Queensland University of Technology Newspaper Issue No 141
November 7, 1995
QUT gets top marks for equity
QUT has been given top marks for its work in equal employment opportunity by the Federal Govern- ment’s Affirmative Action Agency.
In an annual list presented by the agency to Parliament, QUT was one of only three Australian universities to be ranked in the top group of a five- point scale.
The list, which details the best and worst performers among Australian companies and public institutions, is judged on equal employment policies, the proportion of women in top jobs, help for women seeking promotion and women in non-traditional positions.
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Janice Reid said it was heart- ening to see QUT’s efforts recognised at a national level.
“This is because QUT is putting in place structures and processes and has developed some very good programs, firstly to overcome past disadvantage and secondly to help women to de- velop their potential,” she said.
“We knew we were on the right track when we won the Business Review Weekly Affirmative Action Award for higher education in 1993 and this cur- rent recognition tells us we are still heading in the right direction.”
Professor Reid said that, despite this recognition, it was crucial to keep moving forward.
“We are doing well, but there is a way to go. Affirmative action is like quality, you never stop loooking for areas for improvement. In many ways the journey is as significant as the destination.”
The strength of QUT’s affirmative ac- tion program was its integration into
By TONY WILSON university-level strategic planning which meant it was identified as a priority and indicators were set for what the univer- sity wanted to achieve, she said.
“This means it is integral to the busi- ness of QUT.”
Professor Reid said QUT had im- plemented a number of programs to help meet its employment equity goals.
“One really innovative program, which no other Australian university has, is the Worklink program which funds staff who go on parental leave to undertake activities that keep them in touch with the workplace or with their profession.
“Take for example an academic staff member who wants to give a paper at an interstate conference while she is on maternity leave — this would pay for her flight and for child care for the baby.”
Professor Reid said this program was one example of QUT’s recogni- tion of work and family issues for staff.
“I believe we are leading other uni- versities in Australia in this area in terms of recognising the importance of the need to support staff with families.
“We have just appointed the first Work and Family Coordinator in an Australian university.
“This person will work with the university to ensure QUT really is family-friendly.”
Professor Reid said QUT also provided fellowships to minimise the effects of career interruptions on female academics as well as three programs to foster the development of women at various levels of management.
THE temperature literally rises for School of Public Health student Janet Richardson (pictured above left) during a simulated QUT study to test heat strain while wearing a chemical protective suit for 20 minutes in up to 40 degree heat.
The physiological effects of these conditions, regularly endured by firefighters battling chemical emer- gencies, were the subject of a study by Ms Richardson who is studying for her honours degree in Occupa- tional Health and Safety.
Her supervisor Associate Professor Mike Capra (above right) said a series of tests with 20 firefighters from Roma Street Fire Station revealed most
experienced an increase in heart rate and body temperature with some firefight- ers losing up to a litre of fluid while wearing and working in the suit.
“Miss Richardson measured their heart rate every 30 seconds — 20 min- utes before they got into the suit, while they were in it and every 30 seconds for 20 minutes after they took the suit off,” he said.
“She fitted an insulated temperature probe to the inside of the ear canal which measured the firefighter’s body temperature every 30 seconds during the study.
“We were able to test the firefight- ers at 30, 35 and 40 degree heat for 20 minutes.”
The tests were held at the Roma Street Fire Station’s BA HAZMAT division which is equipped with a special training facility to simulate temperature, humidity and smoke.
Professor Capra said the study, approved by Queensland Fire Serv- ice (QFS) management and the United Firefighters Union, received invaluable assistance from Acting District Officer Jeff Harper.
Miss Richardson will present the results to both parties and also to the participants.
Professor Capra said he hoped to do a follow-up study on different aspects of heat stress involving post- graduate students.
Putting the heat on fire suits Four colour pic from
separations - delete keyline
STOP PRESS
QUT continues to be the popular choice for undergraduate degree applicants in Queensland.
Latest Queensland Tertiary Admis- sions Centre figures for 1996 entry show that while the total number of applicants for universities in the State has fallen slightly on last year, QUT has retained its market share of 27 percent of all first preference applications.
This represents 11,610 first prefer- ence applicants for about 7400 first- year places at QUT next year. How- ever demand for individual courses is not uniform.
Admissions Manager Kevin
Anderson said applicants for courses in Arts and Business based at QUT’s Carseldine campus had risen, but so had the quota places available there.
Mr Anderson said two factors which accounted for more than 400 first pref- erences for 1995 entry were not reflected in figures for 1996, “so maintaining market share is a good result”.
The first involved the closure of QUT’s centre on the Sunshine Coast to coincide with the opening of the University Col- lege there. The second involved in-service and adult and workplace education appli- cations not being processed through QTAC for 1996.
QUT remains the popular choice
Keeping an eye on UV rays
Page 3
Casinos tread fine line
Page 13
Registrar retires after 25 years
Page 2
Vice-Chancellor’s comment
come (maximum of 250 words).
Media may reproduce stories from Inside QUT. Each story has been checked with the source prior to publication.
Published by the Public Affairs De- partment, QUT (M Block, Gardens Point), GPO Box 2434 Brisbane 4001.
Photography: Suzanne Prestwidge Advertising: (07) 3864 2999.
The opinions expressed in Inside QUT do not necessarily represent those of the university.
This is the final edition of Inside QUT for 1995. Next published in February 1996.
Inside QUT has a circulation of 15,000 and is delivered to the Gardens Point, Kelvin Grove and Carseldine campuses.
The newspaper is also circulated through business, industry, govern- ment and the media.
If you know of a story which should be told in Inside QUT contact the Public Affairs journalists:
Trish Pennicott (ed) 3864 2361 Laura McDonald 3864 1150
Tony Wilson 3864 2130
Noel Gentner (p/t) 3864 1841
Fax 3210 0474
E-mail [email protected] Letters to the Editor are also wel-
Publication details
Queensland University of Technology Newspaper
From the Inside… by David Hawke
INDONESIA’s Minister for Man- power Drs Abdul Latief visited QUT on October 23 to sign a memorandum of understanding and cooperation in the establishment of the private Alatief University in Jakarta.
Drs Latief is planning a univer- sity with an eventual 25,000 student population. Construction will begin next year.
At a small signing ceremony, the Minister described his vision
for a new, dynamic university.
“In selecting your university to share this vision, I was given much advice from both Indonesian and Australian experts,” he said.
QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Dennis Gibson said his university looked forward to working with Alatief to develop a unique kind of university in Indonesia, and to continuing links with the university.
Already QUT’s former Deputy Vice- Chancellor Professor Tom Dixon has
visited Jakarta to help set up the plan- ning framework for the university.
As part of his visit, Drs Latief was escorted to the new Sunshine Coast University College where he discussed with Planning President Professor Paul Thomas the chal- lenges of establishing a university in a greenfield site.
In the short term, Alatief plans to deliver courses in central Jakarta which will articulate into QUT programs in Australia.
Links with Indonesia
Registrar retires
FOR people who have been at QUT a while, the place will not be the same without Brian Waters.
The quietly spoken Registrar whose presence reflects the power of the uni- versity behind him retires at Christ- mas after 25 years on staff. He is 57.
A commerce graduate and former systems analyst in the Queensland Treasury Department, he joined QIT as Assistant Registrar in 1970 among 300 staff and 4000 students, and became Registrar in 1975.
Twenty years later, the title is the same, but the job has changed — QUT is now one of Australia’s largest uni- versities with 28,000 students and 2600 staff. In that 20 years, Brian Waters’
signature has appeared on 56,000 award certificates.
Since 1970, he has also been in- volved in the admission of 100,000 students and takes personal pride in the fact that “we’ve been able to keep our end up pretty well”. By this he means experience has made him a good judge of how many offers to make in each course to fill agreed quotas which are the basis for government operat- ing grants.
The admissions process, which the Registrar described as “a pretty hairy old business” in the early 1970s, changed to cope with higher educa- tion growth in Queensland.
“What used to happen was that each
institution would process its applications Continued page 5 never knowing what offers had been made by other institutions. You’d make offers and get acceptances and think that you’d filled your quota and then find that people didn’t turn up so there was a mad panic at the end to make further offers,” he said.
“In 1975 the two metropolitan universities (Griffith University and t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f Q u e e n s l a n d ) formed a joint admissions centre and the colleges formed their own sepa- rate centre, while James Cook Uni- versity continued a separate process.
“This led to recognition that if we were going to have joint admission processes, there should be one for Queensland.”
The Queensland Tertiary Admis- sions Centre (QTAC) was set up in 1976 when QIT had 1900 undergradu- ate students commencing first year, about one quarter of QUT’s current annual intake. Brian Waters was chair- man of the QTAC Coordinating Com- mittee from 1980 to 1982.
Student admissions is only a small part of the Registrar’s role. He spends most of his 12 hour-day going to meet- ings, planning and approving strate- gies, handling correspondence and in the day to day running of the huge Division of Administrative Services.
Indonesia’s Minister for Manpower Drs Abdul Latief with Vice-Chancellor Professor Dennis Gibson
By PETER HINTON
Women in business focus of study
WOMEN in business in Queens- land will come under the micro- scope of a QUT School of Manage- ment research team next year.
The research team led by school lecturer Dr Mary Barrett (pictured right) is being funded by a grant valued at nearly $100,000 from the A u s t r a l i a n N a t i o n a l T r a i n i n g Authority (ANTA).
T h e a u t h o r i t y ’ s c h a i r m a n Gregor Ramsay was in Brisbane last week and attended an infor- mation session with the team at the Kelvin Grove campus.
The first stage of the grant is worth $49,000 and it is the first time QUT has been successful in applying for a grant from ANTA.
Dr Barrett said the initial work would begin with about 48 busi- ness case studies and the ultimate aim would be to broaden the study across the country in 1997.
She said there had been studies in the past, but none where re- search traced the development of women in business across a wide spectrum and through particular stages.
A lifetime of service
THIS week brings the first hot days of summer and the last issue of Inside QUT for 1995. It’s been another wonderful year for Brian Waters who, at Christmas, will finish two decades as QUT’s Reg- istrar and a distinguished career dedicated to people.
Brian has touched many lives.
Every one of the 56,000 students who’ve completed qualifications since 1975 knows the B S Waters name that appears on enrolment statements, letters, graduation certificates and prizes.
Council members and people throughout higher education have learned to respect Brian for his
thoughtfulness and competence. He is universally loved by staff and those who have worked closely with him hold him in the highest regard.
When I started at QIT in 1982, I was relatively inexperienced and had little idea about what really matters in organisations. I’ve learned many things from Brian.
He’s provided me with solid ad- vice and a model of dedication and commitment. He’s always been balanced and fair in his judge- ment. But most of all, he’s shown me, by example and through his approach to work, the importance of valuing people.
It’s people at the edge that re- ally know this quality of Brian’s.
Students in trouble for cheating.
Students with problems at home or problems with study. Students or staff who make big mistakes and need help to right them.
Those who’ve lost a loved one or need to make a hard decision. Brian always deals with people with the same respect, wisdom and kindness.
It’s a personal value for him and it’s become a core value for QUT.
Wishing all staff the very best for the holidays and looking for- ward to 1996.
Dennis Gibson
Keeping an eye on exposure to harmful UV rays
Dr Michael Sydenham … ‘forget about making a fashion statement, people need to wear sunglasses with a high protection rating’
Students enjoy their Australian attachment
AT home in Australia — Interna- tional students Jusvinia Jerinius (pictured far left) and Vicki Engku (pictured left) become easily at- tached to a true Aussie native at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.
In fact, the duo’s four-year attachment to QUT will continue with their decision to start a one- year graduate diploma in 1996 upon graduating at the end of the year with a Bachelor of Informa- tion Technology.
Jusvinia will complete her ma- jor in data communications, while Vicki is set to finish an informa- tion systems major.
Both from the State of Sabah in Malaysia, Jusvinia and Vicki were each awarded a scholarship by the Sabah Foundation to study at QUT.
“QUT has a very good reputa- tion with the foundation,” Jusvinia said.
“We were among the first stu- dents from Sabah to come to the university and we’ve all found it a rewarding experience.”
After completing their Founda- tion Year in 1992, they enrolled in the Faculty of Information Tech- nology’s three-year undergraduate degree.
Next year they will enrol in the Graduate Diploma in Information Systems, and depending on their results, they hope to gain entry to a masters program in 1997.
After completing their studies, Jusvinia and Vicki plan to return to Sabah where there is a demand f o r i n f o r m a t i o n t e c h n o l o g y graduates.
Forum on rural policy
THE economic survival of Australia’s agriculture industry and its farmers will be discussed at a forum in Toowoomba on November 10.
Critical Issues in Rural Policy is be- ing organised by School of Marketing and International Business senior lec- turer Dr Mark McGovern and will focus on a number of themes including agri- culture and rural situations; markets, policies and their impacts; current rural issues and options and positioning for future advantage.
Speakers will include Dr McGovern, Dr Arthur Preston from the Australian Centre in Strategic Management, As- sociate Professor Tim Robinson from the School of Economics and Finance and Geoff Cockfield from the Univer- sity of Southern Queensland.
A $20 fee will cover lunch, morning and afternoon tea and the cost of materials.
For more information, telephone Dr McGovern on (07) 3864 1013 or (07) 55 359 378 or Julie Weldon from the South East Graziers on (076) 393 338.
OUR Dilemma — Quality Outcomes in Taxing Times was the theme of a hy- pothetical debate held during a Focus on Teaching forum on September 29.
Led by Dean of Law Professor David Gardiner, the debate’s discus- sion panel included Professors Tong Wu (Planning, Landscape Architec- ture and Surveying) and Keith Wallace (Civil Engineering), Pedro Guedes (Architecture, Interior and Industrial Design), Carol Windsor (Nursing), Nina Shatifan (Equity), Tim Heldt
(Civil Engineering), Wendy Mathieson (Civil Engineering) and Doug Brown (Planning and Budget).
Hosted by the Faculty of Built En- vironment and Engineering and the Academic Staff Development Unit, the forum also featured presentations on the faculty’s innovative ap- proaches to teaching and learning.
Professor Ian Lowe from Griffith University addressed guests on Education for the 21st Century:
Re-thinking the Curriculum.
Debating the hypothetical
A PhD graduate has developed a world-first in eye care with contact lenses which accurately measure the amount of ultra violet radiation exposure to human eyes.
Dr Michael Sydenham said the lens, currently being trialled by researchers from QUT and the University of Queensland, could eventually lead to greater understanding of eye disease resulting from UV sunlight.
He said diseases such as cataracts, pterygium and cancerous growths on the cornea affected up to five percent of Queenslanders.
“Because these diseases often occur on the nasal side of the eye, we hope to determine how the rays reach different parts of the eye and what effect this has, if any,” Dr Sydenham said.
“We also will be able to measure how much the squint mechanism protects the eye in bright sunlight.”
Dr Sydenham said the lens, devel- oped from photosensitive plastic, needed to be worn for only 30 minutes in the middle of the day to register radiation levels.
“My previous attempts at methods of measurement such as sensors on the forehead and cheeks were not really accurate,” he said.
“They did not take into account the protective effect that the brow and nose gives to the eyes. By having a stable lens, it is possible to construct a map of where the ultraviolet rays fall on the eye.”
Dr Sydenham said that after construct- ing the lens he had to develop a method to stabilise its position on the eye.
“This problem was solved by glueing small mounds of epoxy resin on the lens, positioned so that when the lens was worn, the mounds rested
just above the lower eyelid,” he said.
“Each time the eye blinks the move- ment of the upper lid pushes down- ward on the epoxy mounds and forces the lens to stabilise.”
Dr Sydenham recommended the best way for people to minimise expo- sure to ultraviolet radiation was to wear protective sunglasses.
“Given the world-wide concern about depletion of the ozone layer and its consequences in terms of UV expo- sure and associated disease, it is impor- tant for people to take preventative steps.
“Research has shown ultraviolet radiation which reaches the eye can be up to five times higher on a cloudy day.
“In bright sunlight the eye squints which limits the amount of ultraviolet radiation. However, during cloudy weather, the eye opens allowing for potentially greater exposure.
“Forget about making a fashion statement, people need to wear sun- glasses which have a high protection rating and ones which are equipped with protective side shields.”
Dr Sydenham, a physicist, gradu- ated with a PhD from the Centre for Eye Research on September 26.
He currently works with his former PhD supervisor Professor Lawrie Hirst, the executive director of the Australian Foundation for the Preven- tion of Blindness.
Dr Sydenham, his other supervisor, School of Optometry senior lecturer Michael Collins, and Professor Hirst have applied to the National Health and Medical Research Council for further funding for their research.
By LAURA McDONALD
Pictured after the Focus on Teaching hypothetical are Wendy Mathieson, Tim Heldt, Nina Shatifan, Professor Keith Wallace and Pedro Guedes
Minister called on an industrial robot to move its long arm, thus unveiling a plaque. The robot be- longs to Electrical and Electronic Systems Engineering who are pro- gramming it to do various tasks.
Minister for Education David Hamill had a little help in officially opening QUT’s new Business Building on November 3.
When it came time to do the thing which marks the opening, the
Campus quickies
GENDER imbalance in Australian schools is being tackled with a new professional development kit for teach- ers, parents and administrators.
The seven-module kit, produced by a team from QUT’s Faculty of Education, is aimed at developing more effective school and classroom management practices for upper pri- mary and all secondary level students.
Funded by the Federal Department of Employment, Education and Train- ing’s Quality Schooling Program, the kit is being distributed Australia-wide by the Office of Commercial Services.
“There is a tremendous need to raise the awareness of gender-equity issues amongst teachers, administrators and parents,” said project director Dr Leonie Daws, from the Centre for Policy and Leadership Studies in Education.
“We believe that by improving re- lationships between the sexes in schools we can achieve greater equal- ity of outcomes for boys and girls.
“The most reliable social, political and economic data continues to dem- onstrate this equality has not been reached.
“It is clear that, despite the apparent
successes of feminism, women still suffer greater economic hardship than men, are under-represented in parlia- ment and face a range of daily prob- lems that society urgently needs to address.”
Dr Daws described the kit as a teacher professional development pro- gram to train teachers who, in turn, would educate their colleagues.
“It is essentially a self-directed program,” she said.
“We hope it will develop and strengthen relationships at all levels in the school community, give teach- ers fresh views, assist networking and challenge existing classroom practices.”
Dr Daws said the kit would explore femininity and masculinity, assist teach- ers in managing gender issues inside and outside the classroom, tackle issues in teaching boys and improve relationships between boys, girls and adult members of the school community.
“We developed the kit after work- ing with four core schools — two from Queensland and two from New South Wales,” she said.
“The materials were then trialled with additional clusters of schools.
“Teachers took part in professional development activities with us and then used those as a basis to identify the problems which existed within the schools.
“Some of these included sexual har- assment by boys, lack of women’s rep- resentation in school decision-making, girls being restricted to playing around the toilets and underneath the stair- wells and boys demanding and receiv- ing more access to teachers.”
Dr Daws said she was confident the kit would make an important contri- bution to reversing current discrimi- nation experienced by girls.
“That is why we included a core theme on relationships,” she said.
“If we could do something about improving the quality of relationships between boys and girls then some of the negative effects on girls would be reduced, and boys’ experience of school also would be enhanced.
“There is a lot of work to be done and it will take some time, but I be- lieve the kit will make a difference.”
The project team included Dr Jill Brannock, Dr Brigid Limerick, Ross Brooker, Lisa Ehrich, Georgia Smeal and Dr Sue Johnson.
Law must examine its basic values
the different payouts to women versus men for physical disfigurement, women’s payouts tend to be based on their so-called marriage potential and therefore they are being situated as a form of property.”
Dr Stacy will present a paper this month at the Feminism/Post Modern- ism/Post Feminism Conference organ- ised by the Women’s Studies Depart- ment of Massey University in New Zealand, building upon a paper delivered at the United States Law and Literary Conference held in Berkeley earlier this month.
“This paper focuses around the Hindmarsh Island affair in South Aus- tralia and looks at the intersection of race and gender in that particular dis- pute. The argument by the holders of the secret knowledge (a small group of Ngarrindjeri women) is that to in- vestigate whether their beliefs are fab- ricated beliefs is a cultural intrusion and an entirely inappropriate legal exercise to undertake.
“It is a claim intersected by race and gender because the disputation of the allegation of the male Aboriginal husband of one claimant was taken far more seriously than the disputation of the allegation by the larger group of the Ngarrindjeri women. The male voice was far more authorial in that situation. The stamp of the male Aboriginal was considered to be definitive.
“I’m saying that a lot more work needs to be done on the theory of legal identity. We must undertake a very thorough investigation of the underly- ing premises of identity in law that aren’t articulated, but nevertheless are there.
“I’m suggesting that there needs to be a far more active dialectic between the work being done in the theoretical realm with the practical legal prob- lems such as the Hindmarsh Island affair.”
One of the most important ways of achieving this was for the legal pro- fession and legal teaching to be “far more open to theory as a valid and illuminating undertaking and far more accepting that it is a valuable exercise that helps inform our understanding of the practice”.
“In law, as in other disciplines, seeking IF the law sincerely wants to pursue
equity as a principle then it must be very open to challenge some of the core presuppositions on which legal identity has been formed.
Acting Director of Research in QUT’s Faculty of Law Dr Helen Stacy said it didn’t take much examination of any legal exercise, whether it be in a courtroom, royal commission, or just looking at legal procedures and rule of evidence, to understand “that every bit of it has a preconceived value, a value that arises from the culture in which it has been framed and from the gender that framed it”.
“The law that is our historical legacy has been very much a mascu- line product, created by men, and has tended to project masculinised
subjectivities on women and used the masculine role as the universal role for human experience.
“That’s why we have this odd situ- ation that the only way we can prove rape is to prove that the person who is alleged to have raped knew that the woman objected to intercourse.
“Rather than having a preexisting notion that a woman does not consent to intercourse unless she says ‘yes’, the assumption is that unless she says
‘no’, she consents to intercourse.
“Now that is the male projection of male desire, much more than a female projection.”
Following a QUT New Researcher Grant in 1994 to look at the way theories of law or theories of legal feminism had structured women’s identity, Dr Stacy has this year ex- panded her work to investigate ways to ensure legal theories about women
were far more inclusive of different women, not only women of different economic backgrounds, but women from different social, cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds.
“I’m also interested in issues of Aboriginality and the way that Abo- riginal identity in a post-Mabo time has stirred up a great deal of debate about the role of law as policy-maker.
“It seems to me that there is a great deal of similarity between the claims of Aboriginal people to be heard as different people with a right to own their own identity and the right to define that identity for themselves, and women’s needs to define their own identity, rather than have the legal sys- tem superimpose an identity on them.
“For example, in criminal matters to have a legal identity of how a woman ought to have reacted in a rape situa- tion. In civil matters, when we look at
NU-LEC, a Brisbane company which began 15 years ago with one man with a screwdriver in a tin shed, is now leading the world in the design and production of high-tech electrical switch gear.
The one man was QUT graduate Greg Nunn who is still the managing director of this dynamic enterprise.
The screwdriver and tin shed have grown to become a high-tech factory situated on a 20,000 square metre site at Lytton on Brisbane’s outskirts.
The factory produces a range of equipment for the control of electric- ity for a client list which reads like a Who’s Who of Australian industry and government instrumentalities.
Mining giants BHP, Comalco and MIM all use NU-LEC equipment to control power to their dragline, open cut and underground mining opera- tions in Australia and overseas.
The company also supplies 98 per- cent of the pole-mounted circuit break- ers to electricity generation and sup- ply authorities in Australia, including all of those used by SEQEB.
With the exception of a small number of components, all NU-LEC products were designed and manufac- tured in Australia, Mr Nunn said.
NU-LEC has now opened offices in the United States. In addition it mar- kets its products extensively through- out Asia and in a number of European companies.
NU-LEC’s success was recognised this year when Mr Nunn was named Exporter of the Year in energy by the
Australian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers Association.
Mr Nunn attributed the success of the company to the addition of cutting edge technology to traditional switch equipment.
“All our switches are microproces- sor controlled. We are the only com- pany in the world which produces a product with the particular features these products have,” he said.
“We don’t have a competitor in the world who can honestly say they pro- duce a better product than us — we have competitors that outsell us, but they do that through marketing and pric- ing not through technological merit.”
Mr Nunn’s association with QUT extends back over 20 years.
He first began his electrician’s ap- prenticeship at the Central Technical College, followed in 1973 with a Cer- tificate in Electrical Engineering from QIT before completing an honours de- gree in mechanical engineering in 1980.
While quick to recognise the value of practical experience, Mr Nunn also believes good qualifications are an important ingredient in success.
“Good qualifications and good train- ing always feed back into what you do,” he said.
“If I didn’t believe qualifications were important I wouldn’t have stud- ied for 16 years part-time.”
Mr Nunn said his vision for NU- LEC’s future was to build on past suc- cess by continuing to develop more intelligent products and to continue to market them world wide.
Aussie enterprise powers to success
By TRISH PENNICOTT
a unified voice from minority groups is often a very culturally and intellectually violent aim. The aim to cluster under one category called ‘Aboriginal’ might be a useful sorting device, but it com- pletely overlooks the difference between the people within that category and that completely blurs the different subjectivities of people within that group.
“One of the alternatives is to realise that difference is to be welcomed, rather than feared. We tend to fear dif- ference as some sort of slippery slope to anarchy.
“The legal system very much is based on the idea of it being value- neutral and objective. The legal inves- tigative process sells itself as being an objective, logical, rational, deductive, value-free exercise.
“I’m asking the system to accept subjectivity as a method and to em- brace the challenge to be far more open, to be intellectually searching of its decisions and far more inclined to interrogate the policy basis of the leg- islation on which it is based.
“I am inviting the law to be open to the subtleties and nuances of the dif- ferent identities and different subjectivities before the law.”
In a country such as Australia which had 52 ethnic groups it was entirely appropriate to do so, Dr Stacy said.
Dr Helen Stacy
Kit tackles the gender imbalance in schools Visiting scholar favours earth expansion theory
A VISITING Scholar in QUT’s School of Geology believes the earth is getting bigger, and has been since the planet came into being, by absorbing energy from space which is transformed into matter.
In an open address on the Gardens Point campus in mid- October, John Rigby said he believed the Earth had dou- bled in diameter since its beginnings more than 4000 mil- lion years ago.
“The Earth is constantly being bombarded by neutrinos, sub-atomic particles from space. Most neutrinos pass straight through, but some have their energy transformed into matter deep within the fluid core of the Earth,” he said.
“This causes an increase in mass which is reflected by an increase in size, although the increases are irregular.
“This is why the Earth is getting bigger while the Moon, for example, which is solid rock all the way through and doesn’t accommodate the energy to mass transformation, stays the same size.”
He said the earth expansion theory was the most plausi- ble explanation for the movement of the continents, changes in the depth and volume of water in the oceans and gases in the atmosphere and a number of animal extinctions.
“The giant dinosaurs, for example Brachiosaurus stand- ing at almost 12 metres, lived at a time when there was more, hence denser, atmosphere. The animals died during an expansion period when the air pressure reduced.”
This theory presented a radical challenge to accepted geological wisdom, Mr Rigby said, although it had been strongly promoted by some geologists, such as Emeritus Professor S W Carey from the University of Tasmania, on whose works many of his ideas were based.
“The almost universally held opinion is embodied in the plate tectonics theory that says along lines of
volcanic or earth- quake activity, lava welling up from the molten core of the Earth pushes apart the blocks of solid crust, some of which are the continents.
“In order for the movements of an Earth of unchanging diameter to be ac- commodated, this theory postulates a moving block has to be pushed under- neath an adjacent continental block along a subduction zone.
“The earth ex- pansion theory says
that the crust is being torn apart along these lines as the fluid core increases in volume.”
Mr Rigby said while he accepted that the observed data were correct, the interpretations explained by the plate tec- tonics theory were wrong.
“The earth expansion theory offers a more plausible ex- planation for the Earth’s geological history.
“This theory has never been popular in the geological com- munity although it explains all the phenomena on which plate tectonics is based and also explains some observations that cannot be accommodated by plate tectonics.”
John Rigby
that will also build very close links to industry.”
Professor Corderoy said it was a mistake to look at research and advancement as separate issues.
He said the grouping together of the two functions presented unique opportunities for the university.
“Research in itself is an outreach activity. It might be an outreach in the first instance to the academic community, but it is also a very
important way of attracting other activities and funds.
“For example, if we are doing re- search in a particular area, that may in turn attract consulting opportu- nities and it may appeal to the par- ticular interests of a prospective donor to the university.
“The QUT Foundation has spe- cifically targeted raising money for chairs for professors’ positions because we know we are short on
professors in the university.
“More professors means you can attract more research quantum which enhances your reputation.
“Research is not just research for intellectual inquiry, which is of course its main function, but it also has all those spin-offs in terms of affecting the marketplace in terms of attracting outstanding students, fundraising and getting consulting work.”
R&A to focus on quality service and customer concern
RECENTLY appointed Pro-Vice- Chancellor (Research and Advance- ment) Professor John Corderoy has identified leadership, customer serv- ice and quality as the imperatives which will drive the work of the division in the future.
Professor Corderoy’s appointment to the position was announced in mid- October. He had been acting in the position for the past 15 months fol- lowing the departure of Professor Millicent Poole.
Professor Corderoy said the fu- ture success of the division centred on the development of quality serv- ices and a genuine customer focus.
“I think the division has an im- portant role to play in the quality exercise as the outward face of the university. It needs to be quality cer- tified and to be an exemplar to other areas of the university in quality and customer service,” he said.
“We’d like to be seen as a cus- tomer-focused service division and also as a leader in gathering intelli- gence from the outside world and communicating that information to the rest of the university.
“Our role is to lead the university forward, while still providing sup- port for current activities.”
The Division of Research and Ad- vancement includes the Develop- ment Office, the Commercial Serv- ices Office, the International and Continuing Education Office and the Office of Research.
Professor Corderoy said each office in the division took an integrated approach to achieving the goals of enhancing the university’s research profile, developing an international profile and securing alternative sources of funding.
“We need to concentrate on alter- native sources of funding from com- petitive research grants other than the ARC (Australian Research Council).
“Even though that’s important, we have to diversify because the suc- cess rates in those other schemes are a lot better.
“In terms of international stu- dents, we still need to find more attractive ways of packaging our courses, particularly at masters degree level.
“I think we have to get our con- sulting and continuing education much more into the international field.
“Just as now our reputation is built on working closely with local and national industry, we must now build a reputation for working with international industry, business and government.
“There are big opportunities for a lot of our successful professional education courses to be run over- seas and that would help our profile enormously.
“In terms of the QUT Foundation, there are opportunities there we can develop to supplement our funding The division includes campus ad-
ministrations, student administration, counselling and health, secretariat services including university records, publications, human resources and finance and facilities.
The Registrar is also secretary to QUT’s governing Council and cham- pion of the university’s operating poli- cies and procedures.
Mr Waters well remembers his first experience as Council secretary. As Assistant Registrar he was standing in for the then Registrar Cec Anstey at what was only the second meeting of QIT Council (after QIT was granted autonomy from the State Department of Education in 1971).
The Chairman of Council Brigadier Jack Amies asked him to read aloud the minutes of the first meeting — all nine pages of them. The minutes had not been circulated due to their perceived confidential nature.
Showing the sense of humour which Mr Waters regards as essential to the position, he recalled the irony: “To- ward the end of that same meeting I attended there was a resolution passed that in future the minutes would be circulated and taken as read.”
His relative inexperience then con- trasts with his description by current Chancellor Dr Cherrell Hirst at a re- cent formal dinner in honour of Mr Waters as “a man of integrity … a Rock of Gibraltar — rock solid, ultimately reliable, ever present and guards the comings and goings of the university”.
Mr Waters’ term has seen five chairs of Council/Chancellors and three Di- rectors/Vice-Chancellors, but he says the two bosses he worked for longest influenced his career most.
“QIT’s foundation Director Don Fraser (1965-81) was a tough engineer and administrator who sowed the seeds of the way this place has developed in terms of its industry links, practicality and emphasis on teaching, and Dennis Gibson, through his determination and single-mindedness, has changed the institution into a modern university.”
QIT became a university in 1989, but Mr Waters says his biggest career challenge was the amalgamation of
Waters honoured for 25 years’ service
Continued from page 2
Brisbane CAE and QUT in 1990 and the restructuring that followed.
He was involved in the negotiating team, was selected as registrar of the new institution and had the task of putting together one administration out of two large and complex administrations.
He said the amalgamation had worked extremely well for the university and its future but was difficult at the time.
“I think one of the most difficult things was trying to give everybody a feeling of importance and having a really meaningful job when there were obvious clashes of personality and overlaps in terms of what people had done in the past.”
Another was trying to combine administrative computing systems.
“About the only thing which the QUT and BCAE student systems had in common was the student identifica- tion number which, of course, meant we had to change the numbering
system to avoid duplication.”
More recently, enterprise bargain- ing has played a big part in the Registrar’s workload.
Mr Waters said the modern concept of enterprise bargaining was about how staff could cooperate with manage- ment to bring about better methods of operation, and notions of best practice and quality. Tongue in cheek, he said he wished it was as tangible as some of the early productivity improvement deals he was involved in, for example in the early 80s when laundered State Government towels were discontinued as a trade off for a pay rise.
For QUT’s future, he said he hoped that in spite of growth and size which were positive in terms of being able to get things done, “that somehow ways would be found to continue to apply the human touch to administration”.
He also urged the university “not to forget where we’ve come from — the
importance of our links with industry, our practical nature and emphasis on good teaching”.
For his own future, the Registrar is looking forward to “having a good rest from the constant stress of senior man- agement” which means golf, fishing, gardening, and spending time with his family in Brisbane — he is father of two and grandfather to three.
Also, he and wife Noela plan to “see lots of Australia we haven’t seen before” on motoring holidays, and a trip to the USA and Canada with friends is likely mid next year. He has not ruled out the odd consultancy in higher education administration.
A farewell function for Brian Wa- ters will be held on the Gardens Point kidney lawn for all staff on Thursday, December 7 from 4pm.
He will not be easy to replace. The registrar position was readvertised at the end of October.
Retiring Registrar Brian Waters (left) with QUT Chancellor Dr Cherrell Hirst and Vice-Chancellor Professor Dennis Gibson
THE Queensland Education Minister says Business students, as well as students from other fac- ulties, will now benefit from some of the most modern and efficient teaching facilities available in the State.
Mr Hamill officially opened QUT’s 11-storey Z Block building on the Gardens Point campus last Friday, November 3.
Designed by Peddle Thorp Architects and built by Barclay Mowlem Construction, the $22 million business building has the university’s largest and most modern lecture theatres, with the largest able to accom- modate 500 students.
The official opening of the building coincides with the effec- tive closure of QUT’s Kedron Park campus and consolidation of the Business Faculty on Gar- dens Point and Carseldine campuses.
It also coincides with a restruc- turing of the schools and aca- demic programs of the faculty.
“It provides new, highly effi- cient, high-technology facilities to enhance the teaching and learn- ing environment,” Mr Hamill said.
“However, I believe this new, state-of-the-art building is also symbolic of the Business Faculty’s standing of being a leader in the provision of business education in this State.
“It is also this university’s largest faculty with around 7000 students, or a quarter of QUT’s total student enrolment.
“But more important than size or numbers, is the fact that the faculty is striving constantly to provide teaching programs that meet the needs of business and industry.”
Newly appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor John Corderoy (centre back) with his team Commercial Services Manager Colin Melvin (back left), International and Continuing Education Acting Manager Keiran O’Brien (back right) Research Manager Norma Gilbert and Development Manager Rod Miller
Business building
opened
FACULTY OF EDUCATION New Grants 1996
A/Professor B Elliott, Dr I MacPherson, Curricu- lum and Professional Studies, QUT; Professor S Kemmis, S Kemmis Consulting
Collaborator: Queensland Department of Education Theorising curriculum leadership for effective learning and teaching.
1996: $21,500; 1997: $29,000
A/Professor R Gerber, Social, Business and Envi- ronmental Education, A/Professor C Lankshear, Lan- guage and Literacy Education, QUT; Mr C Bishop, Australian Newsprint Mills
Collaborator: Australian Newsprint Mills Self-directed learning and the development of key competencies in the Australian Vocational Certificate.
1996: $35,000; 1997: $34,000; 1998: $34,000 FACULTY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Continuing Grant 1996
Professor D Longley, Ms A Anderson, Dr Z Tari, Information Security Research Centre, QUT
Collaborator: National Australia Bank
An information security model for the finance and banking sector.
1996: $81,000; 1997: $81,000 FACULTY OF SCIENCE New Grant 1996
Dr V Anh, Mathematics, QUT; Professor P Kloeden, Deakin University; Mr G Johnson, Mac- quarie University
Collaborator: Environment Protection Authority of New South Wales
Stochastic models for air quality management.
1996: $60,000; 1997: $60,000; 1998: 60,000 Continuing Grants 1996
Dr L Morawska, Physics, Dr N Bofinger, Chemis- try, QUT; Dr D Neale, Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage.
Collaborator: Queensland Department of Environ- ment and Heritage
Fine particles in ambient urban air: comprehen- sive characterisation and quantisation of their effect on environmental and human exposures.
1996: $46,400; 1997: $44,600 QUT has received its highest ever ARC Col-
laborative Grant funding with $756,941 in new and continuing awards.
In announcing the grants on October 17, the Federal Minister for Employment, Education and Training Simon Crean said the Collaborative Research Grants were an integral part of the Federal Government’s strategy to improve research links between universities and industry.
A total of 108 new research projects at 24 universities was approved on the advice of the Australian Research Council (ARC).
QUT Office of Research Manager Norma Gilbert said in recognition of the real world orientation of the university and utilising QUT’s strong links with industry, the Office of Research had begun emphasising these awards two years ago as a niche market for QUT.
“The strong increase in performance in col- laborative grants over the past two years has meant that the university exceeded the 1995 estimate of $2 million in ARC Grant Funding for 1996,” she said.
“In fact, the forecast for continuing funding in 1997 (in excess of $1.3 million) will ensure that the university’s position nationally is en- hanced over the next few years with a revised forecast of approximately $2.5 million for 1997 based on current growth (35 percent for col- laborative and 15 percent for ARC Large), as a result of the better than expected performance this year.”
Ms Gilbert said the average grant size for collaborative grants at QUT was $50,500.
“This is quite a high average grant size given that 58 percent of the QUT grants awarded are in the social sciences and two of those grants were quite small at around $10,000.”
Ms Gilbert said the university’s success rate in ARC Collaborative Grants was 53 percent, compared with a success rate of 15 percent in ARC Large Grants.
A number of seminars and workshops are planned between now and May 1996 to ensure continued success in Collaborative Grant Funding beyond 1997.
R E S E A R C H
Potential applicants are advised to contact the Office of Research to obtain copies of the vari- ous public relations materials available.
Ms Gilbert said any researcher with strong links with industry was encouraged to contact the Office of Research on (07) 3864 2092 for advice on developing an ARC Collaborative Research Grant.
A breakdown of the 1996 ARC Collaborative Research Grants by faculty is as follows:
FACULTY OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND ENGINEERING
New Grants 1996
A/Professor A Maeder, Electrical and Electronic Sys- tems Engineering, Professor K Kubik, Space Centre for Satellite Navigation, QUT
Collaborator: Mosaic Electronics Australia Pty Ltd, Compression software for high quality digital image storage.
1996: $75,000; 1997: $80,000
Dr M Mahendran, Civil Engineering, QUT Collaborator: Palmer Tube Mills Pty Ltd
An investigation of the behaviour and design of the new hollow flange beams in buildings.
1996: $25,319; 1997: $25,819; 1998: $26,330 Continuing Grants 1996
Professor R Stimson, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, QUT; Professor J Western, Dr P Mullins, University of Queensland; A/Professor R Simpson, Griffith University
Collaborator: State Statisticians Office and the Department of Business Industry and Regional Development
Monitoring and evaluating the performance of the south-east Queensland region applying GIS methodology.
1996: $100,000; 1997: $55,000
Dr L Ferriera, A/Professor D Thambiratnam, Dr H Murray, Civil Engineering, QUT.
Collaborator: Queensland Rail
A model for optimisation of maintenance due to physical degradation of rail track under increased axle loads and train speeds.
1996: $44,000; 1997: $44,000
Mr J Cook, Mr B Hannigan, Planning and Land- scape Architecture and Surveying, QUT
Collaborator: Land Boundaries Program - Queens- land Lands Department
The development of an equitable process for deter- mining land entitlement in areas experiencing entropic effects on boundary information.
1996: $46,500
FACULTY OF BUSINESS New Grants 1996
Dr J McMillen, Dr N Ryan, Management, QUT;
A/Professor J Quiggan, James Cook University Collaborator: Community Reference Groups — Cairns and Brisbane
Comparative study of the social and economic im- pacts of the Brisbane and Cairns casinos.
1996: $65,370; 1997: $65,000; 1998: $65,000 Dr C Perry, Marketing and International Business, QUT; Professor E Kolsen, University of Queensland;
Ms J Martin, Griffith University Collaborator: AUSTA Electric
Applying multiple criteria decision-making techniques to tender evaluation in the Australian electricity industry.
1996: $9,580
A/Professor T Stevenson, Ms J Lennie, Communi- cation Centre, Dr L Daws, Centre for Policy and Lead- ership Studies, Dr R Lundin, Curriculum and Profes- sional Studies, QUT
Collaborator: Rural Women & ICT’s Research Steering Group
An impact assessment of interactive communica- tion technologies for consultation, business develop- ment and information access by rural women.
1996: $78,661; 1997: $79,132
Professor G Bamber, Dr M Shadur, Australian Cen- tre in Strategic Management, QUT
Collaborator: Telstra Corporation
Changing approaches to industrial relations and human resources in Australian telecommunications:
the Telstra experience.
1996: $63,000; 1997: $66,000; 1998: $69,000 Dr C Dickenson, Dean’s Office, QUT; Dr P Renfrow, University of Queensland
C o l l a b o r a t o r : P u b l i c S e c t o r M a n a g e m e n t Commission
Queensland Senior Executive Service: a model for assessing performance and accountability in the public sector.
1996: $5,981; 1997: $11,400
Strong collaborative grants boost
Research offers hope for a more precise treatment
ACCIDENT victims, in future, may receive more precise clinical assess- ment and treatment, thanks to re- search into the speed and control of human movement.
Dr Graham Kerr, a lecturer from the School of Human Movement Studies, said his research into proprioceptive sensory information processes could lead to future medical and scientific breakthroughs.
In order to maintain the orientation of the human body and to coordinate i t s p o s i t i o n a n d s p e e d d u r i n g movement, proprioceptive sensory infor mation is sent to the central nervous system from receptors in muscles, tendons, joints and skin.
If this information is reduced or eliminated by accident or disease, bal- ance is affected and controlled limb movements are impossible to achieve unless a person’s movements are made under continuous visual guidance.
Awarded a three-year Australian R e s e a r c h C o u n c i l g r a n t w o r t h
$78,000, Dr Kerr will investigate ex- actly how the central nervous system uses proprioceptive information to control the position and speed of arm movements.
“If we are to design effective tech- nology for human-machine contact, whether these be neurally-controlled prosthetic devices or remote-control- led machines, basic information about how the human proprioceptive system functions is important,” he said.
“It is also vital to understand how impaired proprioception affects move- ment performance.
“The application of this knowledge
will lead to the development of more effective assessment and rehabilitation procedures for people whose proprioceptive system is impaired by peripheral neuropathy arising from injury or disease.”
Dr Kerr said his research would also answer fundamental questions about the ability of the nervous system to detect how fast the body moves.
“For example, if a person goes to throw a ball at a target, they have to know when to initiate the command to release the ball before it is actually released,” he said.
“The faster the throwing movement, the sooner the release command must be initiated. Therefore it is important to know how fast we move in order to match the timing of the command to the speed of the movement.
“If we don’t know how fast we are moving, it is impossible to accurately complete a task.”
To accurately test how we sense the velocity of movement, Dr Kerr will use a specially-designed and built robotic arm in an upcoming study.
Designed by Dr Kerr, in conjunc- tion with US engineer Mark Chapman, the device enables movement in the shoulder and elbow joints to be precisely controlled.
“In order to determine how accurate their conscious perception of move- ment speed is, people will be required to make judgements about how fast their arm is moving,” Dr Kerr said.
“For these tests, the robotic arm will be used to move people’s arms in very specific ways.
“The information from these experi-
ments will be used to test how altera- tions in movement speed, that are above and below the conscious level of perception, affect performance on a movement task similar to backhand throwing.”
As a result of his preliminary re- search, Dr Kerr has helped to develop the first prototype of a computer model dealing with the intricacies of multijoint limb movements.
“I worked with Dr Ken Wallace of Oxford University to develop this model which simulates the action of
muscles which act across the many joints of the arm as well as the action of the sensory receptors within the mus- cle responsible for signalling position and velocity information,” he said.
“The model has provided insight into the way sensory information may be processed by the central nervous system and how this information may be used to control and coordinate movement.”
Supported by the School of Human Movement Studies and QUT, Dr Kerr will travel to the United States this
week to undertake further research at the internationally-renowned motor control laboratories at the R.S. Dow Institute in Oregon and the universi- ties of Montana and Michigan.
His research will be further en- hanced by on-going collaborations with Professor Paul Cordo, Victor Gurfinkel and Dr Leslie Bevan from the R.S. Dow Neurological Sciences Institute and Professor Charles Worringham from the Department of Movement Science, University of Michigan.
Dr Graham Kerr (left) and PhD student Natalie Williams … ‘Proprioceptive sensory information could lead to future scientific and medical breakthroughs’
T E A C H I N G a n d L E A R N I N G
Language poses a problem for
many students
NON-English-speaking background students in the Faculty of Health are experiencing a significant number of problems.
The problems surfaced as a result of a project undertaken by chief in- vestigators, the Director of the Centre for Public Health Research Dr Carla Patterson and Language and Learning Skills Adviser in International Student Services Peter Nelson.
The project, which began last year, was a result of reports that students from non-English-speaking backgrounds were having problems with some courses across the Health Faculty, particularly in clinical placements.
Dr Patterson said the main problem areas identified were language and communication, discrimination and, to a lesser extent, cultural issues.
She said a summary of the major findings showed that 86 percent of students reported problems of some kind which related to language and communication.
Problems of not understanding what supervisors or patients were saying (accent and/or speed of speaking) were encountered by about 30 percent of students.
The additional problem of slang being used by patients was a problem for 31 percent and problems of not being understood by supervisors or patients were encountered by a third of the students.
“People quite often use a lot of slang and/or jargon and the students would go away doing what they thought they had been asked to do only to find the people irritated because it was not what they wanted at all,” Dr Patterson said.
“About 40 percent of students re- ported experiencing some form of per- sonal cultural or racial discrimination,”
Dr Patterson said.
There was a correlation with the level of English language proficiency with students of lower proficiency
encountering significantly more communication problems and feeling a greater deal of discrimination.
“Students reported that sometimes patients would ask them if somebody else could see them and hospital staff could then sometimes be a little bit more patient with students in terms of explaining things to them more fully,”
Dr Patterson said.
“We found students from the Asia- Pacific region had more communi- cation problems and felt discrimi- nated against more frequently than other students.
“We think the issues raised are im- portant because Queensland Health is currently developing criteria for a basis towards an ethnic health policy for a culturally diverse Queensland.
“This ultimately will outline the need for professionals with non-Eng- lish-speaking backgrounds as one strategy for providing equal access to health services.
“It is really important that these stu- dents graduate as health professionals to meet the needs of this priority group.”
Dr Patterson said the next stage of the project would be how to address the issues raised.
Recommendations from the study included as an initial step, the prepa- ration of a brochure which could high- light areas of potential problems and suggest solutions.
Other recommendations were that language support programs could be developed, a cross-cultural awareness program run and a support network set up.
Dr Patterson said a new course could be established covering the issue, but this would require additional funding.
“Before any of this is done, what will be most useful to the students con- cerned must be determined and this will be the subject of the next stage of the project,” Dr Patterson said.
Respite camps offer a break for patients
Mathematics not attractive to girls
THE study of higher-level mathematics continues to be low on the priority list of education subjects for female students according to a research thesis by PhD graduate Dr John Watts.
Dr Watts’ thesis, A Question of Balance?
Girls’ Nominal Participation in Higher-level School Mathematics, looked at student subject study patterns at a major high school in central Queensland.
Dr Watts was a PhD graduand of QUT’s School of Mathematics, Science and Technol- ogy Education in September.
He said the low attraction of mathematics for girls involved a number of interacting influences including cultural and social aspects, as well as personal beliefs.
A lecturer in mathematics education at the University of Central Queensland, Dr Watts said he was trying to ascertain why girls continued to participate nominally in the study of mathematics.
“Unfortunately, most girls don’t look to maths as necessary for a future career,” Dr Watts said.
“There also appears to be an acknowledgment of their expected multiple social requirements and roles, so that they believe that mathematics is not useful or relevant for their future career, as well as a perception that, really, mathematics is essentially a male domain.”
He said he was curious as to why most girls, where maths was compulsory, chose other than Mathematics C, the “highest” level.
Dr Watts said he knew from his own teaching experience that a good number of girls not choos- ing higher-level mathematics were highly intel- ligent and capable students.
“For these girls, I knew it had little to do
with their ability,” Dr Watts said.
“I started obtaining information for my thesis from students in Year 10 and followed them through to Year 12.
“Though social aspects are very strong during adolescence, where students have to decide what subjects they want for Years 11 and 12, the ap- parent stability of participants’ responses across the time of the investigation, strongly suggest that the participants, sometime prior to the com- mencement of the study (Year 10), have already settled into a relatively well-constructed and mature set of beliefs concerning mathematics.”
Dr Watts said if this perspective was true, then it indicated that further research should in- clude a focus on the early development of these constructed sets of beliefs.
“From the girls’ perspectives, there is evidence of non-supportive learning environments in math- ematics for girls, which do not utilise girls’ ex- periences of language, small groups, or relational mathematics,” Dr Watts said.
“They are aware of no female role-models or mentors in mathematics and these girls are not positively supported toward higher-level school mathematics by significant others.
Dr Watts developed from his data a number of models to interpret influences on participation.
One variable was that of “sensibility”, where influences acting upon the students helped to explain whether or not the study of higher-level mathematics was a “sensible” thing to do.
“For example, at some country schools, girls will know from an early age they are expected to have a part-time job for a little while and then marry,” Dr Watts said.
TWO respite care camps for people with mental illnesses, organised by the QUT School of Nursing, gave students the op- portunity to learn more about this patient group while giving something back to the community.
Nursing senior lecturer Rob Thornton said respite care offered a break for people in a caring role, while giving new opportunities to the campers.
“We try to provide an opportunity for people with a mental illness to have a break away from their normal activities, to have an engagement with our nursing students and to participate in activities they would normally not be involved in,” he said.
“One lady we took away on the first camp had been hospitalised for 23 years and she was playing volleyball and having the time of her life.”
Mr Thornton said the camps, held at the Maranatha Recreation Camp near Yandina on the Sunshine Coast, each consisted of about 15 students and 12 campers, as well as some academic staff from the school.
“As well as acting as clinical facilitators for the students, the staff from the school were the only registered nusing staff avail- able to act as psychiatric nurses for the campers.
“It was valuable for the students to observe the staff in this role because in most clinical placements there are plenty of other registered nurses around.”
He said both the students and the campers benefited from their involvement in the project.
Second-year architecture students from QUT and the University of Queensland collaborated on a joint project to introduce them to some of the real-world constraints under which architects operate.
The project, Three Scales and an Attitude, run over
six weeks in July and August, involved the design of student housing for a St Lucia site. Pictured at the October exhibition of their work at the Royal Insti- tute of Architects are QUT students Vesna Lazarevic and Ralph Wheeler.
Designs on cooperation
“Students gain skills in interacting with people with a mental illness on a 24-hour basis over five days a week which provides valuable insights into what people go through and how they respond to a caring environment.
“The thing that most of the students left with was the realisation that the care of somebody with a mental illness is a fairly demanding role and they felt privileged in some ways that they could be involved to give both campers and carers some time out from each other.
“A number of the campers mentioned the fact that when they do have activities organ- ised similar to this, often their social interac- tions are with other people suffering from a mental illness.
“They found that they really enjoyed the opportunity to mix with young people and students.”
Mr Thornton said the idea for the camps originated in New South Wales and had been developed by staff from the school.
“The concept came from New South Wales and one of our lecturers, Janelle Langham, brought the idea with her and Christine Palmer and myself put it together.
“We advertised in the Schizophrenia Fellowship newsletter and with the Associa- tion of Friends and Relatives of the Mentally Ill and also targeted some hostels where we have students on clinical placement and Wollston Park Hospital.
“The School of Nursing has subsidised some campers who could not afford the full fare and the students have volunteered for this and paid money to participate.”
