history and his work is really worth supporting.”
After completing high school, Dr Kerr commenced a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Queensland and obtained a Certificate of Teaching from the Kelvin Grove Teachers College.
In 1978 she completed a graduate Diploma in Library Science at QIT and, in 1986, was awarded her PhD in history from the University of Queensland.
Dr Kerr taught at a number of Queensland schools before taking on a job as an archivist with the Queensland Government.
“The office was on a Government reserve surrounded by lots of other Government and medical institutions which were all quite depressing really,” she recalled. “My
window overlooked the high-security, 19th- Century section of Boggo Road Jail.”
Dr Kerr toiled for eight years in the dusty back rooms of the archives office before being seconded to the Crown Law Office to undertake research on the Mabo case which subsequently established Native Title rights for Torres Strait Islanders.
“My job was to gather oral history from the residents and principally to do a lot of searching in Government Departments for the records which relate to Murray Island and the administration of the Torres Strait,” she said.
“The research took me to Cambridge University and into the Torres Strait.
“I was the first person given access to study the records of the Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs which showed a sustained history of independence in attitude by the traditional residents as well as an attachment to their lands.”
Mrs Kerr continues to work in the area of Native Title for the State Mines and Energy Department.
by Tony Wilson
Historian Ruth Kerr at work researching for the Mines and Energy Department
Two pieces created during the first Interarts event in 1995 Spencer Howson at work in the ABC 612 4QR studios at Toowong . . . no politics with the morning’s porridge
Council and Committee News
This is a summary of activity taken by the Vice-Chancellor, Council and these committees between Feb 26 and April 10, 1997:
• Vice-Chancellor’s Advisory Committee, VCAC (Feb 20, Mar 6 & 20)
• University Academic Board, UAB (Mar 21)
• Planning and Resources Committee (Mar 26)
• Buildings and Grounds Committee (Feb 26)
• Research Management Committee (Feb 28)
• Senior Management Development Advisory Committee (Mar 17)
• Equity Board (Mar 13)
• Community Service Advisory Committee (Mar 20)
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee (Feb 20)
• University Health and Safety Committee (Feb 27)
• Convocation Standing Committee (Mar 19)
• Corporate Management Information Committee (Mar 25) MANAGEMENT
West Committee visit
Three members of the Commonwealth Review of Higher Education Financing and Policy visited QUT on March 26 — chair of the review and retired headmaster of Trinity Grammar School in Sydney, Roderick West; the executive commission’s Gary Banks;
and the retired Director of McKinsey and Company (and
1996 Financial Outcome Report
Council and Planning and Resources Committee considered and noted the 1996 Financial Outcome Report. The main points discussed included:
• carryover into 1997 was double the target;
• non-grant income increased by 3 per cent to 46 per cent of total income;
• the capital program had slowed, but an increase in minor works would continue; and
• external services income dropped below the 1996 target.
Report in compliance with Public Finance Standards for quarter ending December 31 1996
The Audit Committee considered this report, including the unaudited financial statements for 1996, and queried a number of aspects of the 1996 financial statements and requested the finance and facilities director to report back to the next meeting.
The committee also expressed concern that figures in the financial statements did not match 1996 Finance Outcome Report and encouraged the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Planning and Resources) and the finance and facilities director to prepare consolidated quarterly reports.
Internal Audit Section — report quarter ended December 31 1996 The Audit Committee considered the Internal Audit Report for the quarter ended December 31 1996 and agreed that no items in the report warranted specific action by the Committee.
However, the Committee did discuss the general question of risk and liability associated with certain academic activities of the university and the disadvantages and advantages of protecting the university from this risk by isolating such activities in their own company.
Writs — legal liability
The Audit Committee discussed the university’s procedures for dealing with writs and agreed to request the Registrar to establish a “writ register” in order to satisfy audit responsibilities and assess the university’s liabilities more effectively.
Internal Audit — report for year ended December 31 1996 Council received the Internal Audit — Annual Report for the year ended December 31 1996.
TEACHING AND RESEARCH Entrance of TAFE graduates to QUT courses
VCAC considered a submission which showed both a fall in the number of students entering QUT on the basis of TAFE studies and a failure in some faculties to follow university policy of giving credit equivalent to one year’s full-time study in bachelor degree courses for successful completion of a TAFE associate diploma.
To address this situation, the Vice-Chancellor suggested the university send a simple message to TAFE clarifying the amount of credit which the university will grant for completion of particular courses and deans were asked to consider the issues raised and the proposal to offer advanced standing to former TAFE students consistently across faculties.
Australian Research Council large grants
QUT has submitted 88 applications for ARC large grants for 1998, an increase of 20 per cent on the previous year.
Research degrees
UAB ratified executive action by the chairperson in awarding to the following:
• a degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Michael John Collins, Elizabeth Anne Warren, Rosalie Boyce, Douglas John Stewart, Joanne Frances Dowar, Steven John Drew, Ahmed Sayed Elgezawy, Anne Kinhult, Loji Roji Saibi, Michael Duncan McDonald, Anne Louise Dewar, Robert Bruce Clerke, Wendy Ann Ruscoe, Tracy Lyn Woodward, Par Axel Stahlbom, David Charles Reid, Yuchang Cao, Xue Li, Pierre John Castellano and Desmond Allan Butler.
• a degree of Master of Arts
Peter Hempenstall, Nameer Stephen Davis, Mary Therese Horton, and Barbara Margaret Penrose.
• a degree of Master of Business Adrian Peter Hellwig
• a degree of Master of Engineering
Warnakalusuriya Glory Neranjala Fernando and Matthew Joseph.
Approval of graduands and awards
UAB approved awards to graduands who had completed their course in second semester 1996 and who will graduate at 1997 graduation ceremonies.
UAB also ratified executive action by the chairperson in approving cut-offs for awards with honours and distinction and honour degrees and in approving faculty nominations for university medals.
University centres and research concentrations
Council, on recommendation from UAB, awarded university research centre status to the Centre for Public Health Research.
UAB awarded school centre status to the Centre for the Study of Ethics in the Market, Government and Professions and to the Centre for Cognitive Processes in Learning.
Research concentration centre status was awarded to the Research Concentration in Queensland International Business.
A further three years of university research centre status was awarded to the Centre for Instrumental and Developmental Chemistry.
Within the Faculty of Education, UAB approved the disbanding of the research concentrations in Curriculum Decision Making and in Adult and Workplace Education and their incorporation into the Centre for Professional Practice in Education and Training (formerly the Centre for Applied Environmental and Social Education Research).
Course development
UAB approved the re-accreditation of the Bachelor Engineering (Aerospace Avionics) and the Master of Arts (Research), the
restructure of the Bachelor of Applied Science (SC01) and approved the new double-degree Bachelor of Applied Science (Mathematical Sciences)/Bachelor of Business (Economics/Banking and Finance) for introduction in 1998. Council approved Stage 1 and UAB approved Stage 2 of the Graduate Diploma in Diagnostic Technologies for introduction into second semester 1997 subject to specified changes. UAB also approved a change of title for honours programs offered in the School of Public Health to Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) following introduction of the new Bachelor of Health Science program in 1997.
Double degrees
UAB approved a new policy on double degrees which stipulates that a double degree contains no more than 144 credit points (i.e., the equivalent of one and a half years of standard full-time load) more than the total credit points contained in the longer of the two degrees of which it is composed.
Review of Outstanding Academic Contribution award scheme UAB approved amendments to the Award for Outstanding Academic Contribution Scheme which has clarified the nomination criteria and process, consideration of nominations and use of award monies. Council on recommendation from the Board also approved a recommendation that a Committee be established to consider nominations.
Amendment to PhD regulations — leave of absence UAB approved amendments to the PhD regulations (as codified in the PhD handbook) relating to the provision of approved leave of absence from PhD programs.
Allocation of internal research grant funds
VCAC discussed the allocation of internal research grant funds and raised concerns about the university’s policy on the distribution of the funds. The allocation of funds on the basis of performance over previous years was questioned and members felt that while this approach might be advantageous to some faculties, it was not supportive of development of new areas of research. VCAC was advised that the Research Management Committee had approved the formula used to allocate these funds on the basis of the university’s commitment to selectivity and concentration.
Oodgeroo Grant Scheme
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee discussed a number of issues relating to the operation of the Oodgeroo Grant Scheme, specifically the requirements of projects and timelines for the scheme. The scheme, funded by an allocation of $80,000 from the Oodgeroo Unit, has been designed to offer the faculties a method of developing strategies to contribute to improvements in QUT’s access, participation/retention and completion rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
STAFF
Honorary and visiting appointments policy
VCAC agreed to forward a draft policy to the Staff Committee covering the appointment of visiting fellows and visiting research fellows and limiting the titles for honorary and visiting appointments to adjunct professor, visiting fellow and visiting research fellow.
Enterprise bargaining negotiations
A ballot of all full-time and part-time academic staff has approved the enterprise bargaining agreement negotiated between QUT and the National Tertiary Education Union which includes a 6 per cent salary increase operative from December 1 1996, a further 2 per cent salary increase from January 1 1998 and 3 per cent from December 1 1998. The parties will now submit the agreement to the Industrial Commission for ratification.
Senior staff recruitment
Five applications have been received for the Dean, Faculty of Law; interviews are scheduled for May 27.
Five short-listed applicants for the Director of the Department of Teaching and Learning position were interviewed on April 22.
• Professor Roger Willett, Head of the Department of Accountancy at the University of Otago, has accepted the position of Professor and Head, School of Accountancy.
• Dr Mary Courtney from the University of New England has accepted the position of Professor of Nursing.
• Mr Paul Von Nessen from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology has accepted the position of McCullough Robertson Chair of Corporations Law.
• Dr Hank Lanskey of Western Michigan University has accepted appointment as Associate Professor in Marketing.
Senior staff conference 1997
The Senior Staff Conference working group comprises:
• Professor Alan Cumming (convenor);
• Mr Brian Fenn;
• Professor Gail Hart;
• Professor Weilin Chang;
• Associate Professor Sue Smith; and
• Mr Bill Ryan.
Adjunct Professors
The Vice-Chancellor took executive action to:
• appoint Professor Djoko Hartanto of the University of Indonesia as Adjunct Professor in the School of Mechanical, Manufacturing and Medical Engineering from January 2 1997 to January 2 1998;
• appoint Dr Victor Siskind of the University of Queensland as Adjunct Professor in the School of Social Science from January 22 to July 22 1997;
• extend the appointment of Professor Ken Sellick as Adjunct Professor in the School of Nursing from June 30 to December 31 1997; and
• appoint Mr Ray Weekes, the former Managing Director of Castlemaine Perkins, as Adjunct Professor in the Graduate School of Business from April 1 1997 to February 28 1998.
Advertisement
A group of 15 cleaners from 10 different countries are putting aside their mops, buckets and rakes to take advantage of a seven-week Language Skills for the Workplace course at QUT.
Classes are being offered for free to interested members of QUT’s cleaning staff, many of whom do not have English as their first language.
The program, the first of its kind at QUT, was masterminded by Continuing Professional Education’s migrant projects co-ordinator Marion Whittaker, staff relations officer Meagan Wedmaier and staff development officer Lola Mavor.
It has been primarily funded through the Workplace English Language and Literacy
Program — which is administered by the Department of Employment, Education Training and Youth Affairs — with a final 25 per cent of funds from QUT’s Human Resources Department.
Ms Whittaker said she hoped the program, which had been strongly supported by QUT cleaning supervisors Mark Pope and Rick Douglas, would be continued.
“This course will give QUT cleaners literacy skills they will be able to use both inside and outside the workplace — they will be able to communicate better with their fellow work mates and to participate in other QUT staff development programs,” she said.
Cleaners take up study option
QUT students have again come away winners from the Queensland Young Film Makers Awards held in late April in conjunction with the Brisbane International Film Festival.
Alex Weld won the Best Tertiary Other category with What Comes First.
Michael Badorrek, Jo Kasch, Natalie Bailey, Sheetal Challam and Brooke Waldergrave-Knight were highly commended in the Best Tertiary Other category and were co-winners of the Warner Roadshow Movie World Studios Award for Best Overall Production for Wake.
Sarah-Jane Woulahan won the Go Video Award for Best Director and the WIFT Queensland Award for Best New Female Talent for Stomping Ground.
Naomi Just, Helen Browning and Katy Forde won Brisbane International Film Festival Award for Most Popular Film for TV Show.
Liam Price won Scope Films Award for Best Sound Design for Stomping Ground.
A past graduate of QUT, Jamieson Lowe, won the Australian Cinematographers Society Award for Encouragement in Cinematography for Pianissimo.
Honours student Jo Rose won the award for Best Independent Other for Patsy's Party which she co-produced.
Head of QUT’s School and Media and Journalism congratulated the students and the Film TV Production staff on the success.
Students scoop film awards
telecommunication and multimedia specialist) Clem Doherty. The group discussed aspects of higher education policy and funding with members of QUT Executive before inspecting various areas selected to show the diversity of the university’s activities.
QUT will make a short submission to the Review which will outline the university’s unique mission within a diverse higher education system and make suggestions about appropriate administrative and funding arrangements particularly in relation to:
• interaction with the TAFE sector;
• the appropriate use of information technology;
• university governance and management; and
• funding of teaching and research.
The university is also contributing to submissions from the Australian Technology Network group of universities and the Australian Vice-Chancellor’s Committee.
School name change
On advice from UAB, the Vice-Chancellor took executive action to change the name of the School of Construction Management to the School of Construction Management and Property. The new name will more accurately reflect discipline areas within the School.
Fees for domestic undergraduate students Following a decision by the Commonwealth Government to allow universities to offer fee-paying places to domestic undergraduate students (to up to 25 per cent of total enrolment in any course), the university has considered its position for 1998.
VCAC decided to trial the offering of fee-paying domestic undergraduate places in a small group of selected courses. In consultation with the faculties and Student Administration, the committee will determine the final list of courses, the level of fees, and the mechanism for considering applications for fee-paying places. Council will discuss this issue at its May meeting, and consider the longer-term implications of this policy for the university.
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
— Disability Discrimination Act 1992
As a result of a complaint of a disabled student alleging discrimination by QUT in relation to his graduation ceremony, the HREOC heard the complaint and found it substantiated. As a result of this decision, the university moved the April 8 ceremony to the Brisbane Convention Centre to enable the graduate to fully participate in his graduation ceremony. The university is hopeful that steps will be taken to make the Concert Hall accessible to people with mobility impairments for next year’s ceremonies.
Access for People with Disabilities Sub-Committee Equity Board agreed to commence a review of the structure and function of this sub-committee and particularly to explore the feasibility of establishing an ad hoc reference group comprised of consumers.
Corporate systems
The Corporate Management Information Committee agreed that a definition and procedures for adopting a Corporate Management Information System is required. It also agreed to clarify and document the roles and responsibilities for the implementation, operation and maintenance of corporate management systems. This material will be considered at the committee’s next meeting.
Post-implementation reviews
The Corporate Management Information Committee considered a submission outlining the development of guidelines for the post-implementation review of systems.
It was also agreed that following the acceptance of guidelines on post-implementation review, a post-implementation review of Oracle Financials should be commenced.
Convocation statute
Convocation Standing Committee discussed a submission outlining the review and redrafting of all legislation including the current Convocation Statute.
In the redrafting, the committee agreed to recommend that its name and membership be amended from convocation to alumni and that the chairperson of the committee be changed from warden to president.
Nomination of Convocation members to Faculty Academic Boards The Convocation Standing Committee decided against nominating convocation members to the membership of faculty academic boards but agreed to convene a working party to review the brief, the suitability and the benefits of convocation representation on faculty academic boards.
Student focus 2001 plan
The Planning and Resources Committee considered the Student Focus 2001 Plan and agreed to endorse the plan in principle, noting that revisions needed to be undertaken aligning the Plan more closely with other QUT plans and providing more details on resources, performance indicators and timing.
Health and safety audit of QUT and its workplace health and safety officer training
The Health and Safety Committee noted the results of the health and safety audit, which concluded that predominately the establishment of health and safety systems were limited to areas where high risk was perceived and that many managers considered health and safety as being separate rather than integral to management activities.
However, it was also noted the Health and Safety Unit would begin training workplace health and safety officers during April.
The training is designed to ensure that the university meets its legislative requirements under the Workplace Health and Safety Act.
Assessment of applications for the 1997 Community Service Grants The Community Service Advisory Committee established a sub- committee to examine applications and make recommendation on the 1997 Community Service Grants.
FINANCE AND FABRIC Physical facilities
• Documentation has started for the refurbishment of levels 1 and 3 of U Block at Gardens Point.
• Conceptual planning is underway for the redevelopment of the U Block courtyard and the V Block podium at Gardens Point.
• Renovation of levels 2 and 3 of A Block, Kelvin Grove for the Faculty of Education is near completion.
• Buildings and Grounds Committee considered the design development documentation for the refurbishment of the existing F block and the construction of a new D Block to replace the existing D Block and D Block annex.
The Committee also noted a report by the facilities manager measuring the degree of success in relation to completing outstanding maintenance works, and methods to improve the performance and operation of the university’s facilities.
