Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange will welcome 155 commencing students when Orientation Week (O Week) activities start on Tuesday 20 February.CSU Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Vann said, “The start of the new academic year at the University is always an exciting time, particularly with the arrival of new students on campus for Orientation Week activities, followed by the return of continuing students.“I welcome all new students, whether they are studying on campus or online. Charles Sturt University is committed to providing the best possible student experience, and sharing the University’s values so students become graduates who are insightful, inclusive, inspiring and who make a positive impact in their communities and professional disciplines.”Head of Campus at CSU in Orange, Dr Heather Robinson, very much looks forward to O Week.“It’s  a fun, happy and hectic time for all involved – new students, their parents and carers, and our staff – as there is much to learn as students consider their new lives in higher education,” Dr Robinson said.“For our new students, it is vital that they meet the people and find the resources that will make their studies at Charles Sturt University a success, while also enjoying a rewarding and eventful life, often in a new town.“In their time with us we hope students will adopt the Charles Sturt University ethos of Yindyamarra Winhanganha – the wisdom of respectfully knowing how to live well in a world worth living in.”Key points:Week activities at CSU in Orange commence with a Welcome Ceremony for students, their families and supporters at 10am on Tuesday 20 February in Templers Mill (building 1000).The Academic Procession into the venue is always a popular feature of this special occasion.The Mayor of Orange Councillor Reg Kidd will also extend a welcome to the students on behalf of the City of Orange. Past student Mr Joel Taylor will share some reflections and advice, and a Market Day on the library lawn will follow.Throughout the week students will attend meetings with course coordinators and lecturers, tours of the campus and facilities, and social activities.The 155 new on-campus students at CSU in Orange do not include online students. Across the University 2 785 new students in 2018 will study on campus. They join the more than 40 000 students who study at CSU, of which 21 per cent are international students from 120 countries studying on campus in Australia and overseas through partners or online.Session One classes for students studying on campus commence on Monday 26 February.

Twelve Year 9 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from Canobolas Rural Technology High School spent Monday 6 November at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Orange learning fun hands-on and engaging science experiments from CSU academic staff.The activity was part of the CSU Future Moves program to bring the National Indigenous Science Education Program (NISEP) to Canobolas Rural Technology High School and Glenroi Heights Public School.On Tuesday 7 November, the Canobolas High students took their new found knowledge and enthusiasm to their own school where they became the experts teaching 30 visiting Year 6 students from Glenroi Heights Public School.The two days provided the students with a memorable, exciting and interactive first-hand experience of science and career possibilities available with science while they explored ideas for their futures.Mrs Renae Symons, Future Moves school outreach officer for CSU in the central west, said, "This is a great opportunity for the Year 9 students to step up and show leadership skills, science knowledge. It was also a fantastic transition activity for the Year 6 students, given many will be attending Canobolas Rural Technology High School next year."Future Moves is a federally funded initiative, run through Charles Sturt University and aligned with the Australian Blueprint for Career Development.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) has recognised the contributions of the Indigenous and wider community in Bathurst to its law, justice and policing degrees during a ceremony in September.During a presentation to staff, community members, and Indigenous Elders, the Head of the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security and the Centre for Law and Justice, Associate Professor Nick O'Brien, presented awards for excellence in teaching, research, leadership, community engagement, and impact at CSU in Bathurst.Representing local Elders, Uncle Brian Grant (pictured left) and also known as 'Maliyan' (Eagle) in Wiradjuri, accepted the awards from Professor O'Brien."I've been with this program for two years," Uncle Brian said."It's an opportunity to work with Charles Sturt University students who are going to work for NSW Police and NSW Department of Community Services (DOCS)."We give them an Aboriginal community perspective, while we can also let them know about how we function as a community."I have worked for the police force and for DOCS, so I have a good background. I think students like to get that insider information, that bit of foresight of what they are going to encounter later in their careers."Both the students and we Elders benefit through our community involvement, so from our point of view, we want to continue the program."The Bathurst Wiradjuri Elders received their Teaching Excellence Award for their leadership and delivery of content to courses in the University's Centre for Law and Justice in Bathurst.Centre Director, Associate Professor Alison Gerard, regards the awards as a practical demonstration of the University's commitment to forging links with the local community and in recognising the teaching expertise of Indigenous Elders."We wanted our students to learn from the Aboriginal Elders in our community, to provide them with the experience needed to work effectively within communities in their chosen professions," Professor Gerard said."Hearing directly from the Elders helps students understand the richness and resilience of Indigenous knowledge. This can only strengthen the Charles Sturt University law and criminal justice degrees."

Paramedicine students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) will have the opportunity to demonstrate their skills in assessing and managing trauma patients during a practical exercise involving the State Emergency Service (SES) in Bathurst on Friday 29 September.The exercise, which runs from 11am to 1pm outside building 1455 on Ordnance Road, involves extricating several patients from a car following a simulated road traffic accident."This extrication exercise forms part of the simulated learning activities for first year paramedic students in fundamental subject in clinical practice," said CSU lecturer Ms Clare Sutton."This exercise provides an invaluable opportunity for the students to experience working alongside other emergency service operators as part of an interagency team."During the exercise, the students have to identify potential hazards on scene before assessing each of the casualties to determine which patients are a priority and then formulate an extraction plan based on those priorities.This information is conveyed to the SES Rescue team who will use various rescue techniques to extricate each of the patients according to individual clinical needs as identified by the student paramedics. "The exercise will give the students the opportunity to practice their skills of assessment and management when presented with multi-trauma casualties," Ms Sutton said."These will be vitally important skills for the students to master in preparation for their future role as a front line paramedic given the requirement to work collaboratively with colleagues from other emergency services in order to achieve the best outcome for the patient."We are very fortunate, in the paramedic team to have such a close working relationship with the local SES unit as this provides many fantastic opportunities for our students to experience working as part of an interagency team in high fidelity simulations."It's always a very popular day with the students as they all get a chance to experience some of the challenges involved with these type of incidents from both the paramedics' and patients' perspectives."The Bachelor of Paramedicine is available through the School of Biomedical Sciences at CSU in Bathurst and Port Macquarie and CSU online.

People living with disability are looking to higher education as a path to engaging with meaningful activity in their community, particularly in regional areas. But can our regional universities support these aspirations?Researchers from five universities including Charles Sturt University (CSU) are currently investigating the experiences of people with disability who aspire to complete a university course in regional Australia.The research team is now calling for people with disability in regional areas from Wangaratta in Victoria to Port Macquarie in NSW to share their experiences of higher education, particularly those:currently at high school in Years 10 and 11 and who are interested to go to university; and,mature aged people who  haven't been to university but are interested in study."We want to interview volunteers from regional communities to understand their perceptions of higher education. We are investigating the barriers for people with disability in undertaking a university course," said CSU researcher Dr Clare Wilding."The uptake of higher education by people with disability is lower in regional areas than for their city counterparts," Dr Wilding said."According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, people with disability are more likely to have lower levels of educational attainment. Furthermore, data from the bureau showed that there are more people aged 15 to 64 years living with disability in regional areas – around 18 per cent - than those living in major cities, which is 13 per cent. So we should see a higher proportion of students with disability from regional areas attending university.""However, only two per cent of people with disability living in Australia's regional or remote areas are currently studying in higher education, compared with four per cent in a major city."We want to find out why this pattern is happening, and how universities, governments and the community can address the problem," she said.As part of the project, the researchers have already surveyed and interviewed students with disability who are currently enrolled in regional universities."Through this research, we hope to improve access and participation in higher education by regional people with disability, particularly those from a low socio-economic background," Dr Wilding said.The upcoming round of interviews will be conducted using media to suit the volunteer participants: by telephone, instant messaging, Skype, email or face-to-face. People wishing to participate should contact Ms Kate Freire on (02) 6051 9355 or email kfreire@csu.edu.au.The researchers aim to complete and analyse the interviews before the end of 2017, and report final recommendations to the Federal Department of Education by the middle of 2018.

Strengthening Indigenous entrepreneurship and business know-how is the aim of the one-week program to be run from next Monday 28 August in Dubbo by Charles Sturt University (CSU).The Walan Mayinygu Indigenous Entrepreneurship Pop Up Hub project aims to strengthen Indigenous entrepreneurship in regional communities across NSW.The Dubbo hub is the first of four one-week programs to run in coming months.The program was developed by Associate Professor Michelle Evans to engage with and inspire Indigenous business people, as well as those thinking about going into business, by offering workshops, masterclasses, trade shows, networking events and opportunities for participants to pitch their business ideas.Professor Evans invites all Dubbo based businesses, and government agencies and non-government organisations wishing to work with Indigenous businesses, to various networking lunches and masterclasses being held between 1pm to 2pm from Monday 28 August to Thursday 1 September. Register here to attend these sessions.The first hub will be officially launched on Monday 28 August at the Dubbo Regional Theatre and Convention Centre."We have twelve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrepreneurs teaching and presenting at the Walan Mayingu Dubbo program alongside professors from Charles Sturt University and executive educators," Professor Evans said.For further information and to register participation in the Walan Mayinygu Indigenous Entrepreneurship Pop Up Hub, go to this site or the Walan Mayinygu Facebook site.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst will host its annual major event highlighting the Power of Engineering for young women interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as a future career.Located in the award-winning Engineering building and run by CSU Engineering, The Power of Engineering will welcome 250 female students from Years 8 to 10 in high schools across the NSW central west region this Thursday 10 and Friday 11 August.Lecturer in engineering, Dr Andrea Goncher, said the participants will see the opportunities that a career in engineering or science can offer over the two-day program."Last year's event was a runaway success, and we are looking forward to inspiring the next generation of women engineers for our region, Australia and the world," Dr Goncher said.The CSU engineering course has already been recognised globally, with one of its student teams winning the national Engineers Without Borders Challenge in 2016.In addition, CSU Engineering was also chosen this year by the renowned US-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology as the only Australian case study for a project highlighting the four most innovative courses in the world.The day-long program will provide real-world science and engineering problems for the students to solve while demonstrating the importance of collaborative work and human-centred design."One of the challenges of recruiting young women into engineering is helping them to see themselves as engineers," Dr Goncher said."By giving them real-world challenges to solve, and female engineer role models to guide them while they do so, we help these young women see that there is a future for them in a STEM career."The students are travelling from public and private high schools located in Blayney, Gilgandra, Mudgee, Orange and Oberon as well as Bathurst to take part in the program.

Organisations in the Orange region have been advised of the success of their applications for Charles Sturt University (CSU) Community-University Partnership (CUP) arts and education grants.The grants announcements are for the Rural and Regional Education Development Program and the Rural and Regional Arts and Culture Program.Head of Campus at CSU in Orange Dr Heather Robinson said, "The University's motto is 'For the public good', and the Community-University Partnerships program is just one of the ways that is demonstrated and gives expression to our ethos 'yindyamarra winhanganha', meaning 'the wisdom of respectfully knowing how to live well in a world worth living in'."The CUP grants aim to advance our mission by cultivating strong, relevant and collaborative partnerships with local communities, industry, government and employers."I congratulate the successful applicants in our region and wish them success with their projects."The CUP Rural and Regional Education Development Program is a small grant program (generally between $500 and $1 000) to assist primary and secondary schools, and not-for-profit early childhood centres in the University's regions to acquire equipment or consumables that assist students' learning and engagement in rural and regional areas. Successful applicants include:Canobolas Public School, Robotics Challenge Enhancement ($1 000)Under the banner of STEM education the aims of the continuing Robotics programs at Canobolas Public School are to provide the opportunities for Stage 3 students to develop and demonstrate confidence in making reasoned evidenced-based decisions.Forbes High School, 21st Century Technologies ($1 000)The purchase of SPHERO robots for use in curriculum delivery across three Key Learning Areas.Parkes High School, Dash and Dot Maker Space ($1 000)Purchase of two 'Dash and Dot Wonder Packs' for students to use in the new Maker Space in the library, to enable an engaging hands-on introduction to robotics, coding and problem-solving.Parkes East Public School, Effective Transition to School ($750)Equipment and resources to support a new program for parents and incoming students in transition to Kindergarten, with sessions for students, parents and both involving activities and workshops.The CUP Rural and Regional Arts and Culture Program is a small grants program (generally $500 to $1 000) to support regional arts and culture programs including artists-in-residence, art shows, musical education, talks and lectures, and related activities that encourage engagement by younger people in artistic endeavours. Four successful applicants each received $1 000:Rotary Club of Orange Inc., Creative poetry workshops in schoolsThe aim is to engage a professional poet to work with school students in Orange to teach them the skills to write poetry and to then present their poems at the 2018 Banjo Patterson Festival.Canowindra Arts Incorporated, Young Artist Development and ExhibitionThe aim is to create an annual program to engage local Canowindra and regional youth in creative painting, drawing and other selected arts through talks, practical workshops and exhibitions conducted by advanced, highly-talented regional artists.Cudal Public School Parents and Citizens Association, Community ProductionTo help fund the Cudal Public School's biennial theatrical performance involving all students in the school. The performance allows students to showcase their acting, dancing and singing abilities.Canowindra Public School Artists-in-ResidenceThis is a school-based community project which started in October 2016 with no funding by two local artists who currently work with a mixed-age group of children. The aim is to inspire children and teachers by providing a variety of ideas, techniques, and materials to develop enquiry and experimentation through process, and will also encourage other artists to be involved in the mentoring process.

Organisations in the Orange region have learned of their successful applications for Charles Sturt University (CSU) Community-University Partnership (CUP) grants.The grants announcements are for the Rural and Regional Education Development Program and the Rural and Regional Arts and Culture Program.Head of Campus at CSU in Orange Dr Heather Robinson said, "The University's motto is 'For the public good', and the Community-University Partnerships program is just one of the ways that is demonstrated and gives expression to our ethos 'yindyamarra winhanganha', meaning 'the wisdom of respectfully knowing how to live well in a world worth living in'."The CUP grants aim to advance our mission by cultivating strong, relevant and collaborative partnerships with local communities, industry, government and employers."I congratulate the successful applicants in our region and wish them success with their projects."The CUP Rural and Regional Education Development Program is a small grant program of between $500 and $1 000 to assist primary and secondary schools, and not-for-profit early childhood centres in the University's regions, to acquire equipment or consumables that assist students' learning and engagement in rural and regional areas. Successful applicants in include:Canobolas Public School, Robotics Challenge Enhancement ($1 000)Under the banner of STEM education, the aims of the continuing Robotics programs at Canobolas Public School are to provide the opportunities for Stage 3 students to develop and demonstrate confident decisions based on evidence.Forbes High School, 21st Century Technologies ($1 000)The purchase of SPHERO robots for use in curriculum delivery across three Key Learning Areas.Parkes High School, Dash and Dot Maker Space ($1 000)Purchase of two 'Dash and Dot Wonder Packs' for students to use in the new Maker Space in the library, to enable an engaging hands-on introduction to robotics, coding and problem-solving.Parkes East Public School, Effective Transition to School ($750)Equipment and resources to support a new program for parents and incoming students in transition to Kindergarten, with activities and workshops for students and parents.The CUP Rural and Regional Arts and Culture Program is a small grants program between $500 and $1 000 to support regional arts and culture programs including artists-in-residence, art shows, musical education, talks and lectures, and related activities that encourage engagement by younger people in artistic endeavours. Four successful applicants each received $1 000 in the current round:Rotary Club of Orange Inc., Creative poetry workshops in schoolsThe aim is to engage a professional poet to work with school students in Orange to teach them the skills to write poetry and to then present their poems at the 2018 Banjo Patterson Festival.Canowindra Arts Incorporated, Young Artist Development and ExhibitionThe aim is to create an annual program to engage local Canowindra and regional youth in creative painting, drawing and other selected arts through talks, practical workshops and exhibitions conducted by advanced, highly-talented regional artists.Cudal Public School Parents and Citizens Association, Community ProductionTo help fund the Cudal Public School's biennial theatrical performance involving all students in the school. The performance allows students to showcase their acting, dancing and singing abilities.Canowindra Public School Artists-in-ResidenceThis is a school-based community project which started in October 2016 with no funding by two local artists who currently work with children of mixed ages. The aim is to inspire children and teachers by providing a variety of ideas, techniques, and materials to develop enquiry and experimentation through process, and will also encourage other artists to be involved in the mentoring process.