Higher Education in Australia

Prof. Andy KoroniosHead

School of Computer & Information ScienceUniversity of South Australia

School of Computer & Information Science

Overview

• The Australian higher education system

• Research environment in Australia• Capabilities of UniSA• The School of computer & Information

Science• Examples of research collaborations

….Australia – young, optimistic, enjoying life…

• 7.6 M sq. km (6th largest country)• Population of 22 Million• Highly multicultural• 500,000 people of Greek heritage• Melbourne 350,000 Greeks• 39 Universities – 37 public + 2

private• 1 Million students (750k domestic,

250k international, 55% female)

Academic pathways in Australia

7 yrs of PrimarySchool

5 yrs of Secondary School

3 yrs UG degree

1.5 yrs Masters

3 yrs PhD

Technical & Vocational Education

Research in Australia

120,000 researchers12 Billion in research funding100 Million in business support to invest in researchResearch Providers

CSIRONICTADSTOANSTOUniversities

Research Priorities

1. Information & Communications Technologies

2. Biotechnology3. Food services4. Mining & materials5. Sustainable energy6. Environment

Research Funding Mechanisms

1. Australian Research Council2. National Health & Medical Research Council3. Collaborative Research Centres4. NICTA, CSIRO, DSTO, ANSTO5. International research collaboration fund

Some of the achievements of Australian Research

1. Aircraft voice/data recorder ‘black box’2. Interscan microwave aircraft landing system3. ‘Plastic’ money4. Industrial refrigeration5. Ready-mix system for transporting concrete6. Synroc system for storing radioactive

material7. Vaccine for cervical cancer8. Ultra-sound scanning9. Mining robots10. 60% of worlds mining software

The University of South Australia

• the largest university in South Australia• One of the largest in Australia• more than 35,000 students, of whom about

– 3,000 are ‘international’ students studying in Adelaide

– 6000 are studying in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, China

• annual budget of more than A$400million• Strengths in materials, telecommunications,

environmental engineering.

Research @ UniSA

• Ian Wark Institute Bio and polymer interfaces, colloids and nanostructures, materials and environmental surface science and minerals processing

• Institute for Telecommunications Research Very high speed data transmissionFlexible networksSat coms

School of Computer & Information Science

Premier IT School in SA2000 Students6 Professors, 4 Associate Professors, 40 permanent academic staff, 100+ part time staffLarge doctoral programStudent project & internship programStrong links with industrySignificant research activity through the ACRC

Academic programsLevel of Study

Associate Degree in ITBachelors degreesCoursework MastersResearch MastersDoctor of IT MgtPhD

ProgramsBusiness (IT Mgt)Information systemsInformation ManagementMultimedia & GamesNetworking & SecurityComputer ScienceSoftware Engineering

Advanced Computing Research Centre (ACRC)

~45 researchers, 60 PhD students4 Research GroupsOverall external research income ~A$1.5M p.a.120-150 publications per year2008/09 Highlights

2 out of 9 Best Paper Prizes at the 2008 Australian Computer Science WeekACRC student won 2009 Ian Davey PhD Thesis Prize

Research Activity @ CIS/ACRC

Intense collaboration

Mobile Applications

Multimedia

Information Mgt, Fusion & Discovery

Virtual & Augmented Reality

Health InformaticsIntelligent Systems

Business Process Integration

Integrating Unstructured and Structured data Integration

Research in Engineering Asset management

Tools for data profiling & analysis

‘Autonomic’ Logistics

Source: Hess 2007

Field-force enablement

Looking through ‘Walls’

High intensity collaboration systems

Our partners & Collaborators

CIEAM International Collaborations

Thank you!

Andy.koronios@unisa.edu.au

It is about Collaboration!