Academic cooperation between Charles Sturt University (CSU) and a university in southern Taiwan has been formalised by the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The document was signed by CSU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Goulter and President of the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Professor Chang-Hung Chou. While links have already been established in the areas of plant protection and equine studies, the academic cooperation between the institutions could include joint research programs, exchange of academic staff and students or the organisation of joint activities such as courses, conferences, seminars or lectures. The MOU was signed during a visit in late August to CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus by Professor Chou.

The pathology of the world’s most important agricultural crop, rice, is the subject of a new international research project in Cambodia. Researchers from the E H Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation in Wagga Wagga and the Cambodian Agricultural and Development Research Institute (CARDI) are involved in a three year project in the South East Asian nation. Funded by the Australian Centre for Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the research will develop Cambodia’s expertise in rice pathology while Australia will secure a better understanding of exotic rice diseases which cannot be studied at home due to quarantine regulations. “With both E H Graham and CARDI committed to achieving sustainable agriculture, this project demonstrates the possibilities for international collaboration,” said E H Graham Centre Director Professor Deirdre Lemerle. The E H Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation is a joint research venture between Charles Sturt University and the NSW Department of Primary Industries.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will launch a new comprehensive leadership development program for women staff this Monday 6 February. Australian universities record low numbers of women in senior management positions, with national figures showing just 11 per cent of women hold professorial positions. The CSU Leadership Development for Women Program will run throughout 2006 and commences with a week of activities being held from Monday 6 February to Friday 10 February. Guest speakers who will give presentations on their experience of moving into leadership positions include:  Dr Jeane McConachie, Director Division of Teaching and Learning Services, Central Queensland University; Ms Sarah Davies, Vice-President Student Affairs, Swinburne University; and Professor Margaret Sheil, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) at University of Wollongong. Associate Professor Marian Tulloch, Director CSU's Centre for Enhancing, Learning and Teaching or CELT will officially launch the program at 2 pm Monday 6 February in the Foundation Rooms, Centre for Professional Development on CSU’s Bathurst Campus.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is welcoming new students for the start of the 2006 academic year. For many, it will be their first move away from home. Students from around Australia and overseas are arriving at CSU campuses in Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange and Wagga Wagga in central and southern NSW. Orientation week (O Week) starts on Monday 13 or Tuesday 14 February for most of the new arrivals, and will include intensive sessions on enrolments, study skills and using the CSU Library and computer facilities, as well as getting to know the University, its people and the towns in which they will live. Click here to see O Week programs for each campus.

Health and education courses are a popular choice for commencing Charles Sturt University (CSU) students in 2006, according to the latest figures from the NSW Universities Admissions Centre.  “CSU continues to take large numbers of students into education courses. Intakes into health courses are up about a hundred up on last year – graduates in both areas provide direct benefit to rural and regional NSW,” said Director of CSU’s Office of Planning and Audit, Col Sharp.  High profile courses in which entry was particularly competitive include veterinary science and pharmacy at Wagga Wagga Campus.  “The health courses proved particularly strong at Wagga Wagga medical imaging, nursing and pharmacy are real strengths, but the primary education, agriculture and medical science areas also enrolled large numbers of students,” Mr Sharp said.

An outreach program run by Charles Sturt University (CSU) for Indigenous recruits will be proposed by NSW Police. This follows a recommendation from the NSW Ombudsman’s report into Aboriginal policing throughout rural NSW. The proposal has enthusiastic support from the Goulburn Police College as well as significant support from within the Aboriginal community. Regional Commander for the Western Region based at Dubbo, Steve Bradshaw, says Indigenous recruits often find it difficult training at Goulburn because they are so far away from their homes in western NSW. “The recommendation by the Ombudsman suggests that we do some of the police training in an institute close to where the Aboriginal communities are. CSU currently has the contract to conduct police training, and has a campus at Dubbo in the NSW central west, so it seems obvious to approach CSU to develop an outreach program. It has my total support,” he said. CSU Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) Professor Ross Chambers says the University welcomes the proposal. “We look forward to working with NSW Police to strengthen Indigenous recruitment,” he said.

“Lazarus with a triple bypass”. The year was 1989, and John Howard had just lost the Opposition leadership. One reporter at the media conference asked him if he felt like a “political corpse”, another if he thought he could ever regain the leadership. How did John Howard go from that moment in political time, to today marking his tenth year in office with four straight election wins, making him Australia’s second-longest serving Prime Minister? Dr Wayne Errington (left), Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences and Liberal Studies at Charles Sturt University (CSU) is currently writing a biography about John Howard, and will present a paper to a weekend conference looking at Mr Howard’s skill as a politician and his refusal to succumb to political rejection. “He’s grown as a politician, he’s a much more calm person than he was 10 or 15 years ago, he’s much more measured in his policies, he’s prepared to compromise to get things through the senate or to mollify public opinion, and that’s a recipe for a much more successful conservative politician.” Dr Errington’s paper also examines all the elements that have led to John Howard’s remarkable four election wins.

The story of two women living on "a knife's edge" in the Villawood Detention Centre has won an inaugural international broadcasting award for former Charles Sturt University (CSU) student Kirsti Melville. The Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA) Amnesty International Award for Human Rights Programme was presented to Ms Melville by Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International at a ceremony in New Delhi. The Radio National documentary is described as "the human story behind the federal government's stance on deporting long-term visa overstayers". Ms Melville, a 1994 graduate with a BA Communication (Broadcast Journalism), says it was a compelling program "because their stories were equally moving and powerful as those of refugees, but they are voices you don't hear very often. I think it was one of the first times I felt like I had had a little bit of an impact. You become very aware of your responsibilities as a journalist and to the people involved." The news that she won came as a surprise, "I was completely gob smacked, and on top of that to find out I was going to India in two weeks to accept the Award was mind-blowing." Kirsti's next documentary is about ageing Holocaust survivors in nursing homes in Sydney.

“Accept our differences, celebrate our similarities” is the theme for Harmony Day to be celebrated next Tuesday 21 March on Bathurst and Wagga Wagga campuses. Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) students and staff will celebrate the national event, which coincides with the United Nations Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. “It’s an opportunity for all Australians to get to know each other better, share our culture and say ‘no’ to racism,” said CSU Student Community Coordinator Monique Cummins. Special activities will be accompanied by free ribbons, stickers and postcards that celebrate the cultural diversity of students and staff at CSU.