“Where it is be tempting just to talk about the vocational value of our university, that would be selling us short,” he said.

“I think CSU, as with all universities, has to do more than just impart knowledge. We have this responsibility to develop alert, ethically driven, critical minds that are able to relate to other disciplines, that are able to form judgements effectively based on an intellectual rigor rather than on a notion of where they have come from or where they have grown up so you get young people in key positions that have the ability to assess what’s best for society in a moral way.”

According to Mr Asimus, the first most obvious impact of the university has been its growth and impact on its regions.

“We have gone from something like 10,000 students to 40,000. It’s a pretty big university now and that’s very significant. CSU is spending $200 million in the region this year and its students contribute another $70 million.”

He believes this is a great credit to the leadership of the university and the people in it.

“They have sold the university and developed a large number of courses. This has meant that a whole range of people, particularly young people from our region, wouldn’t have taken the step to tertiary education if it hadn’t been for CSU.”

Born in Tumut, Mr Asimus was educated at Barker College in Sydney and The University of Sydney where he graduated with a Bachelor of Economics.

Until he retired from the land in 1999, he was a grazier operating a property at Book Book near Wagga Wagga.  He was chairman of the Australian Wool Corporation and the International Wool Secretariat from 1979 to 1988.   Following his retirement from the corporation he served as a member of the boards of Austrade, Wesfarmers Ltd, BHP Ltd, Delta Electricity, Australian Eagle Insurance Company, Rural Press Ltd and the Industrial Bank of Japan, Australia Ltd.

Mr Asimus saw his role with Charles Sturt University as similar to that of a chairman of a large corporation carrying out public and ceremonial functions while ensuring that the Council and University management performed harmoniously and effectively. In particular, his presence at graduation ceremonies made these occasions especially memorable for the university’s graduates and their guests.

Charles Sturt University was created from the amalgamation of the two major regional colleges of advanced education in NSW and in a little over 10 years has developed into an innovative and successful institution. Of particular pride to Mr Asimus is that during his stewardship CSU was 
 awarded the Australian University of the Year in 1997 for its commitment to first generation university students.

Talking about the aspirations of the university in its early days, Mr Asimus said it was necessary to find a speciality where it could be unique.

“That has been very much the case with our professional courses in various areas and the most obvious one is policing.

“I think we are well on the way of changing the whole culture of the NSW police service in quite a dramatic way. It’s increased the diversity of people being attracted into it.  We are getting people joining now who already have degrees, a considerable number of older, more mature students and we are certainly attracting a lot more women. 

“We are starting now to have a critical mass of these students who have been through the basic course, who are moving on and upgrading their skills. There is an ethical dimension in their training. They get a better appreciation of their responsibilities, and they get a better background to understand the communities which they serve and how to behave in different situations. Fundamentally I think it is quite remarkable the change that has taken place and we are seeing a similar impact through our courses in health services, teaching and business studies” he said.

However, for Mr Asimus the role of the university is much more than just providing professional education and training. 

“We are making a huge contribution to a whole range of research areas,” he said. “We started from zero as far as research is concerned and we have built up - not a large - but a significant research area where we have key people and we’re able to specialise.

“For example, our Centre for Applied Philosophy and Ethics based in Canberra in partnership with Melbourne University is doing marvellous work in a whole range of important social issues such as cloning and genetic engineering. World class research work is being done within our university and I find that is really putting us fair square with all universities in terms of internationally recognised research. We employ more philosophers than any other university in Australia which comes as quite a surprise,” he added.

“Other obvious research areas include agriculture where we are particularly strong. Our work in weed resistance to herbicide is critically important as is the sociological research on small towns and rural areas. Equally so is the environmental research into water, irrigation and the Murray Darling basin. We are even doing some wonderful work based on Montague Island with fairy penguins. There is such great diversity,” said Mr Asimus.

He firmly believes in the need to retain that research capacity saying that good teaching flourishes alongside research. “We have to develop an intellectual climate in our campuses by making sure we have a flow of visiting scholars who can contribute to the intellectual atmosphere which will continue to challenge our students,” he said.

Mr Asimus retires as Charles Sturt University Chancellor on Tuesday November 26 when he will chair his last University Council meeting at the Wagga Wagga Campus. He will be fondly farewelled around the region and across the University’s Campuses throughout November.