INSIDE QUT October 6 - 19, 1998 Page 1

Queensland University of Technology Newspaper ■ Issue 183 ■ October 6 – 19, 1998

Much Ado aboutthis

production

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PublicJournalism focuson immigration

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QUT Central Administration 2 George Street Brisbane 4000 Telephone (07) 3864 2111 Registered by Australia Post – Publication No. QBF 4778

Fun Run athletes raise $1,200 for Queensland Paralympians in annual eventRunners enjoyed the finespring sunshine when theytook part in QUT’s annual10km Fun Run on SundaySeptember 27.

A record 632 people tookpart in the event — twice asmany as last year — andraised $1,200 for QueenslandParalympians.

Runners received a freebreakfast and a T-shirtsupplied by sponsors SSLEducation Services.

The ten category winnerswere: junior male – MichaelBasherville; junior female —Kerryn McGuigan; disabledmale – Gerard Gossen;disabled female — SuzaanneDoolen; 40+ male — GraemeHolland; 40+ female — BettyMenzies; open male —Dennis Fitzgerald; openfemale — Janine Reid;tertiary male — DuncanHenderson; tertiary female —Rebecca Grant.

Secretaries on top of technologyby Andrea Hammond

Sec re t a r i e s a r eindispensable technologicalcata lysts who introducethe i r manage r s andexecutives to the very latestin business communicationtechnology, according to aQUT academic.

School of ProfessionalStudies senior lecturer Dr RoyLundin said traditional skillsfor secretaries, such asshorthand, typing and filing

have to play a pivotal role that requiresfar more initiative and leadership thanever before.”

Dr Lundin said companiesfrequently embraced newcommunication technology aftercomputer-savvy secretaries made theirmanagers and chief executive officersaware of its existence.

He said CEOs often did notappreciate the pivotal role played bysecretaries in communication andrelegated this role to informationtechnology staff.

“Technology people know how theequipment works but they don’t knowwhat the applications are, and they maynot appreciate the kind of

organisational issues andmanagement arrangementsthat should be put in place toensure their effective use.”

Dr Lundin said secretariestoday needed to fullyunderstand the strengths andweaknesses of differentcommunication technologies.

The 2nd NationalConference for ExecutiveSecretaries and PersonalAssistants conference isorganised by QUT’sSecretarial Network (SecNet)Committee.

Dr Roy Lundin ... secretaries are technologicalcatalystswere being supplemented by detailed

technical understanding of interactivesatellite television, audio and videoteleconferencing and the Internet.

He will present a paper,Technological Advantages, at the 2ndNational Conference for ExecutiveSecretaries and Personal Assistants tobe held from October 15 to16.

“A secretary’s role has become almosta co-management role: it’s much morethan jumping when someone gives anorder; it’s now a matter of taking newinitiatives and setting up systems togather information and prepareinformation,” Dr Lundin said.

“Because (of information overload)managers find it difficult to keep ontop of their own field and secretaries

Pacific Film and TelevisionCommission director and GraduateSchool of Business adjunct professorRay Weekes will speak on the impactof downsizing.

QUT Deputy Vice-ChancellorProfessor Peter Coaldrake, Teachingand Learning Support Services lecturerPat Kelly, QUT International Collegedirector David Stent, School ofCommunication senior lecturer PatsyMcCarthy, Faculty of Business DeanProfessor Sandra Harding and QUTChancellor Dr Cherrell Hirst will eachchair sessions during the two days.

Lord Mayor of Brisbane AldermanJim Soorley will open the conferenceon October 15.

by Amanda O’Chee

QUT will offer an October intake forinternational students, to fall in line withnorthern hemisphere school calendarsand boost its appeal overseas.

QUT is the State’s only publicuniversity to offer the October entry,recognising students from many feedercountries miss entry into Australia’ssecond semester.

International students will be offeredentry to diploma and degree courses inbusiness and information technology,as well as the MBA programme.

Students will also be eligible to enrolin QUT International College’s Englishlanguage programmes.

QUT International College directorDavid Stent said almost 100international students had enrolled inthe inaugural intake, from countries likeHong Kong, India, Singapore, Malaysia,Taiwan and Korea.

This year 23 students from Botswanaare also enrolling for the spring intake.

“Students come from many countriesand they exit school at different timesof the year,” he said.

Spring starta QUT first

“Most countries don’t work on thesame time lines as Australia because mostsource countries are north of the equator.We’re providing a better service to theneeds of students coming from any partof the world. That makes us moreattractive and therefore able to capturemore of the market.”

Mr Stent said the new intake reflectedthe university’s innovative approachesto maintain and grow internationalstudents numbers.

Despite the Asian economic crisis,QUT’s international student enrolmentsare at record levels this semester, passing2,500 students.

The change would increase QUT’scompetitiveness with US and UKuniversities, he said.

QUT International College teachesEnglish language, foundation studies(similar to Year 12) and diploma courseswhich students can complete andarticulate straight into the second yearof a bachelor’s degree.

Of QUT’s international students, 75per cent come from south and South-East Asia, with the remainder fromEurope or North America.

Outstandingcontributionsrecognised

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Page 2 INSIDE QUT October 6 - 19, 1998

A word from the Vice-Chancellor

About your newspaper

The editorial deadline for next issue (October 20) is October 9

Inside QUT is published by QUT’sCorporate Communication Departmentand has a circulation of 15,000.

Readership includes staff, students,and members of the QUT community.

The newspaper is delivered tospecially-marked boxes in communityareas at the university’s Gardens Point,Kelvin Grove and Carseldine campuses.

It is also circulated to business,industry, government and the media.Media may reproduce stories from InsideQUT. Each story has been checked withthe source prior to publication.

Letters to the Editor are welcome viamail or e-mail (maximum of 250 words).

The Corporate CommunicationDepartment address is Level 5,M Block, Gardens Point, GPO Box2434 Brisbane 4001.

The opinions expressed in Inside QUTdo not necessarily represent those of theuniversity or the editorial team.

If you know of a story which shouldbe told in Inside QUT, contact one ofthe communication officers in thedepartment:Colleen Ryan Clur (editor) 3864 1150Andrea Hammond 3864 4494Noel Gentner (p/t) 3864 1841Amanda O’Chee 3864 2130Fax 3210 0474E-mail c.ryanclur@qut.edu.auPhotography:Tony Phillips 3864 5003Suzie Prestwidge 3864 5003Advertising:David Lloyd-Jones 3880 0528Internet site: http://www.qut.edu.au/publications/05news/iqut.html

From the Inside… by David Hawke

External groups are pressuringuniversities to demonstrate value formoney in both Australia and the UK.But perhaps even more important, andmore difficult to deal with in acompetitive international highereducation market, are the innerworkings of universities.

This was the message given by QUTDeputy Vice-Chancellor Professor PeterCoaldrake to the UK’s Committee ofVice-Chancellors and Principals inManchester last month.

In his paper, the Changing Climateof Australian Higher Education:Implications for the UK, ProfessorCoaldrake said in both the UK andthe Australian higher educationsystems, battlelines between individualautonomy and institutional interest,and between institutional autonomyand external interest, were continuallybeing redrawn.

Business students about to enter the jobmarket were given the opportunity tolearn from the experience of some ofBrisbane’s top women business achieversat seminars held at QUT last month.

The Exit Strategy Seminars, hostedjointly by QUT and Enterprising Women,were held on the Gardens Point campus.

One of the speakers, human resourcesconsultant Jeanne Marshall, said thesecret to finding the perfect job was notto search for it in the paper but to closelylook at one’s own interests, abilities andhobbies.

Managing director of consultancyJeanne Marshall and Associates, MsMarshall said that most people who werehappy at work felt that way because theirjobs closely matched their personalinterests and skills.

Other topics covered included writingresumes, interviewing techniques, andnegotiating employment contracts.

by Amanda O’Chee

Research to boost the reading of olderpeople with vision problems has won aQUT optometry lecturer a joint awardfor publishing the most significant paperon clinical optometry in an internationaljournal over the past five years.

School of Optometry AssociateProfessor Jan Lovie-Kitchin will beawarded the prestigious 1998 Garland WClay Award from the American Academyof Optometry — the world’s largestoptometry organisation — in December.

Another two QUT academics havepreviously won the award. It recognisespapers published in the Academy’sjournal, Optometry and Vision Science,which have had the greatest impact onclinical optometry.

The paper, jointly authored byProfessor Stephen Whittaker fromPennsylvania College of Optometry,investigates ways to improve thereading performance of people withage-related eye diseases, whose visionusually cannot be improved withnormal glasses and need specialmagnifiers to read with.

By boosting the magnification two tothree times greater than that required tojust see the print, older people could

Optometry academicscoops journal award

Dr Jan Lovie-Kitchin ... has jointly won the prestigious 1998 GarlandW Clay Award from the American Academy of Optometry

begin to read with some fluency, DrLovie-Kitchin said.

There had been much research aboutpeople with visual impairment and howthey read, she said.

“But Dr Whittaker recognised thathardly any of that research seemed to behaving an impact on the clinical situation,”Dr Lovie-Kitchin said.

In the past, optometrists had optedfor lower magnification, believing it wasbetter to have a wider field of view.

Although people could recognise andsee words at a smaller print size, it madereading difficult and tiresome, she said.

“You’ve got to magnify the print (to)a lot more than what they can actuallysee. Even if a person could read oneword at a time, they still read well.”

Dr Lovie-Kitchin said in some casesthere was also a need to alter the contrastbetween the letters and the background.

The paper was based on re-analysingand collating studies across the world.

‘Universities watched for performance’“One common factor is that those

external to universities, including students,employers and government, are puttingincreasing pressure on us to demonstratethat we provide something valuable, andmoreover that it represents value formoney,” Professor Coaldrake said.

“In both countries, universities needto accept and promote the agenda ofperformance, at an institutional andindividual level ... and find ways ofadvancing it in terms acceptable both tous and those external parties.

“The new environment will not bekind to some cherished academicattitudes and processes, particularlythose that have protected academicsfrom scrutiny, even from their peers.”

Professor Coaldrake said there was a“troubling disconnection” between theperceptions of change held by seniorpeople and those held by staff responsiblefor the daily business of university life.

“This disconnection manifests itselfin a series of issues that relate primarilyto the inner workings of universities,and which can only be addressed byuniversities themselves,” he said.

“In many ways these matters aremore important and more difficult todeal with than those relating togovernment policy.”

Professor Coaldrake said while thedrivers of change were international innature, the changes in higher educationin both Australia and the UK were partof a broader pattern of changes occurringin the economy, and in the public sectorin particular.

As a result of these changes, hesa id s tudent cont r ibut ions hadincreased significantly.

“Now, on average, one quarter ofthe income of Australia’s universitiesis derived from student payments, alevel similar to that applying in the

US publ ic univers i ty system,”Professor Coaldrake said.

“The likelihood is that in Australia itwill continue to rise in coming years.”

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor said thetrend in recent years had been towardsa partial deregulation of the universitysector, coupled with a steady reductionin government unit funding. The levelof Australian total income per studentwas low by international standards,averaging around $12,400.

“Even most of our research-intensivewealthier universities only come inaround the $17,500 to $20,200 mark.This is around the same as the averagefor US public universities and wellbehind many UK universities and theprivate and more research-intensive USinstitutions,” Professor Coaldrake said.

This situation had, however, contributedto some competitive advantage forAustralian universities internationally.

Seminars lookat job success

This month QUT is pleased towelcomeits first October intake ofinternational students.The October option wil l beconvenient for many northernhemisphere students who finish theirschool or university year in June orJuly and would otherwise have to waitup to six months to begin universitycourses in Australia.

The new intake is one of manyinitiatives taken by QUT to offerflexibility to students in the way theylearn and complete courses.

Some international students,particularly those coming to QUTwith credit from overseas institutions,begin their courses in the secondsemester. An increasing number ofdomestic and international studentsare taking units over the summerprogram in order to complete theircourses more quickly.

Some faculties have tailoredacademic programs for the specificneeds of corporate clients and, in somecases, have gone out to the workplaceto teach these courses.

In a broader sense, the University'sflexible delivery agenda aims to usetechnology and human resources to

explore ways of delivering academicprograms outside traditional tertiaryteaching frameworks.

A client-focussed university mustoffer study options that suit studentsrather than the university.

The offering of flexible options mayinvolve some changes in academic,industrial and administrative practices.

But change will be necessary if weare to be competitive in a dynamicservice culture.

Professor Dennis Gibson

Flexible options for students

INSIDE QUT October 6 - 19, 1998 Page 3

A degree was an intangible asset whichdepreciated over time, QueenslandAuditor-General Len Scanlan toldgraduating Faculty of Business studentson September 29.

Education did not end with a newly-gained degree but continued as a lifelongcommitment to learning, Mr Scanlan said.

“You are graduating on the eve of anew century and if you wish to besuccessful you might like to considerthings such as knowing yourself, yourabilities, motivations and personality,your personal strengths and weaknesses,your likes and dislikes, and youraspirations,” he said.

“Don’t just meet your employer’sexpectations but commit yourself toexceeding the expectation and make areal difference through your ownspecial contribution by value-addingwherever possible.”

Mr Scanlan graduated with a Bachelorof Business (Accounting) fromQueensland Institute of Technology —QUT’s predecessor institution — in 1975.

“I can say that university study at QUTprovides you with enormous knowledgeand skills including problem-solvingskills, research skills, analytical skills,

Staying competitive is key tosuccess, says Len Scanlan

QUT has conferred an honorarydoctorate on Taiwanese dancing legendTsai Jui-Yueh.

QUT Vice-Chancellor ProfessorDennis Gibson said the university waspleased to award its highest honour, aDoctor of the University, to Dr Tsai inrecognition of her distinguished serviceto the community — to QUT — andto academic scholarship.

QUT’s Academic Board has awarded 32PhDs, 15 research masters degrees, anda Doctor of Education to students whocompleted their degrees mid-year.

Vice-Chancellor Professor DennisGibson, who introduced some of thedoctoral candidates at the Faculty ofEducation graduation on September 22,praised the graduates for their research.

Annette Baturo was awarded a PhDfor her study into students’understanding of decimal numbers,which Professor Gibson said had alteredpre-service and in-service teachereducation programs.

“In her thesis, Annette examined Year6 students’ understanding of decimalnumbers,” Professor Gibson said.

“Through a program of testing anddetailed interviews, she was able tomodel the cognitive structures andmechanisms that underlie understandingand to determine the particularknowledge structures that differentiate

Doctoratesawarded to32 students

between high and low performance ondecimal-number activities.

“Annette’s findings have importanteducational implications formathematics teaching. They are beingused in the pre-service and in-serviceeducation of teachers and material isbeing prepared for classrooms,” saidProfessor Gibson.

Margaret Carter was awarded aDoctor of Education for her study intothe fear or apprehension that someprimary school students experiencewhen they have to communicate, andthe methods teachers use to counteractthese fears.

Mary McMahon earned her PhD fora study into clinical supervision of schoolcounsellors in Queensland state schools.

Her findings highlighted the need forsupervision to be part of counsellors’professional development and forsupervisors to be specially trained forthe role, Professor Gibson said.

Taiwanese dancing legend Tsai Jui-Yueh has been awarded an honorary doctorate by QUT

High recognition for Tsai Jui-YuehDuring World War Two, Dr Tsai was

a young dancer in Japan who featuredin more than 1,000 performances withBaku and Midori’s famed companies inJapan, China and Indochina.

During World War Two, Dr Tsaifounded the China Dance Arts Institutein 1953 which aimed to developdifferent dance styles in Taiwan,including western and modern works.

Dr Tsai is now retired and has beenliving in Brisbane since 1983.

On a return visit to Taiwan in 1994,Dr Tsai was awarded the coveted Prizeof Heritage by President Li.

Last year, QUT’s Academy of the Artsdedicated its annual Dance CollectionSeason to Ms Tsai in recognition of herachievements and her willingness toshare her knowledge with students.

Artist and an alumnus of a QUTpredecessor institution, WilliamRobinson, was recently awarded anhonorary doctorate at a QUT Faculty ofArts and Faculty of Education graduationceremony.

“William Robinson is a local artistwith a national reputation, whose careerbegan at this institution,” Vice-Chancellor Professor Dennis Gibsonsaid.

Dr Robinson is regarded as one ofthe most important contemporarylandscape painters in Australia, and hehas twice won the Wynne Prize forlandscapes and also twice the ArchibaldPrize for portraiture.

William Robinson honoured

Auditor-General Len Scanlan ...education only begins with a

degree

organisational skills, time management,information technology and technicalknowledge,” he said.

“You should realise that government,business and community expectationsare rising and as our globalinterdependence intensifies, stayingcompetitive through adoption of bestpractice becomes even more imperativeand more challenging.”

Mr Scanlan urged graduating studentsto develop their own leadership potentialby promoting ethical behaviour byleading by example — an attribute thatwas also of prime importance forAuditor-Generals.

“As Auditor-General of Queenslandand Auditor for the Parliamentsupported by the Queensland AuditOffice, I see my role as providing thenecessary checks and balances for thefinancial accountability of State and localgovernments,” Mr Scanlan said.

“In my view, this goes beyond auditcertification of financial statements andreporting to Parliament on ExecutiveGovernments’ financial stewardship, toinclude the adoption of a positive andconstructive role.”

He said he could achieve this bycontributing to improvements in publicadministration and maintaining andimproving the confidence of the peopleof Queensland in public institutions.

He said he would play his part, withthe Queensland Audit Office, to ensurethe preservation of democratic values inthe State by ensuring that public sectoragencies were accountable and that they‘tell it like it is’.

Two exceptional QUT lecturers werehonoured at recent graduation ceremonies.

QUT Vice-Chancellor ProfessorDennis Gibson introduced School ofMedia and Journalism associate lecturerSuellen Tapsall, who received anOutstanding Academic ContributionAward at the recent Faculty of Artsgraduation ceremony.

Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Researchand Advancement Professor JohnCorderoy introduced senior lecturer inthe School of Mechanical,Manufacturing and MedicalEngineering Dr Douglas Hargreaves,who received an identical award a fewnights later.

Dr Hargreaves, in the role of courseco-ordinator for six years, received theaward in recognition of hisresponsiveness to student andemployer needs.

Two new course units implementedby Dr Hargreaves have been wellreceived by students.

Staff recognised foroutstanding service

Outstanding Academic Contribution Award winner SuellenTapsall with her four children, (back left to right) Jezaniah (5),Amaraiah (6), (front left to right) Bethsaida (8) and Zarah (3)

Mrs Tapsall, who over the past fewyears has been at the forefront ofteaching innovation and flexibledelivery at QUT, pioneered theleading-edge unit JournalismInformation Systems which providesessential technological and researchskills for entry-level students majoringin journalism.

Mrs Tapsall was the driving forceand key contributor to a majorinternational technology studycommissioned by the Department ofEmployment, Education, Trainingand Youth Affairs. The acclaimedNew Media and Borderless Educationreport has been instrumental inmapping the immediate technologicalfuture for the teaching and learningenvironment in Australianuniversities.

Mrs Tapsall also received herMaster of Arts (Journalism) at theceremony and delivered the vote ofthanks on behalf of the graduands.

Professor Max Brennan received an honorary doctorate onSeptember 30 and Professor Walter Wong had the title ProfessorEmeritus conferred on him on October 1 at QUT graduationceremonies. A full report on these ceremonies will be included inthe next edition of Inside QUT, on October 20.

Dr Robinson, who graduated fromthe Central Technical College in 1956,taught at several of QUT’s foundingcolleges until he retired in 1989 to painton a full-time basis.

Collections of his works are held by thestate galleries in each of the major states, aswell as Canberra’s National Gallery andParliament House, and the MetropolitanMuseum of Art in New York.

“It is fitting that QUT has one of thelargest public collections of his work — 23paintings, drawings, prints and ceramics, a

number of which he has donated,” saidProfessor Gibson.

Dr Robinson, who was guest speaker atthe graduation, said he was honoured to comeback to QUT to receive the honorary degree.

“This university is one of the largestand most important in the country. Itsacademic standards are noted for theirexcellence,” Dr Robinson said.

“My work is essentially a personalexperience of the landscape and I try toinclude all those layers of sensation in beingin the landscape.”

Page 4 INSIDE QUT October 6 - 19, 1998

QUT Academy actors have succeeded in securing some ofAustralia’s most coveted roles

Nine actors from QUT’s Academy of the Arts willshowcase their talents in Brisbane and Sydney in October,to secure an all-important agent before joining their peers inthe competitive arts industry.

QUT Academy Acting Studio head Dianne Eden saidthese actors would join a host of other graduates who weremaking their mark in the industry on screen and stage.

“Graduate Deborah Mailman is currently performing at thenew Optus Playhouse in Bell Shakespeare Company’s productionof King Lear. At the same time, she stars in the film, Radiance,which has been launched in Brisbane,” Ms Eden said.

Academy graduates have also featured in some ofAustralia’s most popular television series including BlueHeelers (Paul Bishop), Home and Away (Kelly Cawley),Wildside (Sam Healy, Wayne Blair), All Saints (Sam Healy),Breakers (James Stewart, Hseuh-Ling Tang, Louise Crawford)and Water Rats (T’mara Buckmaster, Sally Strecker).

T’mara Buckmaster has recently finished filming Jane Campion’snew film Holy Smoke with Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel.

Ms Eden said the Academy’s Acting Studio was adedicated, industry-driven training unit with actorsgraduating as highly-skilled professionals.

“Gigi Edgley, daughter of producer Michael Edgley, hashad a very busy year with a role in the soon-to-be-releasedtelevision mini-series Day of the Roses as well as undertakingthe role of Emma in Kill Everything You Love, a BrisbaneFestival production directed by David Brown,” she said.

The graduating ensemble, which also includes KerithAtkinson, Steve Bowers, Michelle Boyle, Louise Brehmer,Miriam McLachlan, Darren Weller and Anthony Wright,will showcase their talents on stage and screen to agents,casting consultants, theatre directors and producers inBrisbane and Sydney.

For Brisbane audiences, the ensemble will appear on October14 at 8pm at the QUT Theatre at QUT’s Gardens Pointcampus. Tickets are available at the door for $10.

Cults toprovidebasis fornew playWaco, Jonestown, Hare Krishnas andScientology are some of the cults whichform the basis of a stage play beingwritten by QUT masters studentMichael Richards.

Mr Richards is researching religiouscults as part of his Master of Arts(Research) in drama and has found thatmany cults have Australian connections.

“My interest focuses on cults and‘conversions’ as social phenomena andon the strategies used to recruit andensure loyalty and compliance,” MrRichards said.

“It is a complex area and involvesmany contentious issues such as thedefinition of a cult.

“For example, many mainstreamreligious organisations and manybusinesses operate very much like cults.

“If you look at the use of ritual incults, at the actual nature of their beliefsand the way in which faith is used toappeal to a metaphysical reality which isbeyond them and how this is justified,and compare these issues to mainstreamreligions, you really can’t differentiatebetween them in any valid way.

“A number of cults are offshoots ofmainstream religions, like the BranchDavidians who are a break-away groupfrom the Seventh Day Adventists,” he said.

Mr Richards explained that he wantedto ensure that his writing hadcontemporary relevance. Because cultsare becoming increasingly popular theyprovide excellent subject material for astage play.

“I think young people incontemporary society are turning awayfrom greed and inequality, and becausethey are idealists, they are searching forsomething to believe in.

“The play will not be specific to anyparticular cult but will draw on aspects ofall of the cults I have researched,” he said.

Mr Richards said there were manysimilarities between the theatre and cults.

“In a play you have the actors on stagecreating a ‘them and us’ situation whichis also another characteristic of a cult.We are dealing with issues of power,and the theatre can be seen as anoppressive device with the audienceessentially passive and the actors active,”Mr Richards said.

He is hoping the stage play Guru willbe performed by fellow students whenhe finishes his degree next year.

by Phillipa Hanrick

Flexibility in time was the mostimportant element in QUT’s flexibledelivery approach, Vice-ChancellorProfessor Dennis Gibson said at arecent Teaching and Learning LargeGrants Forum.

Professor Gibson said whileuniversities were often mesmerised bytechnology and space issues, flexibilityin time offered enormous potential forstudent convenience.

The forum heard five presentations onprojects initiating flexible delivery

Academyactors inbig roles

Flexible delivery emphasisedstrategiess.from the Faculties of Arts,Health, Built Environment and Engineering,Information Technology and Law.

The forum provided the opportunityfor the successful 1997/98 grantrecipients to showcase their flexibledelivery projects and to provide firsthand insights into the process ofdeveloping, managing and embeddingTeaching and Learning Large Grantinitiatives.

The Teaching and LearningDevelopment Unit also held a separateSeptember workshop on using high-technology to support traditional

pedagogy by University of Melbournearts lecturer Dr Michael Arnold.

Lecturers did not need torevolutionise traditional teachingmethods to incorporate moderntechnologies, but rely on subtle changesto support traditional pedagogy, DrArnold said.

Dr Arnold said he used on-linediscussion groups for students to discussand debate their work.

He also posted lecture notes on theInternet for students to digest beforethe lecture, enabling them to improvethe structure of their notes .

PhD student DonnaPendergast ... focusing on the

teacher’s body

Students invitedto submit equitypostcard designsQUT's Cultural Diversity WorkingParty, Equity Section and Student Guildwill be producing a postcard to distributeto students during Orientation 1999promoting diversity.

QUT students are invited to submitpostcard designs for a prize of $500.

Entry forms are available at campusUnion Help desks. The closing date forsubmissions of designs is October 161998. For more information contactLeanne Zimmermann on (07)3864 3653.

Latin twist to Bard’s play about love

William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing had a Latin feel in the latestproduction which opened at the QUT Theatre on October 2. QUT’s Academy of theArts production was performed by second-year acting students. Eileen Camillieri

played Beatrice while Benedick was played by Sam Atwell

by Andrea Hammond

A teacher’s body and body language is central tothe learning experience in the classroom, accordingto research by PhD student Donna Pendergast.

An in-depth study of four atypical high schoolteachers found each used their bodies as an intrinsicpart of the teaching process.

Ms Pendergast found the four, all homeeconomics teachers, were high-energy performerswho did not fit any of society’s stereotypes of howthey were meant to look and act.

She said two of the (female) teachers had noqualms about touching students (in safe places)as part of a teaching style that they feltencouraged students and showed them they caredabout them.

“You see very clear differences between the fourteachers I have focused on, and an average teacherwho is in the classroom focusing on developingthe mind,” Ms Pendergast said.

‘Body central to teaching’“These teachers are really about the body, both

in practice and in how they engage their students.These four remember they have bodies and, forthem, teaching is an embodied practice.

“They are not the only ones who teach in thisway, of course.

“There are many, many teachers who do this butwe (as teachers) have tended not to recognise it. Wechoose not to look at the body as part of teaching.

“This is a post-modern approach to teachingmethods which re-examines teaching thinking thatI hope will be useful to teachers in home economicsand other areas which are devalued.”

Ms Pendergast conducted a number of wide-reaching surveys of more than 300 teachersthroughout Queensland to establish what a typicalhome economics teacher was.

She is doing her PhD through QUT’s School ofCultural and Policy Studies in the Faculty ofEducation, under the supervision of AssociateProfessor Erica McWilliam.

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INSIDE QUT October 6 - 19, 1998 Page 5

by Andrea Hammond

Brisbane’s Vietnamese community usesa flourishing music video and liveperformance industry to affirm its culturalidentity and preserve memories of a losthomeland, QUT research has found.

Music videos that combine songs anddocumentary-style footage form thebackbone of popular cultural affirmationfor Vietnamese people located in more than70 communities throughout the world.

An in-depth study of thephenomenon, part of a larger, Australia-wide investigation of the Asian diasporacommunities, is being led by Centre forMedia Policy and Practice directorProfessor Stuart Cunningham.

Professor Cunningham said most ofthe Vietnamese music videos were madein Orange County, SouthernCalifornia, and were eagerly collectedby Vietnamese men and women of allages, from all regions and across alleducation levels.

“Virtually everyone in the Vietnamesecommunity engages with this material;they know it intimately, they know theperformers, they know their histories,they are very involved in it,” ProfessorCunningham said.

“Research like this allows us to seebeyond officially certified, state-supported multicultural production, aswell as the quaint folklore that oftenpasses for ‘multiculturalism’ — this gets

Vietnamese music thrives

You can complete whole subjects in less thanthree months by studying at QUT during thesummer.

Our Summer Program is open to members ofthe public, students of other universities,international students and QUT students toaccelerate course completion. During theprogram, both undergraduate andpostgraduate subjects will be offered by theFaculties of Arts, Business and Law. TheFaculties of Information Technology, Scienceand Built Environment and Engineering willalso offer undergraduate subjects duringthe summer.

All subjects offered are listed in QUT’sSummer Program information booklet,which we’ll send to you when you returnthe coupon below.

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A university for the real worldQueensland University of Technology

GPO Box 2434 Brisbane Q 4001 www: http://www.qut.edu.au/

The Summer Program will run from Monday30/11/98 to Friday 19/2/99. Students shouldcontact the appropriate faculty for class andtutorial times.

Not all units will be available to all applicants.Prerequisites apply to some units.

Tuition fees (other than HECS) apply to manyundergraduate and postgraduate units.Students should refer to the fees schedule inthe Summer Program information booklet orcontact QUT’s Fees Office on (07) 3864 3100 orthe relevant faculty.

For more information about the SummerProgram, return the coupon below orcontact QUT’s Student AdministrationEnquiries on (07) 3864 5408 or email:qut.saenquiries@qut.edu.au

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Don’t yourstudies this summer,

much more to the dynamics of ‘reallypopular’ pop culture that makes a difference.”

Professor Cunningham said he andhis primary research collaborator TinaNguyen had found most Vietnamesepeople in Brisbane had large libraries ofthe videos, which were produced to backup worldwide live shows by overseasVietnamese singers.

“The message embedded in both theentertainment and the documentarydetail is ‘we have survived: we are asophisticated, culturally vibrant people,no matter how small and dispersed weare around the globe, no matter howhard our lives have been, we have created

this robust kind of cultural self-expression,” he said

Professor Cunningham is leading agroup of researchers based in Melbourne,Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane studyingthe way different Asian immigrantcommunities maintain their culture andnegotiate with their host culture.

The project received a three-year$78,000 Australian Research CouncilGrant in 1996 which has beensupplemented by generous QUT support.

Professor Cunningham outlined hisresearch in a seminar at the Centre forMedia Policy and Practice onSeptember 18.

by Andrea Hammond

All great cities of the world use bridgeswith strong pedestrian appeal to enhancetheir character and link culturally importantcentres, a QUT academic said this week.

School of Civil Engineering seniorlecturer Dr John Liston said his notion ofwhat made bridges successful had beenreinforced by years of visiting and workingin many of the great cities around the world.

“A lot of bridges in the world are civilengineering masterpieces but they oftenhave no appeal — people just don’t feeldrawn to cross them,” Dr Liston said.

“If you go to Paris, for instance, thebridges across the Seine make Paris what itis today — not only do they connect youfrom the left bank to the right, but just tostand on one of the bridges and watch theroad, pedestrian and river traffic is anexceptionally pleasant experience.

“There aren’t that many bridges inQueensland that you would want to take aphotograph of, but Brisbane’s Storey Bridge is,I think, a good one. It doesn’t clash with thecharacter of the river yet stands out like a beacon.

“Every time I go into a new city I like towalk the city because that’s the best way toget a feel for all the good points of aparticular place,” he said.

“Brisbane needs an additional link toclose our circuit. A link from the south endof South Bank to the Botanical Gardenswould provide a logical link to complete

‘Bridges enhance theworld’s great cities’

The QUT Weight Management Clinicwill hold fun after-school workshops aspart of a program to break the cycle ofinactivity in primary school-age children.

Co-ordinators are looking for childrenaged 7 to 12 who are overweight, orwho don’t normally take part in physicalactivity, to join the PhysKids program.

School of Human Movement StudiesAssociate Professor Peter Davies said socialand cultural changes — including thepopularity of television and computergames — meant children today were farless active than they were twenty years ago.

“Concurrent with a reduction inphysical activity throughout the world

PhysKids for inactive children

Professor Stuart Cunningham and research collaborator TinaNguyen ... delving into Vietnamese music

we are seeing an increase in obesity levelsin children,” Professor Davies said.

Professor Davies said the PhysKidsprogram would also be included in therapyfor obese children in the school’s soon-to-be-opened Paediatric Obesity Clinic.

PhysKids would focus on playinggames for fun, rather than winning orlosing, and would include short “sit-down-on-the-grass” lessons in healtheducation or self-esteem, he said.

The PhysKids program will run everyThursday afternoon, 4 - 5pm, fromThursday October 8. To enrol inPhysKids, call QUT’s WeightManagement Clinic on (07) 3864 5819.

Poster prize goes to Jessiby Amanda O’Chee

Widgee State School student Jessi Barkerhas blended her artistic flair andscientific interest to clinch a statewideposter competition run by QUT.

Jessi beat more than 1,400 entrantsacross Queensland to win the QUTScience Faculty’s Primary Students’Science Poster Competition.

To celebrate National Science Week,students were asked to devise a posterabout a range of scientific topics,including animals, erosion, revegetation,the solar system and chemistry.

Fifty posters were shortlisted andQUT Chancellor Dr Cherrell Hirstchose Jessi’s rainforest poster.

As well as statewide recognition, shewon a trip to Brisbane, including a two-night stay at Quay West, a trip toSeaworld and visit to the ScienceCentre.

Competition co-ordinator JaneVidgen, academic and research officerfor the Science Faculty, said she wasdelighted with the response fromstudents in state, independent andCatholic schools.

“The response was really tremendousand we were inundated with over 1,400posters from as far away as Indonesia.

“The posters were very exciting andinteresting and, as you can imagine, thismeant that the task of judging the ageand overall winners was a very time-consuming job,” Ms Vidgen said.

the circuit of the city, placing Parliamentapproximately in the centre of the hub.

“It would open up the gardens, SouthBank, Queen Street and the riverside areas,linking them all.”

Dr Liston is a member of QUT’s PhysicalInfrastructure Centre which investigatesaccess and mobility opportunities for citiesand the way structures harmonise with theirsurroundings.

“Bridges are key elements in any roadnetwork and while it’s essential that theyremain in service for many years with aminimum amount of maintenance —which means that the workmanship mustbe of high quality — they must also beaesthetically pleasing and reinforce thecharacter of a city,” he said.

Dr John Liston ...Brisbane needsan additional link

Dragon dances, Laotian food andSamoan performers will feature in astudent-run multicultural celebration atQUT’s Garden Point campus.

The Student Guild’s “Festival of Unity”,which will run from 5pm to 9.30pm onFriday October 9, aims to help studentsand locals learn about the food and culturesof Australia’s ethnic groups.

The Student Guild’s Director ofInternational Student Services, HirokimiNishio, said the festival would also counter

negative and misleading images ofmulticulturalism, which were sometimesportrayed in the media.

Twelve stalls, selling authentic foodsfrom Japan, Laos, Singapore, Thailand,and others, will open from 5pm on theKidney Lawn. Dance and musicperformances will run from 6.30pm.

The festival is part of the Guild’s on-going campaign against racism, whichincluded running ads in the mainstreammedia earlier this year.

Multicultural celebration for QUT

Page 6 INSIDE QUT October 6 - 19, 1998

Second and third year students at QUT’sCarseldine campus will have anopportunity to explore employmentoptions at a Carseldine EmploymentExpo on October 8.

The expo will feature a paneldiscussion from 1 - 2 pm (C321) onemployment prospects. An employmentmarket will take place from 2 - 4 pm(C320).

Students will have an opportunity toobtain information from employment

by Amanda O’Chee

A QUT biomedical engineering PhDstudent has won a national award forresearch into the degeneration of thespine which causes severe back pain.

Rosemary Thompson, 24, wasawarded the Rob Johnston Award forthe best presentation by a trainee orFellow at the annual scientific meetingof the Spine Society of Australia, heldin New Zealand.

The preliminary results suggest spinalsurgery may not always necessary for peoplewho suffer back pain due to tears in theirintervertebral disc, said Ms Thompson.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI),had become so high-tech that doctorswere able to detect tears in theintervertebral disc, but the results showdifferent tears had different effects onmovement, said Ms Thompson.

Ms Thompson’s PhD supervisors areProfessor Mark Pearcy and Dr TimothyBarker, from the School of Mechanical,Manufacturing and MedicalEngineering and the Centre forRehabilitation Science and Engineering.

They are working jointly with theInstitute of Medical and VeterinaryScience in Adelaide.

Spine research award A user-friendly, Web-based facility is theheart of QUT’s new INNOPACautomated library system which cameinto operation on September 7.

Community services librarianBarbara Ewers said students and staffwould find the Netscape-based cataloguesearch system easy to use.

“The old text-based search systemprovided all the necessary information,but the new system requires less typingand it interfaces more easily with otherlibrary catalogue systems,” she explained.

Some 28 new PCs will be installed atthe Carseldine, Kelvin Grove, GardensPoint and Law libraries during October.

Web-friendly library system

Rosemary Thompson ... awarded the Rob Johnston Awardat Spine Society of Australia meeting

The old-generation computers will bephased out over the coming year.

Main features include:■Searching the catalogue using the

Netscape browser. The Web versionalso allows users to click on hotlinksto view related items.

■Self-service features. From October 19clients will be able to check their borrowerrecord, renew loans and request materialon loan or at another branch.

■E-mailing of search results to personale-mail boxes instead of printing them.

■INNOPAC will also be available in atext version via Telnet. The webaddress is http://libcat.qut.edu.au/

Careers expo at Carseldineagencies, public service departments,private employers and QUT faculties.

Agencies represented include DrakeInternational, Morgan and Banks andAndersen Consulting. Departmentssuch as Small Business, Industry &Tourism, Corrective Services,Queensland Treasury and QueenslandPolice Service will be present.

A skills forum will take place from 4- 5pm (C319) to tackle issues such aswhere to look for jobs.

Grameen Bank - Banking on the Poorimpact on poverty eradication is the collectivesavings of its borrowers, which, in the past 20 years,has grown from nothing to US$165 million.

Other Countries

In 1987 Mrs Clinton sought Grameen’s assistanceto set up a Grameen Bank ‘replication’ in Arkansaswhere her husband was the Governor. Since thenthe Grameen Trust (a separate institution from theGrameen Bank) is facilitating and financingGrameen Bank replications all over the world.

At present, there are over 200 Grameen Bankreplications in 57 countries. Grameen Trust isstriving to create 300 new replications in the next5 years - that translates to one new Grameen Bankreplication, somewhere in the world each week.The aim is to take credit to the poorest half ofworld’s 1.2 billion poor by the year 2005.

How little it takes

Optimum size of the loan to a family of, say, five isaround half the average yearly local income. Forthe vast majority of world’s poor, it is US$50 toUS$300. In Bangladesh, the optimum loan size ismerely US$140 (5,500 taka).

For every $200 deposited with the Grameen andother similar banks, a poor family somewhere inthe world is able to lift itself out of extreme poverty.

Local Leadership

A viable Grameen Bank replication requires localleadership and a local workforce, who are paidlocal wages. In Bangladesh, for example, the chiefeconomist of the Grameen Bank earns US$250 amonth, and a university-qualified bank workerUS$75 a month.

These ‘micro’ banks cannot sustain the cost ofemploying Western aid workers withoutdegenerating into a charity program needingconstant handouts from donors.

Poverty-free World?

The total credit need of all of the world’s poor isestimated to be somewhere between $30 and $60billion, while each year the aid ‘industry’ collectsUS$80 billion in the name of helping the poor. Howlittle of this trickles down to the poor and howmuch dependence and corruption it creates isvividly documented in numerous research reports.

Things are slowly changing as more and morepeople realise the merit of investing directly in thepoor instead of sustaining an expensive aidindustry in the West.

For more information, please contact:Grameen Bank Support Group/Australia,7 Burke Place, Mount Colah, NSW 2079.Phone (02) 9294 3338, fax (02) 9457 8805, or email:grameen.oz@mypostbox.com or visit the Web siteat: www.rdc.com.au/grameen

Grameen Bank provides undergraduate, graduateand sabbatical research, and internshipopportunities in Bangladesh.

For more information, please contact the SupportGroup. If you wish to pay for the cost of printingand postage, please enclose a stamped ($1.35) self-addressed envelope.

22 year old, Sophia Khatoon, in the tiny village ofJobra in Bangladesh, worked seven days a weekmaking finely woven bamboo furniture. She lookedtwice her age and lived in abject poverty. As shehad no working capital, a trader sold her the rawmaterial on credit and bought the final product ata price that barely covered the costs. Dr Yunus,professor of Economics at a nearby University, wholater founded the Grameen Bank, calculated thateffectively Sophia paid 10% a day - more than3,000% a year - in interest.

In fact, the vast majority of world’s poor are caughtin this trap. They are thoroughly exploited by eithertheir ‘employer’ or the money-lending elite. Thepoor cannot borrow from banks because theycannot provide ‘collateral’.

With a 50 taka (a few dollars) loan from Yunus, ittook Sophia only a few months to establish her ownlittle self-employment, increase her income sevenfold, and repay the loan.

The Grameen Bank today

From this modest beginning, grew a bank whichtoday employs 12,600 staff, works in 37,000 villagesof Bangladesh, and extends 4 million loans a year.

In the face of this near-exponential growth, sixprinciples involved in the first loan to Ms Khatoonwere jealously guarded:

■ the bank would lend to the poorest of thepoor, women being the most marginalisedamong the poorest, would receive thehighest priority (today, 94% of bank’sclients are women)

■ these loans will be without collateral orsecurity, as bank’s target clients are thosewho have nothing to offer as collateral

■ the bank will not ‘advise’ the borrowersas to how they should utilise the loans

■ the bank will help and support itsborrowers to succeed

■ the bank will focus all its resources andattention on serving the poor, and notengage in any other banking activity

■ the bank will endeavour to meet all itscosts from its interest income.

Credit-worthy poor

Over the past two decades, the Grameen Bank hasextended US$2 billion in tiny loans for self-employment purposes to some of the poorestpeople in the world. It has lent half that amount injust the past two years. Each month it extends newloans totalling US$30 to US$40 million. With loanrepayments exceeding 98%, it outperforms all otherbanks in Bangladesh and most banks around theworld.

Capacity to Create Wealth

Grameen’s experience demonstrates that the poordo not lack ideas, skills or an enterprising spirit.They are perfectly capable of working their wayout of poverty and creating wealth.

Savings

One of the indicators the bank uses to gauge its

A bigger, better and fully air-conditioned childcare centre has reopened on the Gardens Pointcampus following last year’s devastating fire.

The Student Guild Child Care Centre, whichwas forced to close for 12 months, has beenrefurbished and extended.

Air-conditioning, an extra bathroom and aspecial nappy changing area have been added aswell as large windows let in natural light.

Voting for the Student Guild elections is beingheld across all QUT campuses this week.

Three main parties will contest the Guildpositions and seven representative positions forthe National Union of Students.

The presidency will be contested by MakelitaCull from SMART, Jason Greig from Dirextionand Gavin Gee-Clough from POPS.

Student Guild elections at QUT

by Noel Gentner

Some off-key notes are beingsounded by a PhD student atQUT about the way music isbeing taught at the secondaryand tertiary levels in Australia.

High school music teacherand Master of Education,Geoff Walden (picturedright) claimed there wereinjustices associated withmusic education.

Mr Walden said hebelieved music education wasexclusive, saying only students who wished tobe successful in the traditions of Europeanmusic had access to the public funds allocatedto music education.

He said people who wished to study in thefield of music of the Afro-American tradition(rock, pop, contemporary/popular) did not haveaccess to such funding.

“My reason for doing a PhD in the field ofrock music history is because the history of themusic of the musically disenfranchised does notqualify as legitimate history and thereforelegitimate knowledge,” Mr Walden said.

“We don’t study the history and theory ofpopular music in school or university.

“The only way you can become a musicteacher is to have gone through aconservatorium, a university and the traditionalAMEB syllabus, and that syllabus has changed

‘Rock worth studying’very little since itsintroduction and leans verymuch to the traditionalEuropean classics.

“I’m not saying that isbad, I don’t want to stop thatin the schools, but by onlyrecognising traditionalmusic, kids with interests inother music have theirinterests and perspectivesdenigrated by it not beingincluded in the curriculum.

“So what we find is adirection in schools towards

music traditions of Europe, and my research showsthe musical traditions of most music teachers arevery conservative and very different to what themusical interests of the general community are.”

Mr Walden said he was interested indocumenting the experiences and views ofordinary people to give them some input intohow music history was defined.

He said this had traditionally been taken fromthe perspective of the socially and culturallypowerful, “the people who decide what is goodmusic and ensure the status quo remains”.

“I strongly suggest that these people are makingsure that the vast amounts of public money that isdirected towards their field of knowledge doesn’tget sidetracked,” Mr Walden said.

Mr Walden is presently talking to peopleinvolved in the music industry in Brisbane in the1950s and 1960s.

Election results will be released by FridayOctober 16. Between six to eight per cent ofstudents are expected to vote, electoral officerDarren Wakefield said.

This is the first year ballots will not becounted by hand, speeding up the countingprocess, he said.

Counting will be computerised.

Child care centre has reopenedChild care centre director Carrie MacCarthy

said virtually nothing could be salvaged after theelectrical fire, which started in the kitchen.

Ms MacCarthy said few parents realised thecentre had reopened on September 14. Places arestill available. The centre can cater for up to 25children a day, aged from young babies to fiveyears, and is open from 7.30am to 5.30pm.

For further information phone (07) 3864 1690.

INSIDE QUT October 6 - 19, 1998 Page 7

STUDENT GUILD

Oct 15 Oktoberfest. GP.

Oct 15 AUSF Reunion. GP.

Oct 23 Soccer Comp-QUT Cup.

Oct 29 Sports Awards Dinner.

Nov 27 QUT Ball.

Recreation Courses - everything from Carlton United Brewery Tours to whale-watching. Further details in theSemester 2 Recreation Handbook. Kirsten Fraser on (07) 3864 5536 or Natalie Mulvihill on (07) 3864 2928.

For further details, contact the Recreation Department on (07) 3864 1213

FROM THE ACADEMY

Oct 7 Free lunchtime concerts at 1.05pm. M Block Music studio, KG. Australiancontemporary music with pianist Carson Dron. Contact Leanne Cutler atl.cutler@qut.edu.au or (07) 3864 5998.

Oct 2-10 Much Ado About Nothing. Performances at 6pm (2/10, 9/10) or 8pm (3/10, 6/10, 10/10). QUT Theatre, GP. For details see http://www.academy.qut.edu.au/whatson

Oct 14 Graduation Actors’ Showcase. 8pm, QUT Theatre, GP. Contact Leanne Cutleron l.cutler@qut.edu.au or on(07) 3864 5998.

COURSES, SEMINARS,CONFERENCES

CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF ETHICS

Oct 16 Teaching and Research in Ethics across the University. 1pm - 4pm, D301, KG. Contact NoelPreston at n.preston@qut.edu.au or (07) 3864 4747.

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES (EQUITY SECTION)

Oct 7 & 9 Two-day planning workshop for women in secretarial, clerical and administrative positions. Free,9am to 4pm, K108 (staff training room), KG. Contact Leanne Zimmermann atl.zimmermann@qut.edu.au or (07) 3864 3653.

FACULTY OF HEALTH

Oct 14 Postgraduate Information Evening. Focusing on nursing specialisations, health sciencespecialisations and public health. 5pm, BLT3 GP. Contact Deborah Sheedy atd.sheedy@qut.edu.au or 07) 3864 5775.

Check out What’s On at http:// www.qut.edu.au/pubs/02stud/whatson.html

Send your What’s On entry to c.ryanclur@qut.edu.au or via fax on (07) 3210 0474.

Oct 8 Employment expo at Carseldine. Meet employer groups, learn about recruitment,interviewing skills and employment options. 1 -5 pm, C3, Cars.

ALUMNI EVENTS

COURSES

Nov 3-4 Nursing the Future (Convention and Trade Expo). Nov 3-4, GP. (After reunion, seeAlumni Events). Contact Helen Keown at h.keown@qut.edu.au or (07) 3864 3820.

SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Nov 16-27 Fifth International Health Summer School. Short courses and presentations oncurrent and emerging public health issues. Contact Julie Joughin atj.joughin@qut.edu.au or on (07) 3864 3523.

Oct 15-16 Second National Conference for Executive Secretaries and PersonalAssistants. Hilton International Hotel, Brisbane. QUT Continuing ProfessionalEducation Unit. Contact Maria Lamari at m.lamari@qut.edu.auor (07) 3864 2915.

SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS & FINANCE

Oct 8 Economics, Finance and International Competitiveness (EFIC) seminar series.Associate Professor Masaki Katsuura, Meijo University, Nagoya, Japan, speakingon Empirical Analysis of Business Cycles Using Japanese Data. 11am - 12pm,Z504, GP. Contact Ilona Schultz at m.schultz@qut.edu.au or (07) 3864 1629.

SCHOOL OF JUSTICE STUDIESS

OCT 5-26 Justice Studies Staff and Graduate Students Research seminars. Informalpublic forum for sharing ideas on research methodologies. They will also provide asupportive environment in which research students can present their work-in-progress.Oct 5: Xiancui Li; Oct 12: Don Robertson; Oct 19: Susan Currie; Oct 26Geoffrey Dean. 10am - 12pm, C Block Staff Lounge KG.Contact Gayre Christie at g.christie@qut.edu.au or (07) 3864 3617.

SCHOOL OF NURSING

STUDENT GUILD

Oct 9 Legal Practice Reunion. Contact Liz Clark at ea.clark@qut.edu.au or(07) 3864 2211.

Nov 2 Nursing Reunion. Gala dinner celebrating 20 years of nursing education at QUT. SheratonTowers Brisbane. Contact Helen Keown at h.keown@qut.edu.au or (07) 3864 3820.

QUT Indigenous Law student YvesNeuherz has joined a university-basededucation program designed to dispelcommunity misunderstanding aboutWik, Mabo and Native Title.Mr Neuherz, a second-year student,joins a team of Queensland speakerswho will provide qualified informationfree-of-charge for the Native TitleCommunity Education Program.

“The program is co-ordinated byacademics, lawyers and students andinvites schools, communityorganisations and interested parties torequest speaking engagements,” MrNeuherz said.

“These issues have formed a majorpart of mainstream political debate, yetvery few people (from the generalpublic) really understand them.”

The Native Title CommunityEducation Program is being run by theGriffith University Law School.

by Sharon TickleSchool of Meida and Journalism

The public forum Immigration Beyond2000 held at Gardens Point campuslast month is just one component of theQUT School of Media and Journalism’sambitious Public Journalism Projectwhich began in May.

The project, part-funded by theAustralian Research Council, will run fortwo-and-a-half years. Industry partners inthe Queensland component of the projectare The Couier-Mail, Australians forReconciliation Project (Qld) and the EthnicCommunities Council Queensland.

The project is testing the publicjournalism approach to covering issuesof community concern by giving andhearing broad community views.

Public journalismproject hits its stride

QUT’s Legal Practice Course will hold ananniversary party on Friday October 9 tocelebrate 20 years of training.

The course was set up in 1978 at therequest of the Queensland legalprofession to provide aspiring lawyerswith an alternative way of satisfying thepre-admission practical trainingrequirement for solicitors.

Hundreds have been invited to attendthe celebrations at Gardens Point campus.

Project leader and senior lecturer inthe School of Media and JournalismCratis Hippocrates has identified racerelations as a significant issue in Australiaand so the three Queensland forums arefocusing on this issue.

The first, in One Nation’s heartlandof Morayfield, Caboolture Shire on June1, focused on reconciliation betweenindigenous and non-indigenous people,with particular reference to Native Titleand the Wik Ten Point Plan.

The second forum, held at QUT,focused on immigration and populationpolicy with invited speakers, Lord MayorJim Soorley, One Nation immigrationspokesperson Robyn Spencer, executivedirector of the Multicultural AffairsDepartment of the Premier and Cabinet,Uri Thermal, and the spokesperson for

Australians for an EcologicallySustainable Population, Sheila Davis.

About 250 people attended and therewas extensive audience participation.

Both debates were extensively coveredby The Courier -Mail in reports and lift-out supplements. For the second forum,the newspaper set up a feedback hotlineand recorded the views of some of the150 people who called.

Questionnaires filled in by forumparticipants indicated a positive responseto this experiment in public journalism.

To obtain further information aboutthe project’s impact, voluntary focusgroups drawn from people who attendedthe discussions are being held inCaboolture and Brisbane.

The final forum is planned for theend of this year in regional Queensland.

Lord Mayor of Brisbane Jim Soorley was one of the speakers at the public journalism debate on immigration held

at QUT last month

New book develops helpful model on career theoryA theory textbook written by two QUTacademics was launched at theQueensland Guidance and CounsellingAssociation conference in September.

Career Development and SystemsTheory: A New Relationship, was writtenby School of Learning and Developmentsenior lecturer Dr Wendy Patton andpart-time lecturer Dr Mary McMahon.

Dr Patton said the book put together aframework based on systems theory tosynthesise the existing body of career theory.

“One of the issues in the career theoryliterature has been that there have beena whole range of different theories putforward by people for the last 40-oddyears,” she said.

In most recent discussions in theliterature there was usually a focus onone or two theories.

“People don’t really have an overviewand that’s affecting the kind of practicalway career counsellors are working withclients in career decision-making,” she said.

“And one of the issues has been howare we going to put together some kindof integrative model for career theories.We have developed a framework basedon systems theory and to the best ofour knowledge it’s the first time that’soccurred.”

Dr Patton said students who had usedthe book in her masters-level subject,Career Theory , had been enthusiasticabout its relevance in terms of their practiceand understanding of career theory.

“I have had very good feedback fromstudents in terms of how it enabled themto put all the various theories into placeso they could get a sense of an overview,”she said.

Queensland Guidance and CounsellingAssociation president Dr Robyn Gilliespresided at the launch of the book, whichis published by Brooks/Cole.

Career Development and Systems Theory:A New Relationship is available throughNelson Publishers and at QUT bookshops.

Legal practicecourse celebration

Student onWik program

Yves Neuherz ... will help tocorrect misunderstanding over

Wik, Mabo and Native Title

Page 8 INSIDE QUT October 6 - 19, 1998

by Noel Gentner

Three QUT students have returned toAustralia following what one describedas an experience of a lifetime competingin the XVI Commonwealth Games inKuala Lumpur.

Helen Toussis (first year Bachelor ofEducation), Ricky Nalatu (final yearBachelor of Education) and Nathan Rickard(second year Bachelor of Engineering)represented Australia at the Games.

Mr Nalatu came home with abronze medal as a member of theRugby 7s team, Mr Rickard justmissed out on a medal when hefinished fourth in swimming the 50metres freestyle and Ms Toussis cameaway in sixth place in the final of thewomens’ shot-put.

Ms Toussis said she was “a little bitdisappointed with her performance” asshe had been ranked fourth going intothe competition.

“Just being there has given me somuch motivation,” Ms Toussis said. “Ithas been a fantastic learning experiencethat I will never forget.”

“I am proud to have been part of themost successful international Australiansporting team of all time.”

Ms Toussis admitted that on herreturn to Brisbane after the excitementof the Games, it was “a bit hard torefocus and get back on track”.

She said she would need some timeto wind down. After a few days at herBrisbane home Ms Toussis left forMelbourne in QUT’s track and fieldteam to compete in the Unigames.

QUT athletes lived anexperience of a lifetime

QUT’s Helen Toussis ... gold medal performance in discus andshotput at the 1998 National University Games caps powerful form

at the Commonwealth Games

Nathan Rickard Ricky NalatuIn the Commonwealth Games, Ms

Toussis finished with a distance of 15metres 65 cm while the gold medal wastaken by Judy Oakes from England witha throw of 18 metres 82cm.

Bronze medalist Ricky Nalatu, onreturning from the Games, spent littlemore than a day in Australia. He arrived

in Sydney in the morning, flew toBrisbane for the night and the followingday he flew out of Brisbane bound forHong Kong.

Mr Nalatu had been selected as ateam member in the QueenslandReds for a ruby union competitionin Hong Kong.

Unigames score update

Local Brisbane teams have taken outthe first four places in the 10th annualSouth Pacific Region ScholasticProgramming Contest held onSeptember 19.

Teams from the University ofQueensland placed first, second andfourth, and teams from QUT placedthird and eighth.

The ACM South Pacific Regionprogramming contest, sponsored byIBM, is run simultaneously at sitesthroughout Austral ia and NewZealand. Some 94 teams competedfrom 27 institutions in the contest.Teams consist of three students whohad five hours to solve as manyproblems as they could from a setof eight.

QUT programmingteam makes finals

Three teams from will advance tothe world finals, to be held inEindhoven, the Netherlands, nextApril. It is expected that the SouthPacific will be represented by teamsfrom the University of Queensland,QUT, and the University of Otagoin New Zealand.

The Brisbane contest venuewas hosted at QUT’s GardensPoint campus where thirteenteams participated.

Local organiser and QUT lecturerin the faculty of InformationTechnology Dr Chris Ho-Stuart saidhe was very pleased with the result.

“To win a programming contestat the Brisbane venue requiresgenuinely world class ability,” he said.

Nominations are open for the annualQUT Sudent Guild Sports Awards.

Guild recreation manager DonGordon said the awards were thehighlight of the QUT sporting year andwould be presented at the Brisbane CityHall on October 29.

Dr Gordon said the awardspresentation would honour theachievements of QUT’s top athletes andstudents who had made an outstandingcontribution to sport and recreationduring the year.

Dr Gordon said nominations would beaccepted until October 20. Forms areavailable from fitness centres on eachcampus or by contacting the GuildRecreation Department on (07) 3864 4716.

Guild sportsawards onin October

by Colleen Ryan Clur

QUT’s Graduate Certificate inEducation (Higher Education), ateaching course designed foracademic teaching staff who wishto gain a teaching qualification, hassteered 91 graduates through theprogram since it started in 1993.

Ms Denise Scott, lecturer inteaching and learning, said thecourse was designed to enableacademic teachers to feel morecomfortable with their “adoptedteaching profession”.

The course is accredited by theFaculty of Education and isdeveloped and taught by stafffrom the Teaching And LearningDevelopment Unit (TALDU –formerly ASDU).

“It has a practical orientationand guides participants inaddressing issues and concerns intheir daily teaching practice,” MsScott said.

On completion of the course,graduates are also eligible for SEDAaccreditation, an accreditation schemefor teachers in higher education.

Ten graduates already haveSEDA accreditation.

Enrolments for next year ’sintake close in early February.Pre-enrolment information isava i l ab l e f rom TALDU on (07) 3864 2697.

Enrolment forms are availablefrom Admissions (K Block, KelvinGrove Campus; C Block,Carseldine Campus, U Block,Gardens Point).

Vice-Chancellor’s bursaries areavailable for QUT staff wishing toundertake the course.

Graduate certificate coursehas steered 91 to success

Helen Toussis has triumphed at the1998 National University Games inMelbourne, winning gold medals inshotput and discus.

Ms Toussis also won a bronzein the Javelin and was selected forthe Games’ “Green and Gold”team which recogni se s s ta r

athletes over the four-day 53-university competition.

QUT’s mixed touch football teamwere also strong performers and inthe playoff for a bronze medal as InsideQUT went to press on Friday, October2. For a full games round-up don’tmiss Inside QUT’s 184 edition.

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