news@unsw
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Lowy Centre project underway

Clearing the site for the construction of the Lowy Cancer Research Centre, to be built near the Medical Faculty at the north eastern end of the campus, will begin next week.

Workers will remove trees in the area north of the Michael Birt Gardens to the Wallace Wurth building car park. Several other trees in the vicinity will also be removed, in accordance with plans approved by Randwick Council and the NSW Department of Planning.

The row of trees along the boundary and behind the bus shelters on High Street will remain.

NSW Premier Morris Iemma and philanthropist Frank Lowy turned the first sod at the site last week at a special ceremony to mark the beginning of construction.

The Lowy Cancer Research Centre will be an Australian first, bringing together childhood and adult cancer research at the one site.

The $100 million-plus facility will house up to 400 researchers from UNSW and Children’s Cancer Institute Australia (CCIA). It will be one of the largest dedicated cancer research centres in the Southern Hemisphere.

Mr Lowy and family have agreed to donate $10 million toward the cost of the new building - the largest single philanthropic donation ever received by the University.

In addition to the Lowy gift and University resources, other funding has come from individual donors, trusts and foundations as well as grants awarded to CCIA by the NSW State Government ($18.3m); the Commonwealth Government ($13.3m); and most recently a grant from the Australian Cancer Research Foundation ($3.1m) to establish a Drug Discovery Centre within the new building.

Construction of the Centre will be completed by 2009.The building is designed by Lahz Nimmo Architects, in association with Wilson Architects, and will be built by Bovis Lend Lease.

To see more images of the Centre, click here.

UNSW best practice on China's radar

UNSW enjoys a “world class” reputation in China, and the University’s quality teaching and learning model is being studied for application in China’s fast growing higher education sector.

In his first visit to Australia, China’s director-general for Higher Education Evaluation, Liu Fengtai, and a senior Chinese Ministry of Education delegation met with UNSW academic leaders, headed by Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), Professor Richard Henry.

Mr Liu said demand for university places among Chinese school leavers was so great that foreign universities – including Australian institutions – could expect a substantial increase in the number of Chinese students, despite a concurrent increase in funding for additional places at Chinese universities.

Chinese student enrolments in Australia grew by 10 percent in 2006 alone to 90,287, according to Australian government statistics, and China is Australia’s largest market for international student enrolments, providing 24 percent of all enrolments.

Since the late 1990s, China has sought to meet demands for skills in its growing economy by radically scaling up higher education. Last year, tertiary student numbers hit 23 million, an almost 500 percent increase since 1998, representing the world’s largest tertiary student cohort.

However, the rapid expansion has stressed the sector and Beijing’s 11th five-year plan (2006-2011) on education lists “improving teaching quality” as a priority goal.

Top Chinese students are expected to continue to seek overseas degrees, some of them supported by Chinese government scholarships, allaying fears among the global higher education sector that Chinese enrolments at foreign universities could collapse with increased investment in higher education inside China.

Mr Liu’s delegation discussed quality measures and strategies with UNSW leaders, especially measures of students’ experiences.

“The quality of Australian education is well known in China and UNSW is a world famous university. There are many Chinese students studying at UNSW and when they come back they make a considerable contribution to China’s development,” Mr Liu said, after his meetings.

“With economic development in China there will be more and more students going overseas to study.”

Mr Liu said he was especially interested in the feedback from UNSW students on university staff and programs and that he would be taking the UNSW quality model back to China.

“What we are learning from others we will have to combine with the situation in China... (but) we see that your experiences are adaptable to our situation,” he said.

Solar rollers' dazzling result

The UNSW Solar Racing Team has completed its World Solar Challenge campaign with an impressive result, finishing fourth in its class and winning the CSIRO's award for the most energy efficient vehicle.

Jaycar Sunswift III, the UNSW solar racer, crossed the finish line of the 3000km race in Adelaide on Friday, October 26, after setting out from Darwin on Sunday, October 2.

The car placed fourth in its division of Adventure Class and was 11th overall in a race won by the Dutch Nuon team.

However it was the unexpected CSIRO Technical Innovation Award for the most energy efficient vehicle which gave the Sunswift crew their biggest thrill.

“It was because our car was the most efficient in the entire race, which is fantastic because that’s the point of the entire event,” team leader Yael Augarten said.

Jaycar Sunswift III underwent some extensive redesigning following its world record-breaking crossing of Australia from Perth to Sydney at the start of this year.

Team member Mark Smith, an engineering student who designed and built an entirely new suspension system for the car before the World Solar Challenge, said the car had performed flawlessly and reached speeds of up to 100km/h.

“It was really good to get to Adelaide without so much as a bolt needing tightening and the handling was brilliant,” he said.

“I would almost call it relaxing at 90km/h. Anything like a road train coming towards you at 100km/h and you hardly even noticed the buffetting.”

The Adventure Class of the World Solar Challenge is for vehicles which have qualified to compete in previous events but do not meet the current year’s design requirements. The lead Challenge Class is for newly built vehicles which meet all current design requirements – which this year included an upright seating position, headlights and reverse gear.

Jaycar Sunswift III was the first silicon cell vehicle to finish in Adventure Class – other vehicles use more advanced and expensive materials for their solar cells.

Sunswift was also the first two-seater vehicle - although it only has one driver on board, the car carries ballast to make the weight of two people.

Travel services online

For the past six months, the OneUNSW project teams within Procurement, Finance and Information Technology services have been working on ways to improve how we book our travel and more efficient approaches to how we acquit our travel expenses.

As reported in the last issue of news@unsw, the proposed new travel policy and procedures are currently the subject of a University-wide consultation process. However, a number of services are now available to staff who would like the convenience of being able to reconcile their expenses and book their domestic travel, accommodation and car hire online.

Booking your domestic travel online

Following a rigorous tender process, two preferred Travel Agents - Kistend Campus (domestic and international) and Anywhere Travel (international) – have been selected. Both these travel agents were chosen as they were able to demonstrate an understanding of the diverse travel needs of UNSW staff and ability to get the best value out of your travel dollar, without compromising high-quality service.

To ensure that Kistend Campus and Anywhere Travel has all your up-to-date details and any special travel requirements that you or those traveling with you may have, a simple click-and-send online Traveller Profile has been set up. The profile, which takes about five minutes to complete, can be accessed by typing in your staff (or student) number and unipass password.

For more information on how to book travel online click here.

General information and a step-by-step guide on how to book your travel will be available on the Procurement website from Monday 5 November. The new address for this site will be: www.proc.unsw.edu.au

Guide to reconciling travel expenses online

The changes and improvements to the NS Financials software package are now live and the system is ready to use. Anyone can now reconcile expenses online and it is up to individual Faculties, Schools and Divisions to refer to their internal guidelines about who would be the most appropriate person/s to do so.

For more information on reconciling travel expenses click here.

KLC Director honoured by peak law body

Kingsford Legal Centre Director Anna Cody has been publicly recognised for her dedication to human rights and community law by the Women Lawyers Association of NSW - the peak body representing women lawyers in this state.

Ms Cody was honoured with the 2007 Achievement Award in the Government or Community Lawyer category. The award recognises her commitment to human rights work, working with disadvantaged communities and helping people to exercise their human rights.

“I am thrilled to receive this award. I love my work with inspiring colleagues at the Kingsford Legal Centre and am committed to ensuring access to justice for disadvantaged people in our community,” Ms Cody said.

Ms Cody has been Director of the Kingsford Legal Centre since 2004, having previously served as a solicitor and principal solicitor at the Centre between 1995 and 2000. A UNSW alumna, she has worked extensively in human rights and community legal education in countries including El Salvador, East Timor, Indonesia and the USA.

The Kingsford Legal Centre is a community legal centre which gives free legal advice to people who live, work or study in the Randwick and Botany Local Government areas. The Centre is a part of the UNSW Law Faculty and provides clinical legal education for its students. Next month the Centre celebrates its 26th anniversary.

Web@UNSW: a program for change

The Web@UNSW Project is aimed at radically improving the UNSW web environment.

A web project team, located in the Office of Media and Communications, was established in April this year to assess the current state of the UNSW Web, and make recommendations for change.

This 'scoping' phase, which has involved extensive consultation across the University as well as input from external consultants, has informed a series of recommendations that point to a broad program of change for the Web@UNSW.

The draft recommendations and Phase One report are now available on the project website. The team is keen to receive feedback from staff by close of business Friday 9 November.

Water grant gives College the flush of success

Shalom College at UNSW has been given the green light to update its environmental credentials after winning a Community Water Grant from the federal Government.

The College was awarded just under $44,000 through the scheme, which offers funds to help organisations save, recycle or improve the health of their local water resources.

The funding will be used to install 27 dual-flush toilets and seven waterless urinals in shared bathrooms throughout the College, which houses 130 students. It’s estimated that these measures will save approximately 513,441 litres of water per year, equal to about 30 percent of the water currently used by its single-flush toilets.

“This grant will allow the College to move forward with one of several environmental projects planned,” said Bronwen Issitt, Shalom College Administrator. “The College is committed to water conservation education, and teaching our residents about environmental sustainability has wide-ranging benefits across campus.”

Shalom College was one of 4661 recipients nationwide in the latest round of Community Water Grants.

The College has also recently joined the Eco Colleges program, run by the UNSW Environment Unit. This program provides expertise, support and practical opportunities for involving College residents and staff in improving the environmental performance of UNSW student housing.

OSDS survey

Organisation and Staff Development Services is conducting a learning and development needs survey of all UNSW staff.

The purpose of the survey is to determine the learning and development needs of UNSW Professional and Technical Staff and UNSW Supervisors and Managers, and to ensure that the OSDS learning and development priorities and services are relevant to the community and match the needs of the organisation in 2008.

The survey opened on Friday 26 October and closes on Friday 16 November. All responses are confidential and individuals can not be identified. The survey will take approximately 10 – 15 minutes to complete.

Click here if you have supervisory or management responsibilities.

Click here if you are a member of UNSW’s Professional and Technical Staff.

If you have any comments or questions regarding the 2007 Learning and Development Needs Survey, please contact any member of the OSDS team:

Christmas leave reminder

There are only eight weeks left until Christmas.

Staff are reminded that the University will shut down from Tuesday 25 December 2007 until Tuesday 1 January 2008, inclusive.

Tuesday 25, Wednesday 26 and Thursday 27 December are public holidays. University holidays are on Friday 28 and Monday 31 December.

The University will reopen on Wednesday 2 January 2008.

As Christmas Eve falls on a Monday this year, staff may like to liaise with their supervisors in order to take this day as annual leave, enabling them to finish work for the year on 21 December 2007.

For more information, visit the HR website.