Through a new initiative between Charles Sturt University (CSU) and higher education partners, TAFE graduates have secured scholarships to help them begin study at CSU. Ms Gemma Paul from TAFE NSW Riverina Institute in Wagga Wagga commenced a degree in accounting after completing an Advanced Diploma in Accountancy at Riverina Institute. “Receiving the scholarship is a huge relief as my course requires many books that are quite expensive. University will be an exciting experience for me and this scholarship will keep me motivated and focused,” she said. Ms Paul is one of 10 former TAFE students to win scholarships in 2010 provided by the University through the CSU University Pathways Scholarship, which in partnership with Riverina Institute, Canberra Institute of Technology and TAFE Western.  Riverina Institute’s acting Institute Director, Mr Graeme Stutchbery said, “We are thrilled to be able to offer our students such a brilliant learning pathway.  This partnership is about ensuring students from throughout the Riverina have access to further study and a career of their choice.” CSU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Ross Chambers said the program is part of the University’s ongoing commitment to create strong education pathways and collaboration from TAFE to University in its regions.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will recognise academic excellence among its graduating students and the wider community at the CSU Graduation ceremony in Dubbo on Wednesday 24 March. Associate Professor Joe Canalese, OAM, has accepted the Vice-Chancellor’s invitation to be the Occasional Speaker at the Dubbo graduation to be held at the Dubbo Christian School starting at 10.30am. Associate Professor Canalese received his national award in the 2010 Australia Day Honours List “for service to medicine, to rural health, and to the community of Dubbo”. Dr Canalese has lived and worked in Dubbo for 30 years as a physician and gastroenterologist and is known as a staunch believer in the value of good education. This is the first time the Graduation ceremony will be held at the Dubbo Christian School.

Poet and Charles Sturt University (CSU) senior lecturer Mr David Gilbey is an avid observer and consumer of all things Japanese. He has written about Japan for a number of years, having lived and taught there in 1996, 2000, 2007 and more recently at the end of last year. “I am always interested in how what I write engages with the many ‘others’ of Japan: language, culture, geography and social nuance,” said the CSU academic. “And I am also interested in whether the poetry I write delights readers and audiences wherever they may be living.” Mr Gilbey will address the topic, Of sashimi and saké: Writing the Other in Japan in a public seminar on Wednesday 17 March. The event is part of the weekly short seminar series hosted by the School of Communication and Creative Industries at CSU. The lecture will be held from 3.10pm until 4pm on Wednesday 17 March in the School theatrette, building 21, room 10, near car park 2, Darnell Smith Drive, CSU in Wagga Wagga.

International food manufacturer Mars Petcare is helping put more ‘real life’ experience into Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) accounting degree by providing two CSU students with internships at its Wodonga headquarters. Mars Supply Finance Manager Mr Nathan Quinlivan said the company was happy to provide opportunities for local people to experience work at a global leader in the fast-moving consumer goods sector. “Charles Sturt University accounting students were invited to submit applications to undertake internships and were then short listed for interview and selection by Mars, with Mr Brian Kemp and Mr Mark Wilde chosen for the internships,” Mr Quinlivan said. Head of CSU’s School of Accounting, Associate Professor Ross Wilson, said the internships are part of the new work experience in industry subjects developed by CSU’s Faculty of Business. He said the new internships were timely given the release of an Australian Council for Education Research report which called on universities to provide more internship opportunities for undergraduate students, showing CSU was ahead in identifying the need to offer hands-on work experiences that better equip graduates when they finish their degrees. Students who complete the structured internships also receive credit for an elective subject in the CSU accounting degree program. Professor Wilson thanked Mars for its initiative and called for other regional firms interested in providing similar opportunities to local students to contact the School of Accounting at CSU in Albury-Wodonga.

Undergraduate business students from South Korea and China who will study business at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst will be welcomed at a special morning tea  on Wednesday 24 March. The Acting Head of the School of Business, Dr PK Basu, said the students will spend at least one year completing the CSU undergraduate business degrees they commenced at Donggkuk University in Seoul, South Korea, or at Jilin University in Changchun, China. “This is the first group of students from Donggkuk University to study at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst, and they chose this campus because of the climate and the access to Sydney,” Dr Basu said. “Students from Jilin University have been studying Charles Sturt University business courses for the last decade, and its academics and students regularly visit the University’s campuses in Australia. This year we have 12 Chinese students studying in Bathurst. Both groups of students have said they are enjoying their educational experience and the rural and regional setting,” Dr Basu said. It is expected that the number of students from Korea and China studying at CSU in Bathurst will continue to grow.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will recognise academic excellence among its graduating students and the wider community at Graduation in Orange on Friday 26 March. Graduates include those studying Agricultural Business Management, Nursing, Pharmacy and Clinical Science. The occasional address will be delivered by Mr Charles Armstrong, President of the NSW Farmers Association, and the vote of thanks on behalf of graduates will be given by Agricultural Business Management graduate Mr Simon Crump, who recently participated in a two month Australian Indonesian Youth Exchange Program and has begun his career in the agricultural industry at the NSW Farmers Association in Sydney. The graduation ceremony will be held at the Orange Civic Theatre at 10.30am on Friday 26 March with graduates, their families and friends attending the ceremony.

In 2005, then 20 year old Mr Josh Bullock was given a lift to his Dubbo real estate job by a Charles Sturt University (CSU) staff member and in conversation mentioned he would have liked to be a teacher but did not do well in the Higher School Certificate. By the time he had closed the car door and walked into work, he had new aspirations to complete a degree in teaching. Mr Bullock paid his way through his CSU Bachelor of Education degree working as a plumber’s labourer and now has a full-time teaching job at Wellington Primary School. Lecturer in Teacher Education, Ms Maria Bennet says Mr Bullock can graduate with pride. “Josh was always keen and passionate about what he was doing and very involved in the whole uni process and furthering his career,” she says. “It’s great to see Josh fulfil his dream of working in education. He has the right qualities to be a fantastic teacher.” Mr Bullock will attend the CSU Graduation ceremony in Dubbo on Wednesday 24 March along with 94 fellow graduates.

The Lithgow Ambulance Station will be recognised on Wednesday 24 March by Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Biomedical Sciences in Bathurst for being the ambulance station that provided the best mentoring for CSU paramedic students during 2009. Senior representatives of NSW Ambulance and paramedic students who went to Lithgow for clinical placements in 2009 will be present when Professor Peter O’Meara and senior lecturer Ms Veronica Madigan, the 2009 CSU Lecturer of the Year, present the School’s Certificate of Excellence in Clinical Mentoring. Professor O’Meara said, “This inaugural award is in appreciation of the positive role of the Lithgow paramedics in preparing CSU paramedic students for practice. The selection of the Lithgow station for this award was based on feedback from students who undertook clinical placements at 50 ambulance stations throughout NSW. The mentoring approach of the Lithgow paramedics has set a standard that other ambulance stations can now aim for in order to make a major contribution to the education and training of paramedic students.”

Allied health students and staff from Charles Sturt University (CSU) leave this month to spend up to six weeks working with children in a Vietnamese orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. The students will gain important practical experience working with the children, many of whom have severe disabilities, while demonstrating and passing on their expertise to orphanage staff. Organised by the University’s School of Community Health, this is the sixth visit by health students and staff to the Phu My orphanage which provides schooling and health care for around 350 orphans. The 13 students, who study physiotherapy, speech pathology and occupational therapy, have raised $1 200 from student clubs and fundraising to purchase resources and equipment for the orphanage and pay for Vietnamese interpreters.