Future health professionals will practise their skills using life-like dummies, monitored using computer technology, in simulation laboratories being set up in  Albury and Wodonga public hospitals. The project, which was possible due to funding made available by Health Workforce Australia, will help prepare doctors, nurses and allied health professionals for their chosen professions in rural and remote Australia by exposing them to ‘real life’ simulations monitored by some of the nation’s leading health educators, whether they be in regional or metropolitan areas. The local project is due to be completed by the middle of 2013. CSU’s cting Associate Dean in the Faculty of Science and project leader, Associate Professor Megan Smith, said simulations that replicate real scenarios have been found to provide valuable training while also increasing opportunities for clinical training. “Large simulation centres have been set up in metropolitan hospitals for many years, and we now have these educational opportunities available in regional Australia with these facilities,” she said.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Port Macquarie will lay out its plan for the future when it hosts representatives and guests of the Port Macquarie Chamber of Commerce for a networking function tonight Tuesday 27 December. Chamber President, Mr Hadyn Oriti, said,” The Chamber is delighted to work with Charles Sturt University and looks forward to supporting its further development.” Port Macquarie Campus Director, Dr Muyesser Durur, welcomed the Chamber’s support and said the University had big plans for its involvement in the region. “Come along and hear about how we operate with an environmental conscience and our commitment to the local area via a new campus, and expanded course range from 2013,” she said. “We are committed to sustainability and actively working to both reduce the impact of our operations on the environment and to act as a leader to students, staff and the wider community.” Guests will hear from Dr Durur and CSU Facilities Management Executive Director Mr Stephen Butt about the University’s sustainability targets, how those targets will be embedded in the proposed Lake Innes campus site and how local businesses can set their own sustainability targets.

Well known Australian poet, Mr Les Murray will launch the Booranga Writers’ Centre’s 23rd edition of fourW. The longrunning literary journal includes some of the best poetry and fiction from across the region, around Australia and from overseas. Produced out of the Booranga Writers’ Centre at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga, fourW twenty-three connects local and regional writers to more established and international writers. Recent writers-in-residence Jennifer Mills and Christopher ‘Kit’ Kelen join international voices such as Jane Joritz-Nakagawa and Lance Nizami, plus Australians Les Murray, Ivy Alvarez, Matt Hetherington and Brett Dionysius. Les Murray is the guest of Booranga Writers’ Centre and his visit is supported by the NSW Government through Arts NSW, Wagga Wagga City Council, and CSU.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Dubbo has invited the local community to an End of Year Celebration on Friday 7 December featuring a range of fun activities for all ages. CSU’s Indigenous Student Support Officer, Ms Sharon Lane, said the event was a way to make the end of a successful year for the University and community alike. “This is a get-together to show what we have on offer, talk about some of our successes and what we have done throughout the year,” she said. “It will be a nice opportunity to catch up with our community members before the Christmas period.” The day will feature stories of successful CSU students and projects and showcase what has been happening on campus this year. Award-winning artist Kodi Lane will be playing with his band, supported by local artist Tony Dess, and there will be a jumping castle and face painting for the kids and a free barbecue lunch. The End of Year Celebration will be held at CSU in Dubbo from 9.30am to 1pm.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) accounting student, Ms Divya Kumar, has had a local win in a national share trading competition organised by the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Ms Kumar, from Wagga Wagga, is completing the second year of a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) degree with a Distinction average. The game, the ‘Share Trading Competition’, required students to invest $50 000 of cyber money in any shares listed on the ASX. Ms Kumar’s strategy was to trade a well-balanced portfolio of about six stocks, making a ‘cyber profit’ of about $10 000 between July and November this year. She was named the top student competing against three other students at CSU in Wagga Wagga and 49 students across the University’s School of Accounting and Finance, qualifying for a ‘Gold’ award. Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Finance, Mr Chris Deeley, said the game integrated well with the finance subject. “It gives students realistic exposure to trading securities on the ASX and an opportunity to assess the relevance and reality of various share market and share trading theories, including technical trading, fundamental analysis and the efficient market hypothesis.” It is a sentiment shared by Ms Kumar who added, “The competition has taught me a lot about how share markets work. It has given me a lot of confidence in understanding how the real worlds of accounting and finance actually work.”

Thirteen Higher School Certificate (HSC) students have been handpicked to participate in a week-long program in the Riverina aimed at attracting more young people to primary industry careers such as aquaculture, ecology, horticulture, fisheries, water security, sustainability, climate change and the environment. Their selection to take part from Monday 19 November in the Industry Placement Scholarship Program run by the Primary Industry Centre for Science Education (PICSE) and Charles Sturt University (CSU) follows talks to schools in 2012 by the Centre’s science education officer, Ms Emma Wordsworth. “As they embark on their last year of school, the students will have an opportunity to explore the exciting science based careers available in the primary industry sector,” Ms Wordsworth said. The students have been selected from schools in the Riverina and South Australia. The program will see the group visit a local organic rice farm, cattle feedlot, rice mill, native fisheries and food processing plant. On Thursday 22 and Friday 23 November, the students will be involved in activities within the University’s School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences and School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, including lectures, practical activities, tours of facilities such veterinary science facilities and underground laboratory, the Rhizolysimeter. Read more about the PICSE Industry Placement Scholarship Program here.

The Equine Centre at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga will host the inaugural Supreme Performance Horse Sale from 1.30pm on Saturday 24 November. The sale, which is the first of its kind at CSU, will see 60 Australian working stock and quarter horses go under the hammer, with more than $300 000 expected to change hands. CSU Equine Centre Manager, Mr John Smart, said the auction by Landmark is expected to attract plenty of interest. “It’s the first time that buyers in the south of NSW will have an opportunity to attend an auction in their own backyard,” he said. “Most horse auctions take place in the state’s north, so this is quite a coup for vendors and the industry as a whole.” Sixty horses will make-up the inaugural sale with vendors coming from across NSW as well as Victoria. Local horse breeder and Supreme Performance Horse Sale Committee member, Mr Steve Condell, said the sale will offer some of the best bloodlines in the country. “This is the first time we’ve had the facilities available to offer top performance quality horses,” he said.

The high standard of services offered by the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Library to its users no matter where they live has been praised in a biennial survey conducted in September. The Library Client Survey 2012 attracted 3 844 respondents, with almost 54 per cent of the surveys completed by CSU distance education students. The Library’s Director of Client Services, Ms Alice Ferguson said, “In this latest survey, the Charles Sturt University Library has moved from the bottom 25 per cent of libraries in 2010 to the top 25 per cent for overall performance of Australian university libraries surveyed over the last two years. Our staff were highly commended in the survey for the standard of service they provide to our users.” During the last two years, CSU has established new Learning Commons in Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Orange and Wagga Wagga, and increased its use of social media through the Library. A part promoting the survey, cash prizes were offered to library users to participate in the evaluation. Two of the four winners, medical radiation science student Mr Thomas Belling and Master of Health Science Honours student Ms Di Wintle, were presented certificates by Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Vann at the Convention Centre at CSU in Wagga Wagga on Tuesday 6 November.

The Registered Training Organisation, CSU Training, will be celebrating the achievements of its 2012 graduates with a ceremony at the University’s Convention Centre in Wagga Wagga on Friday 23 November. Graduates include CSU staff and learners who have completed their studies by distance education. The majority of graduates due to attend the ceremony from 2pm to 4pm will be CSU staff members with business and management qualifications and members of the University’s asset maintenance staff with the Certificate III in Asset Maintenance. Other qualifications include: Certificate IV Frontline Management; Certificate IV Business Administration; Diploma of Management; Certificate IV in Training and Assessment; Graduate Diploma in Family Dispute Resolution; Certificate III Hospital-Health Services Pharmacy Support; and Certificate IV Hospital-Health Services Pharmacy Support. The guest speaker at the ceremony will be adjunct Associate Professor John Kent from the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga.