Defining the shape of practical and clinical education to help prepare the professionals of tomorrow was the subject of recent discussions for Charles Sturt University (CSU) staff. With 85 per cent of the University’s undergraduate courses including practicum or clinical requirements, CSU is a leader in providing practical professional education in Australia. Academic and general staff across CSU’s campuses discussed the possible shape of a proposed University-wide institute for clinical and practicum-based education. Speakers at the forum on the Albury-Wodonga Campus examined how the institute could support the administration and funding of clinical practice, internships and practicums as well as assisting research into practical education. The forum meeting was hosted by the CSU Professional Experience Network (PEN) and recommendations from the forum were forwarded to the University’s senior management.

Associate Professor Peter O'Meara has been nominated as an 'expert of international standing' by the Australian Research Council (ARC) College of Experts. He will now help assess Discovery Projects scheme proposals. Dr O’Meara describes the nomination as “a great vote of confidence. It’s an interesting educational process because we all put in applications and get reviews by anonymous reviewers. To be on the other side of the fence is good as you can become pretty sensitive about your applications when people don’t understand what you propose. It makes me want to respond in a responsible but sensitive way”. The ARC says its Expert Assessors of International Standing are chosen for specialist knowledge and high research reputation.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic hopes the latest research into the youth labour market will put to rest the mistaken belief that young Australians are prone to unemployment and there is a need for drastic action and policy change to avoid youth joblessness. Associate Professor Erica Smith from CSU’s Faculty of Education said a recent study released by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) challenges reports of a “crisis” in the youth labour market and supports her own national research conducted over the past eight years. “Young people are not deficient or victims when it comes to entering the labour market. My studies and now other national research shows that they can confidently navigate the transition from school to work,” said Professor Smith. “The risks of the myth that young people are disadvantaged when entering the job market from school is that the school curriculum is constantly being challenged and sometimes amended to mould young people when the changes are unnecessary,” said the vocational education and training specialist.

As Australia’s population ages, a Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic is warning that Australia is not ready or prepared for the impending changes. Rhonda Shaw from the CSU School of Social Sciences and Liberal Studies wants to establish a community-based group to think about what is happening in older people’s lives now and in the future. The Ageing Issues Interest Group (AIIG) would then identify these issues, and consider ways of preventing, or at least decreasing, the impact on older people’s lives. “They could be health, public transport or social isolation issues. A big problem with older people, especially those who live on their own, is malnutrition,” said the CSU associate lecturer. Ms Shaw is concentrating on the central western city of Bathurst, but says if the AIIG is successful, it could branch out into other areas. She is hoping that the Group will attract interest from those who work with the aged, researchers interested in ageing issues, aged carers, and of course, older people themselves.

English language teacher Shana Gelin has taken her Charles Sturt University (CSU) education to the Indonesian island of Sumatra where she is now Director of Studies at a private school in Jambi province. The CSU graduate teaches children as young as four, local doctors, school and university students, as well as environmentalists and lawyers working to preserve the jungles of Sumatra from illegal logging activities. “A lot of it is hard work but the return on that is working with really interesting people. If I didn’t have the TESOL Diploma, I wouldn’t have got this job,” said Ms Gelin. She began her two years of study for a graduate certificate, then a graduate diploma of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from CSU, while working in the impoverished public school system in South Africa. Living in mud huts with no running water or electricity her main focus was trying to get rid of corporal punishment in the schools. “I did see some change but it was slow and very hard work. It wasn’t just the school system and the living conditions but the impact of HIV/ Aids is horrifying," Ms Gelin said.

The Nine Television Network has requested its annual scholarship to a Charles Sturt University (CSU) communications student be renamed the Richard Carleton Memorial Scholarship. The veteran Nine Network journalist died while covering the rescue of the Beaconsfield gold miners in Tasmania. “One of the attributes that the School of Communication journalism course instils in its students is the need to ask the hard questions and to probe beyond the obvious facts of news,” said the Head of the CSU School of Communication, Associate Professor Tom Watson. “Richard Carleton was a master of this skill and unlocked many major stories, so the School welcomes the decision by Channel Nine to rename its scholarship for journalism students after one of Australia’s leading investigative journalists. It further cements a long and very productive relationship between Channel Nine and the School of Communication,” Associate Professor Watson said.  

A senior NSW ambulance officer and a member of the Beaconsfield rescue team believes an “amazing strength of mind” help keep the two trapped gold miners alive for a fortnight, almost one kilometre underground. Dominic Morgan, a Superintendent with the Ambulance Service of NSW, was one of six members of the Service’s Special Casualty Access Team (SCAT) to work in the large rescue effort in Tasmania’s northeast. Working in 12 hour shifts with his SCAT colleagues, the Charles Sturt University (CSU) graduate was mainly responsible for maintaining the mental health of Todd Russell and Brant Webb. Communicating through an 87 millimetre PVC pipe, Superintendent Morgan said his team had to “buoy their spirits” and keep the miners “relaxed and confident as possible”. He said the mine rescue posed a “whole new set of challenges” from normal paramedic work due to its sustained nature. The ambulance officer reflected that the two trapped miners showed how “strong the human mind can be” and displayed “incredible support for each other”.  CSU was the first university to offer pre-hospital care education in Australia with graduates employed as ambulance officers in paramedic and emergency care settings in Australia and overseas.  

An event that transformed the portrayal of Bali in Australia as a holiday island of paradise, peace, art and culture to a place of violence and tragedy has been transported to the stage. The Charles Sturt University (CSU) theatre production A Terrible Beauty has been written by tutor in the CSU School of Communications, Ray Harding. He is a former Home and Away script producer and has had plays in London’s West End. Ray Harding says A Terrible Beauty will challenge audiences to examine the impact of westernisation on the social and cultural complexities of Balinese life. He makes no apologies for the confrontational subject matter. "This is the primary role of theatre, to challenge and provoke,” said Ray Harding. The production A Terrible Beauty is designed by and stars students from CSU’s theatre media course in Bathurst.

An advocate for diversity and greater cultural understanding in international public relations has commenced a month long visit to Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) leading School of Communications in Bathurst. Hailed as one of the world’s leading public relations academics, Dr Krishnamurthy Sriramesh, is an Associate Professor from Singapore’s Nanyang Technology University and is co-author of the “must-read” for PR practitioners, The Global Public Relations Handbook. The National Communication Association in the United States awarded the text its PRIDE award in 2003 for best public relations book. Professor Krishnamurthy Sriramesh has also worked at universities in the USA (Maryland, Purdue and Florida) and as a public relations practitioner in India. In 2004, he received the Pathfinder Award from the Institute for Public Relations in the USA. “We are delighted that such a prestigious voice in international public relations will share his well researched knowledge and experience throughout the CSU School of Communications,” said Head of School Associate Professor Tom Watson.