Four Charles Sturt University (CSU) students from the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences have returned with a wealth of experience after a three week visit to Pakistan where they worked with dairy farmers to improve the nutrition and health of their animals. A highlight for the CSU students Ms Amanda-Lee Charman, Mr Rhys Duncan, Ms Emma Hand and Mr Shahid Khalfan was conducting a seminar for 40 Pakistani students on topics including calf management, animal nutrition and health and fodder production. “The visit broke through new frontiers as the CSU students introduced new concepts in learning,” said CSU’s Professor Peter Wynn, who is leading an Australian project to assist Pakistani dairy farmers. “Our host, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Veterinary and Animal Science in the city of Lahore was very interested with the students’ approach to the seminars and he hoped that his University would be able to adopt similar ‘problem solving’ teaching techniques.”

Two species of parasitic wasps, identified in southern NSW during on-going research at Charles Sturt University (CSU), could unlock new ways to fight fruit fly in Australia. PhD student Mrs Jennifer Spinner has been collecting fruit ‘stung’ by fruit fly in home gardens during the fruit fly season (October to May) in Albury, Cootamundra, Ganmain, Gundagai, Lake Cargelligo, Lockhart and Wagga Wagga. The fruit has been held in a laboratory at CSU at Wagga Wagga in a controlled temperature environment until adult fruit fly or parasitic wasps emerge. “I am examining whether the wasps are present in inland NSW and whether large releases of the wasps could be used for the biological control of fruit fly,” said Mrs Spinner. The female wasp lays her eggs inside the fruit fly larvae, which hatch and feed on the fruit fly larvae, ultimately killing the pest. In 2009, the PhD student will travel to Guatemala, Hawaii and Mexico where releases of parasitoids have improved the management of fruit fly.

Ahead of the official start of the academic year on Monday 23 February, students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) have raised almost $3 000 for the Victorian bushfire appeal. Ninety Residential Student Advisors from CSU at Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange and Wagga Wagga collected $2 883.70 for the Australian Red Cross appeal during training at the University this week. The money was raised when a ransom was paid by the student leaders for the return of props used during the training. The Residential Student Advisors were undertaking training as part of CSU’s Residential Support Scheme. “This initiative is a credit to these students from across CSU’s campuses. It exemplifies the widespread commitment to assisting Victorians after the great loss of life and property,” said Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Lyn Gorman. Meanwhile, the Dean of the Faculty of Business, Professor John Hicks, has agreed to contribute $1 to the Red Cross appeal for every dollar donated by a Faculty of Business student up to $1 000. As other individual and group staff and student fundraising efforts get underway, the University cashiers’ offices on each campus are now donation points for the Australian Red Cross appeal. CSU is also offering its support to students affected by the Victorian bushfires. See here.            

The Consul General of Timor-Leste in Australia, Mr Abel Guterres, visited Charles Sturt University at Bathurst recently to discuss plans for the coming visit to the University by His Excellency the President of Timor-Leste, Dr José Ramos-Horta. Head of Campus at CSU Bathurst, Mr Col Sharp, said that Mr Guterres met CSU officials to consider details for Dr Ramos-Horta’s delivery of the 2009 Charles Sturt Oration on Saturday 14 February as the inaugural event of the 20th anniversary year of celebrations at CSU. “We are very excited to have such a distinguished guest as Dr Ramos-Horta visit the University,” Mr Sharp said. “Discussions with Mr Guterres also extended to whether and how the University might be able to assist the development of Timor-Leste by providing courses, training, scholarships and the exchange of academics.”

As Australia looks at international experience, including those of Norway, in the formation of a new Indigenous representative body in 2009, a leading Sami academic included a trip to Charles Sturt University (CSU) at Wagga Wagga on her recent visit to the country. In Australia to attend the triennial World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference on Education in Melbourne, Associate Professor Asta Balto, from Norway, travelled to CSU to discuss Indigenous education. The Sami people are Indigenous to the northern parts of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia. With a lengthy involvement in Sami education, Asta Balto is currently Associate Professor in Pedagogy at the Sámi University College in Guovdageaidnu, Norway and was recently engaged to help develop the Sami perspective in teacher education in Sweden. While at CSU, Associate Professor Balto met with Mr John Muk Muk Burke, a Wiradjuri man and one of the University’s Indigenous Learning Skills Advisors “It was a privilege to be able to talk first hand with a Sami woman about her people’s struggle for representation, particularly as Australia looks at models for an Indigenous representative body,” said Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at CSU, Dr Mary O’Dowd, who accompanied Associate Professor Balto in Australia. “Clearly the Sami Parliament would be one very relevant model. Asta was also very interested in our research at Charles Sturt University on ‘whiteness’ as it is integral to our shared nations’ understandings of how to achieve social justice for Indigenous people in Australia.”

It is pure coincidence that two photography students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) selected the same subject for their short-listed entries in the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2009. Students Ms Kate Lewis and Mr Matt Regan, both from Wagga Wagga, have been named as finalists in the National Photographic Portrait Prize. The photographs, ‘Philip’ and ‘Treaties for Mad Men Only’ will next year hang in the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra. “It was a pure coincidence that both photographs feature the same subject, Kate’s father Philip Lewis,” said Bachelor of Arts (Photography) Course Coordinator, Mr James Holcombe. “Matt saw Kate’s father at the gym and thought he would make a great subject, so asked him to pose quite independently of knowing Kate.” The two photographs can be seen in the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery until Sunday 11 January 2009 as part of Solo, a graduation exhibition by CSU photography students. “The selection of these two works to hang in the National Portrait Gallery is a huge achievement for the students, as they competed against seasoned professionals to join the other finalists,” said Mr Holcombe. Ms Lewis and Mr Regan are among the first group of students to complete the photography course through the School of Visual and Performing Arts at CSU at Wagga Wagga.

The Austrade Export Award for the best international marketing plan by a student enrolled at a NSW-based university has been won by Ms Michelle Hasler, a Charles Sturt University (CSU) distance education student enrolled in a Bachelor of Business (Marketing). Lecturer at CSU’s School of Marketing and Management Ms Katherine Attree said, “The preparation of an international marketing plan is a requirement for the compulsory subject International Marketing in the Bachelor of Business (Marketing). Michelle undertook an enormous amount of research and prepared a very comprehensive and detailed plan that analysed the viability of entry into the New Zealand marketplace as a first international venture for a small South Australian company, Wellness & Lifestyle, which operates in the allied health industry. She thoroughly deserves the $500 award for a NSW student entry.” Ms Hasler said, “I found the process very challenging and a very valuable learning experience.”

The appointment of receivers to manage the private childcare operator ABC Learning Centres represents a prime opportunity for the Rudd government to make right the mistakes of the past, according to a Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic. The childcare operator yesterday went into voluntary administration with the receivers assuring parents that the centres will remain open. “Many early childhood experts had expressed concern about the growing monopoly of ABC, particularly in regional areas,” said Senior Lecturer with the CSU School of Teacher Education Ms Fran Press. “The Commonwealth should show leadership by brokering a deal between the three levels of government and the community sector to ensure the survival of childcare places. Not only would this ensure the retention of much needed childcare places, it would put them in a good position to work toward the fulfilment of election promises concerning the provision of early childhood education.” The fact ABC currently has about 30 per cent of long day care places in Australia is unusual. “No other country entrusts so much childcare to just one provider,” said Ms Press.

For NSW senior high school students, the Higher School Certificate is the ultimate challenge and when competing against thousands of other students for limited university places, the more resources they can access the better. In the past, the Internet has not been seen as a consistently credible source of information for materials, but now teachers are encouraging students to get extra help online. In 2007, the Charles Sturt University (CSU) hosted website NSW HSC Online delivered 13 million pages to users, offering information to students, teachers and parents, with 2008 figures indicating even higher access, despite slightly fewer HSC enrolments. CSU lecturer and NSW HSC Online project coordinator Mr Bob Dengate believes that students and teachers benefit greatly from the site. "With material for 48 HSC subjects, supplemented by advice on study strategies and the availability of past examination papers and markers' comments, figures for this month are expected to approach two million pages."