Graduating Rural Management students at Charles Sturt University (CSU) will be “job ready” according to industry representatives who recently interviewed the students as part of their final assessment. Final year students at the University’s Orange Campus have completed interview sessions with industry leaders and presented portfolios demonstrating their work and capabilities. “We had 15 local industry representatives volunteer their time to give feedback to our final year students on their portfolios and interview techniques,” says Mrs Zelma Bone, Bachelor of Management course coordinator. “Disciplined knowledge and high level skills are what every graduate should have and what employers are looking for,” said Mrs Bone. “Our graduates have always been in high demand but these techniques ensure they are ready to enter the work force and are quickly employed.” Mr John Chilcott, senior manager at the Manildra Flour Mills, said the students he interviewed were ready to apply for positions. “The great thing about this type of preparation for job applications is that when it comes to recruiting, it sorts the wheat from the chaff.”

The Politics of Water - What Are the Real Issues? is the topic of a Politics in the Pub discussion by Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Professor Shahbaz Khan in Sydney on Friday 10 November. Internationally regarded for his work in hydrology and water management, Professor Khan joined the University in the middle of 2004 when CSIRO Land and Water and CSU jointly funded the position of Professor of Hydrology to head up work in the critical research areas of land and water management. Having worked on nearly every continent of the world, particularly in developing nations, Professor Khan is the Regional Coordinator for UNESCO’s International Hydrology Program, HELP (Hydrology Environment, Life and Policy), based at CSU. Politics in the Pub started in the Harold Park Hotel in inner-city Glebe in 1988 and forums are held at 6pm each Friday in the Gaelic Club, Devonshire Street, Surrey Hills.

Colourful elements of Indigenous Australian culture will be presented to school students from the Border region when they visit an education day hosted by Charels Sturt Universty’s (CSU) early childhood education students on Thursday 9 November. The University students, directed by CSU academic and Wirradjuri elder Yalmambirra, will lead small groups that explore various aspects of Indigenous culture including boomerang throwing, bush tucker, face painting, dance and storytelling, and be assessed as part of their teaching degree course. “The day long event is an important educational experience for CSU students and around 400 primary primary school pupils that will visit during the day,” said Yalmambira. The event will be held at the Mirrambeena community centre at Lavington, between 9am and 2.30pm.

A Valedictory Service this Friday 10 November in Canberra will see Charles Sturt University (CSU) strengthen and renew the existing partnership with St Mark’s. Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) of CSU, Professor Ross Chambers says the signing of the renewed CSU/St Mark’s Agreement will further enhance a relationship that has “has proven robust, sustainable and effective for both parties. It is the basis of the excellent performance, academically, of CSU’s School of Theology”. The Valedictory Service will recognise the Reverend Dr Stephen Pickard’s leadership and welcome his successor as Director of St Mark’s National Theological Centre. The Right Reverend George Browning, President of St Mark’s Council, announced the appointment of The Right Reverend Dr Thomas Frame as Director of St Mark’s National Theological Centre last week. The appointment follows the resignation of Dr Pickard to take up an appointment as Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Adelaide.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Equine Business Management might sound like all course work and no horseplay, but lecturer Amanda Warren-Smith says this is far from the case. Students regularly take part in competitions, especially one day eventing (ODE). Most recently, a ODE was held at the University’s Orange Campus on Sunday 29 October. Organised and conducted by all first year students of the Equine Business Management course, the day catered for riders who are just starting out in eventing through to those who are about to take the step into the international level of competition. Ms Warren-Smith says it is a very demanding sport comparable with a human triathlon. “The horse needs to be flexible and in-tune to the rider for dressage, have the speed and endurance necessary for cross country, and then be agile and controlled enough to complete a successful showjumping round.” CSU’s next horse competition will be held in March 2007.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) Health and Safety in Early Childhood Settings students will once again be holding their annual Health and Wellbeing Expos, this year at Kelso Public School as well as a local shopping centre in Dubbo. Lynda Ireland, a lecturer in CSU’s School of Teacher Education, says the expos are about “trying to encourage early childhood professionals students to see there is a connection between community health and early childhood education. It is really nice to show that the University is out there interacting with the community. The students get a real buzz from the response that they get to their health topics”. She says the topics include “asthma, road safety, sun safety, emotional wellbeing, caring for babies, water safety, farm safety, allergies, anaphylaxis, things that are relevant to the children.”

The Charles Sturt University (CSU) Faculty of Business will present a $1 000 prize to All Saints College, Bathurst, on Tuesday 16 October, as the central west region winners of the Game On business studies simulation competition for senior students. Associate Professor Mark Frost, Head of the Charles Sturt University (CSU) School of Management and Marketing will present the cheque to the school’s winning team, ‘BeeJay Elite Motors’, which consisted of three Year 11 students - Doug Morgan Thomas, Brad Brown, and Jack Ison. “The CSU business simulation is designed to assist HSC students undertake their business-related studies by providing a competitive and real life scenario that reflects what many of today's businesses encounter,” Professor Frost said. “Students had to make decisions on the range of issues that impacted their business performance and against other businesses in the simulation. The activities were designed to be ‘real life’ as much as possible as this enhances the student learning experience, which is a key part of the CSU business teaching strategy.”

Parents, teachers and others who work with children in a variety of settings are invited to hear about the latest research at an information day at the Research in Early Childhood Conference 2006 to be held in Dubbo tomorrow (Friday 10 November) at Charles Sturt University (CSU).   Presented by CSU Dubbo 3rd Year Early Childhood students and Early Childhood Australia Inc NSW Central Far West Regional Group (ECA), the conference will feature research from “nationally-known speakers who are very well known in the field,” according to Laura McFarland, a lecturer with the School of Teacher Education.   “Margaret Young, National President of ECA, and Judy Kynaston, Executive Director of the Country Children's Services Association of NSW, will both be talking about current trends in Early Childhood.”   Ms McFarland says student’s research topics include “a series of interviews with teachers in the field about their behaviour management techniques and what is successful, another group looked at fertility choices of university students and non university students, another was about food choices of parents and children, and also how parents decide on when to send their children to kindergarten.”   The Dubbo community and local media are welcome to attend the conference. “The student research projects are applicable to parents, teachers as well as the community in general.”   Media note: Media are invited to attend the conference. For interviews, contact CSU Media.

An experienced education manager has been appointed the inaugural manager of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Wangaratta Study Centre. Ms Robyn Farley, who has lived on a small mixed farm near Chesney Vale since 2001, has previously worked for the University of Wollongong and Goulburn Ovens TAFE (GOTAFE) and has postgraduate qualifications in applied science and in education. "I believe it is vital that we enhance opportunities for regional students to undertake quality tertiary education studies locally, and that this can be done through educational partnerships such as the one recently formed between Charles Sturt University and GOTAFE in Wangaratta,” Ms Farley said.  The Wangaratta Study Centre will offer CSU degrees in agriculture and agricultural business management from 2013 to vocational education and training diploma holders who have completed appropriate courses. “We are looking to offer other higher education programs at Wangaratta in coming years, including nursing from 2014,” Ms Farley said.