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Deputy PM visits Macquarie

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education Julia Gillard visited Macquarie University on Tuesday 10 June to launch a discussion paper prepared as part of the Government’s review of Australian higher education.

The review will examine and report on the future direction of the higher education sector, its fitness in meeting the needs of the Australian community and economy and the options for ongoing reform.

Emeritus Professor Denise Bradley AC, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of South Australia, who will head up the review panel, was also present at the launch.

Gillard said the discussion paper provides an opportunity for all stakeholders to comment on how the higher education sector can best meet the future needs of the country. She urged all interested parties to take part in helping to shape the future of higher education in Australia.

In her remarks, Gillard praised Macquarie’s efforts to chart a new course in teaching and learning through a review of its own curriculum, saying: “I know that Macquarie will be one of the many great universities that we are able to develop in the years ahead.”

She also said she had been particularly impressed with Macquarie’s emphasis on social service and volunteering through the Global Futures Program. Global Futures, which will commence in 2010 in conjunction with the University’s new curriculum, is the first of its kind in the Australian tertiary sector.

“I’m sure this is going to come to be seen by students who want to attend this university as one of its very great strengths and they will come here for that distinctive experience and for the distinctive Macquarie degree that will follow,” she said.

The review panel will recommend priority actions by October with a final report due by the end of this year.

Macquarie’s two Beijing Olympians

Come August, the Macquarie University community should pay extra special attention to the Olympic Games being held in Beijing, as two of Macquarie’s students will be competing in the sports of swimming and running.

At a an event held at the Sport and Aquatic Centre last week to celebrate the achievement of the elite athletes, High Performance Manager Glenn Warry noted that this is the first time Macquarie has had two of its athletes compete at an Olympic Games. “You can’t get any greater selection than an Olympic team so it’s very exciting for us and an outstanding achievement by them both,” he said.

Grant Brits, a Bachelor of Commerce student will race in the 4x100 metres freestyle and 4x200 metres freestyle relay teams, and Joel Milburn, a Bachelor of Arts – Psychology student will compete on the track in the 400 metres. Tina McKenzie, who is undertaking a Bachelor of Arts with Diploma in Education, and who competed at the previous Olympics in Athens, has been short-listed for the wheelchair basketball squad. An official announcement about this team will be made in late July.

Brits hit the headlines last year when he competed in the Grant Hackett-led 4x200 metres freestyle relay team which smashed the international short course record at the Telstra Australian Short Course Championships in August.

You’d think that the pressure to match, or even eclipse, this achievement at the world’s biggest sporting event would be all-consuming, especially as it’s his first Olympics, but you’d never know it talking to Brits.

“I rarely get nervous in the pool or on the blocks, although false starting is always in the back of my mind,” he says. “I actually swim better when I’m relaxed so I try not to overthink things. In the minutes before a race I can generally be found talking about anything and everything that’s non-swimming related, but this is not always appreciated by my team-mates who are trying to get psyched up!”

An average day for Brits, who has had to master juggling intense training sessions with his university studies, would terrify most people. After rising at 4.30am he swims from 5 till 7, hits the gym until 8.15, wolfs down breakfast in the car on the way to university where he takes classes until mid-afternoon, heads back to the gym for an hour or so of cross-training before diving back into the pool until 6.30pm.

So, for the athlete who chose swimming over a burgeoning rugby career simply because “I’ve always loved the water”, will there be gold in Beijing?

“Hopefully!” he says. “We are definitely a very good chance. If not gold however, it would be awesome if my relay team wins any medal. And regardless of how we do, for me, making this Olympic team has been the proudest moment of my life.”

Macquarie gets scientific with some of Western Sydney’s brightest students

Postgraduate students and staff from Macquarie recently lent their time and expertise to the Chifley College Senior Science Day.

The annual activity is run by the College with the assistance of the CSIRO and NSW universities to promote science as a study option for students moving into Years 11 and 12 and beyond. The day targets high-achieving Year 10 students from the various campuses of Chifley College, located in Western Sydney.

Macquarie, as a result of the Indigenous Science Education Program (ISEP) team's close relationship with the College, was invited to participate in the event, at which 50 students attended. A number of postgraduate students from the Department of Biology and the Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, and from the Division of Information and Communication Sciences, volunteered on the day. In addition, the Macquarie team trained seven students from the College as demonstrators.

The ISEP provided three sets of activities for the students which included an entomology practical, an exercise in simple programming, and a chemistry workshop.

The event concluded with a presentation about exciting science-based career and study options available and an information session by Brian Hurd from the Coursework Studies Section about scholarship and admission options at Macquarie.

“The event was very well received by both students and staff at Chifley College, with students commenting that the opportunity to meet university students and hear about their research really inspired their interest in science,” says David Harrington from Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences. “The ISEP run regular events at NSW high schools and are always on the look out for student volunteers to inspire young people to study science.”

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