Charles Sturt University (CSU) journalism graduate, Courtney Trenwith has won the Minister’s Award for Excellence at the Australian Council of Deans of Education (ACDE) Excellence in Education Journalism Awards. Ms Trenwith received $3 000, as well as high praise for her work. Chair of the ACDE, CSU’s Associate Professor Jo-anne Reid, said Ms Trenwith’s submission was “absolutely outstanding. I was especially impressed that Courtney looked at the human side of education, not just the big issues”. Ms Trenwith says she arrived at the Awards ceremony in Canberra expecting to receive the News category, and was stunned to receive the overall excellence award. She says she loves her work at the Illawarra Mercury newspaper, saying “education was the only round I ever wanted to do”.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is expanding the number of student Accommodation Residences as a major initiative in response to demand from prospective students and their families. CSU’s acting Executive Director of Student Services, Andrew Callander said the University is planning to substantially increase the number of beds available for students and to increase the variety and type of accommodation available. Initially CSU will add around 170 beds by 2009 on all its major campuses: Albury-Wodonga Campus: 48 new beds to come onto the Thurgoona site; Bathurst Campus: Four eight-bed cottages to open by February 2007; Dubbo Campus: Fully commissioning of new student accommodation totalling 62 places; Orange Campus: Converted cottages for 20 students on the CSU Orange Campus; Wagga Wagga Campus: Two eight-bed cottages to come on stream by February each year from 2007 to 2009. A 20-bed complex using funds from a bequest to the University will be built in 2007. “We are also planning for a large scale project to add 600 new beds to meet increasing demand for on-campus accommodation on our Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst and Wagga Wagga campuses,” Mr Callander said. The project will expand the range of accommodation offered and take the total beds available for students on campus at CSU to around 3 000.

A forum hosted by Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange will review Australia’s position within the Asian trade arena, especially Japan and China. Expert speakers, including keynote speaker and Australia’s Japanese Consul General Tsukasa Kawada, will provide up-to-date assessments of economic developments and trade opportunities in Asia. Head of CSU Orange Campus, Professor Kevin Parton, believes the forum encapsulates the University’s strong relationship with Asia. “The Asia Today forum highlights our continuing research and tour visits to Asia and provides a great opportunity for companies and entrepreneurs to review Australia’s trade performance with Asia with the intention of trading with the region.” Issues to be covered will range from a consideration of the general growth prospects in Japan and China through to detailed case studies on how to get started in exporting. The Asia Today forum runs from 9am to 2pm on Friday 22 September. The Orange forum complements an international academic business conference also hosted by CSU that focuses on trade with China, being held on 21 and 22 September in the NSW Blue Mountains > see more.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) has acknowledged the important contribution made to its establishment by Sir Charles Cutler who has died aged 88. Sir Charles was the leader of the NSW Country Party (now the NSW Nationals) from 1959 to 1975 and Deputy Premier in the government of Sir Robert Askin from 1965 to 1975. In his role as MLA for Orange (1947-75) and as Minister for Education and Science (1965-72), he was instrumental in the setting up of Mitchell College of Advanced Education (MCAE), which eventually became the Bathurst Campus of Charles Sturt University. CSU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Goulter expressed condolences on behalf of the University. “Sir Charles made an enormous contribution to education in New South Wales, not least as the Minister who oversaw the foundation and early growth of MCAE.” Sir Charles was born at Forbes in 1918, served in World War II and was elected to the NSW Parliament in 1947.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Information Technology is collaborating with Hornsby TAFE College in Sydney to develop a two-year Games Diploma course. Hornsby TAFE Head Teacher Greg Higgs said during a recent “cultural exchange” four Hornsby staff travelled with a dozen students to CSU Bathurst Campus, where students from both institutions indulged in pizza and held a “computer games fest while we sat down with CSU staff to talk about credit transfer.” Exchange organiser Errol Chopping, a CSU lecturer in Computer Science, says a credit transfer package is underway. “It looks like they would get credit for three to four subjects in our Computer Science (Games Technology) degree and similar standing in our Computer Science degree. We in turn get interest from potential students and an awareness in the Hornsby region of what we do. It was positive in all respects.” Greg Higgs agrees. “Our students got a first hand look at CSU and the facilities there and they were thrilled to know they had fellow students across the ‘sandstone curtain’”, he said. “It was also really supportive for the staff. When you have common goals and common interests it leads to an intellectual and technical exchange.”

Two Charles Sturt University (CSU) postgraduate information technology (IT) students have won scholarships from the Australian Computer Society (ACS) Foundation. At a presentation ceremony in Sydney today (Thursday 27 September) NSW Minister for Small Business, The Hon. David Campbell, said the scholarships represent an investment in NSW’s future skills base in information and communication technology. Joanne Hyde from Sydney and Douglas Parson from Canberra, ACT, work in IT businesses. The ACS Foundation has raised $8 million over five years towards 550 scholarships for NSW students.

Matthew Pitcher, a fourth year Pharmacy student at Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Wagga Wagga Campus, has taken out the NSW finals of Pharmacy Student of the Year. The competition, run by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, recognises outstanding pharmacy students. Matthew says the emphasis is on communication and counselling skills. “It’s about telling the customer exactly how to use a drug and what to look out for. This competition is trying to encourage best practice and at CSU they teach you to put best practice into place.” Head of the University’s School of Biomedical Sciences, Associate Professor Lyn Angel, says this is a very exciting outcome for CSU pharmacy. “In general it is a reflection of the calibre of our students and the quality of the academic staff who have put in the time and effort. They are passionate about their pharmacy profession”. Matthew will compete for the national title early next month. “The final will be a massive challenge. I'm expecting the calibre of the other state finalists to be of an exceptional standard. It will be difficult, but I'll give it my best shot."

Bathurst will once again be “humming” this week to the sound of V8 Supercars. Tomorrow, Wednesday 4 October, two of the official Fujitsu V8 Supercar Championship drivers, David Clark from Optima Sport, and Michael Caruso from Decina Racing, will drive simulated laps of Mount Panorama in the computer games laboratory which is part of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Information Technology. Paull Young from BAM Media, which looks after several V8 Supercar teams said it is like the real thing. “Michael hasn’t driven at Bathurst before, and David hasn’t driven a V8 Supercar around Mount Panorama, so their first experience of the Bathurst track will be in the computer lab.” As well, CSU lecturer in Computer Science Errol Chopping, says the computer games lab is well fitted out with enhanced graphics PCs, game consoles, a large fixed silver projection screen, high powered projectors, audio systems, joysticks and steering wheels. “The lab is used to research feedback which the user gets through feel, touch and motion, rather than eyes and ears. For example, we are hoping to mirror an experiment that was done in the United States about untrained pilots flying into cloud. They have a life span of about 147 seconds because they lose spatial orientation and they don’t believe their instruments. They go into graveyard spins and spiral dives because they have no feedback from their eyes.”

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is continuing to expand its international links with the latest Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signings in Switzerland. Berne University of Applied Sciences (USAB) has strong similarities with CSU, according to Associate Professor Greg Walker, Head of CSU’s School of Marketing and Management. “Like us, USAB was formed out of a group of regional colleges of higher education and has the largest number of postgraduate students in Switzerland. It is this type of collorative and exchange agreement that strengthens an already robust relationship between senior CSU staff in the University’s Faculty of Commerce and UASB’s Management School,” says Associate Professor Walker. The relationship has already provided for enrolment of UASB students in CSU’s Doctor of Business Administration program, while CSU’s Master of Business Administration is now linked with UASB study tour programs in Europe and China. “The study tours enable CSU students to visit some of Europe's leading companies and provide a rich learning experience for students. There are also provisions for CSU and UASB staff to have extended working visits at our respective institutions.”