every picture tells a story… · 6/26/2000 · publication will resume on july 24 (copy deadline...

newsUWA26 June 2000

The University of Western Australia Volume 19 Number 9

Page 3 Restoring minesites Page12 New home for Institute of Advanced Studies 6 The Last Word

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Successful author, Dr Brenda Walker (see page 10); Engineering a boatfor the Avon Descent (see page 7); Hackett’s grave to be restored (see page 11); Oscar, Zoology’sbudgie (see page 9); The mite Nanorchestes triclavatus, one of the few organisms that live in Antarctica(see page 5); Gold medals for staff sports stars (see page 6).

Every picture tells a story…

. . . and they’re all at UWA

2 UWA news

THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA • JUNE 26 2000

VCariousthoughts …

[email protected]

DON’T FORGET . . .DON’T FORGET . . .DON’T FORGET . . .DON’T FORGET . . .DON’T FORGET . . .

Due to the student vacation period, there willbe no publication of the UWA News datedJuly 10. Publication will resume on July 24 (copydeadline July 12).

Seminars and events that fall between July 10and 24 will be published in the issue dated June26. All such copy should reach JoannaThompson at the Publications Unit by June 14([email protected]).

What did Friday June 16 2000 mean to you? Across the globe an extraordinary literary and

cultural festival of celebration took place on what is nowknown as ‘Bloom’s Day’ — the reading, in many places, inmany languages, with many listeners in many cultures, fromJames Joyce’s complex masterpeice, Ulysses, itself set ofcourse on that single day at the beginning of our last century.

Yet, ‘Bloom’s Day’ had other special meanings for me andour UWA diary of June activities.

Not only was it a very full day, beginning with a businessbreakfast at 7am and ending at 11pm with a WAHECMinisterial dinner, and including a range of meetings andcommittees, but it was a day which included two eventssymbolising the future UWA.

The first was a very modest little ceremony in Love House, thehome of our Centre for Staff Development. I had the pleasureof opening the proceedings which saw the launch of CATL(Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning). Mostappropriately, the new CATL insignia was unveiled jointly byMs Deborah Ingram (Co-ordinator of the new centre) andProfessor Alan Robson (Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost,and Chair of the University’s Teaching and LearningCommittee). Alan has already done so much for theenhancement of this area of UWA and in his speechintroducing CATL, he emphasised the vital importance of thesystemising of ‘flexible delivery’ modes into our teachingprograms. The notable achievements of creative individuals canonly be a beginning. Ultimately, we need to integrate the newtechnologies into all the appropriate teaching and learningenvironments of our University.

The challenges are huge in this new era for school anduniversity education. We have embraced this challenge inour desire to sustain high-quality interactive learning withincreased flexibility and innovation in access, content,delivery and assessment.

Major grants will be competitively available to develop newcourses across the spectrum of disciplines — an enormous,difficult and costly challenge. New patterns of self-learning,group interaction, enhancing self-assessment, all thesefactors are involved in what is potentially a revolution inteaching and learning.

Not to engage and not to triumph in this knowledge andtechnology revolution is unthinkable. We can takeinspiration from the exciting and creative courses alreadyutilising the new technologies and some new faculty strategydocuments. But we need to emulate these models across allfaculties and units. A new age dawns on campus.

Similarly, a new era exists on our international horizons.New off-shore teaching, using the capabilities of flexible anddistance delivery technologies, will increasingly take UWAinto our wider Asia region and the globe beyond.

Strategic partnerships — for research, student and staffexchange, course development, joint degrees andbenchmarking — open new opportunities for institutionaldevelopment on a new scale. That internationalising processhas already begun in UWA but there is, again, a sense thatwe are but at the beginning of another kind of transformingrevolution in the modern university.

These later notions were symbolised by the visit this weekto Perth and UWA by a major delegation of Chineseeducationalists from Zhejiang Province representing theirEducation Commission and its leading universities (36, in aprovince of 44 million people, including the heartland ofChinese new industry focused around Shanghai). As Chinapursues further its open-door policy, higher education willbe crucial. UWA is excellently positioned to be a majorparticipant in that process.

On Friday evening, in the company of our State Minister ofEducation (the Hon. Colin Barnett MLA) we farewelled theChina delegation who, in turn, spoke positively of theopportunities for closer collaboration in the years ahead.Strategies for implementing strategic alliances in ZhejiangProvince (including Nanjing and Zhejiang universities) arenow in motion. That is also a key part of our future as amajor modern university.

After that dinner, I walked along the Swan under a huge fullmoon which turned the river into a shimmering surface ofreflecting images.

Yes, Friday June 16 was a day to remember.

Professor Deryck M. SchreuderVice-Chancellor and President

A day to remember


UWA news 3

Studying fungi in the roots of native plants ofWA could well provide the answer to environ-

mental damage in New Caledonia.New Caledonian PhD student Frederic Boulet, working

with Dr David Jasper, Director of the Centre for LandRehabilitation, and Professor Bob Gilkes from Soil Scienceand Plant Nutrition, hopes to find answers for the successfulrehabilitation of nickel mine sites in his homeland.

“In New Caledonia, nickel mining has caused damage tothe environment during the past century,” Mr Boulet said.“It is only since the 1970s that mining companies have beeninterested in restoring the land. But, even when nativespecies were replanted, they would not grow easily.

“This is partly due to the soil extreme conditions, such aslow nutrient content and high concentration in certain heavymetals, like nickel with up to 1.5 per cent,” he said.

Mr Boulet said he had travelled to Paris (where hestudied for his undergraduate degrees in geology andbiology) and tried to interest the mining companies insupporting his research.

“But they were not interested. After I found David Jasper,who has an excellent reputation for land rehabilitation, Italked my government into funding me to come here andwork with him.

“The environments in Australia and New Caledonia havemany similarities. New Caledonia was part of Australiaseveral million years ago. We even have many similar plantsgenera as you do in Australia, including the Grevillea.”

Mr Boulet said New Caledonia had a diverse environmentwith many endangered species of plants. Along with thesouthwest of WA, it was listed as one of the 20 environmental“hot spots” in the world that needed conservation.

Frederic Boulet’s experiments will benefit both Australia and New Caledonia.

Centre for Land Rehabilitation

Restoring minesites farfrom home

Supported by local nickel mining company CometResources NL and assisted by plant scientists at Kings Park,Mr Boulet has propagated some rare native species.

He collected seeds from Comet’s project site nearRavensthorpe and found that Kings Park’s “smoke water”method was useful to germinate some seeds. He is nowexamining the adaptations of these plants that are needed toimprove nutrient uptake and metal tolerance.

He is concentrating on the symbiotic relationshipbetween some fungi (Mycorrhizas) and these plants.

“I am proposing that mycorrhizal symbioses are beneficialto plant species grown on lateritic nickel soils and are anessential strategy in their adaptations for nutrient uptake andmetal toxicity tolerance,” Mr Boulet said.

He is looking at two types of mycorrhizal fungi —arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and ectomycorrhizafungi (ECM), both of which occur in association with planthosts in natural ecosystems.

The plant and fungi growing together seem to form abeneficial relationship, with the fungi helping the plant toabsorb nutrients, and possibly limiting the entry of heavymetals. The fungi, of course, uses the plant as its host.

His work will be useful for mine rehabilitation both inNew Caledonia and in Western Australia.

“The choice of these two environments allows for theexciting perspective of comparing nutrient uptake and metaltolerance mechanisms of plants in two different climates,facing similar soil constraints,” he said.

Mr Boulet is amazed and delighted at the friendship andsupport he has received at UWA. “I have learnt so muchworking with a great team and they are always so happy toshare their knowledge with me.”

4 UWA news


When David Yarran’s fatherbecame one of WA’s first

Aboriginal death-in-custody sta-tistics, his grief took a positiveform.

He and his brother Ivan threwthemselves into helping to establishthe Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS).

That was in the 1970s when Davidwas one of the states’ first Aboriginalcourt officers.

His daughter Gningala was proud ofhim, and, at the age of ten, made adecision that she would carry on herfamily’s fight for justice but she wouldgo one step further. She wouldbecome a lawyer.

A few years later Gningala Yarranleft school, went to business college,then worked in government offices,married, had five children andremained active in indigenous politics.

She never lost sight of her dreamand, a few years ago, when heryoungest child started pre-school, thetime was right. Gningala Yarran-Clanton enrolled in law at UWA.

Now, almost finished her studies,Ms Yarran-Clanton is one of therecipients of a highly-contested awardfor Aboriginal students, the GloriaBrennan Scholarship.

Accepting the scholarship at theinaugural Aboriginal ScholarshipPresentations at Shenton Houserecently, her family were uppermost inher mind.

“My husband, my kids, my sister —my whole family — have helped andsupported me while I achieve mydream.

“My father made a difference toindigenous Australians. I want to takethat a step further,” she said.

Ms Yarran-Clanton is an out-standing advocate for indigenousstudents. She spoke brilliantly at therecent Reconciliation Week launch,

Centre for Aboriginal Programmes

Keeping the dream alive forindigenous students

Gningala Yarran-Clanton,following in both her father’s

and Gloria Brennan’s footsteps.

organised by the Guild in associationwith students from Shenton House.

The Gloria Brennan Scholarship,set up by ATSIC and the Departmentof Aboriginal Affairs, is in memory ofthe late Ms Brennan who was one ofthe first Aboriginal graduates fromUWA and who was instrumental insetting up the ALS (with David andIvan Yarran) and the Aboriginal Med-ical Service.

Two students from each of Curtinand Edith Cowan universities also won a$1000 Gloria Brennan Scholarship.

The Evaline Rosina Henty Scholar-ship, set up as a bequest from her will,was also presented at the function. It isopen to all Aboriginal students studyingfull-time in their first undergraduatedegree. Each year, at least one studentfrom each of WA’s public universitieswin an award.

This year, Kiarna Adams, a first-yearmedical student, and Jenny Bedford, afirst-year law student, shared thescholarship with four others, each beingawarded between $1000 and $3000.

Jenny Bedford, a mature-age student,said although it was hard to go back tostudy, she recommended that allAboriginal people should give it a go.

The Lilian Harris Scholarship forAboriginal women en-rolled at any UWAuniversity, went to twoUWA students: GayleSinger-Edwards, afirst-year law student,and Rowena Hamlet,in her second year ofarts.

The $500 Chris-tine Morrow Scholar-ships, presented byGirija Taplin, fromthe Religious Societyof Friends (Quakers)went to Scott Roper,

a UWA arts student and a studentfrom Edith Cowan.

Christine Morrow was neither anAboriginal person nor a Quaker butshe was a lecturer at UWA who wasinterested in and concerned aboutAboriginal issues.

The Gloria Brennan and ChristineMorrow scholarships are consideredunder one application, as a symbol ofreconciliation.

It is seen as the legacies of twowomen, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal,coming together to promoteunderstanding and reconciliationbetween the two communities.

This is the first time all thescholarships for Aboriginal studentshave been presented at the one timeand place.


UWA news 5

ABOVE: Dr Andrew Kennedy, UWA’s first polar ecologist, working among the ice.

LEFT: One of Antarctica’s living organisms: Nanorchestes triclavatus, a mite the size of a pinhead.

Not just ice, butisolation makes lifehard to find

Not just ice, butisolation makes lifehard to find

Why is there so little life in Antarctica? The answer seems obvious: it’s

too cold for anything much to survivethere.

But the obvious answer is not the only answer. Polarecologist Andrew Kennedy explained at a recent UWAseminar that geographical isolation is also an important factorcontributing to Antarctica’s low biodiversity.

Dr Kennedy is a University Postdoctoral Research Fellowin the Department of Geography who is working on aproject to identify the factors that control speciesdistributions across Antarctica.

“Only species capable of long-distance dispersal are ableto reach the shores of the Antarctic. So for a new species tobe introduced, it must reach Antarctica by wind or wave, onthe bodies of migratory birds or by human dispersal,” DrKennedy said.

“This is one of the reasons why there are no trees orpolar bears in the Antarctic. The Arctic does not have thesame geographical isolation.”

Initially a marine ecologist, Dr Kennedy spent four yearsas a biogeographer in the Antarctic with the British AntarcticSurvey. After that, he worked on savanna ecology in theKruger National Park, in tropical Africa.

“It’s really not that different: they are both extremeenvironments,” he said.

Although the Antarctic makes up a sixteenth of theworld’s land surface, only a few varieties of flora grow there:mosses, lichens, algae, liverworts and just two floweringplants, the hairgrass Deschampsia antarctica and the pearlwortColobanthus quitensis.

There are no trees, shrubs, reptiles or amphibians and,with the exception of man, there are no terrestrial mammals.

“But there is certainly life on the continent. It is acommon misconception that the Antarctic is abiotic. Thereare areas that are not covered with ice and living organismsoften thrive in these places,” he said.

Dr Kennedy took part in the 50th National AntarcticResearch Expedition two years ago and completed a surveyof plants and invertebrates in the Stillwell Hills on theeastern side of the continent, which had not been donebefore. A drill with tungsten-carbide teeth was used to getthrough the permafrost.

Dr Kennedy is now working on a project entitled“Impact of global environmental change on the terrestrialbiogeography of Antarctica” for which he has recently beenawarded funding from the Australian Antarctic Division.

“Politicians are concerned about the effects of climaticchange but we need to understand what factors controlcontemporary species’ distributions in Antarctica before wecan look at how they will respond to global environmentalchange.”

“How can we predict how a species will respond to globalwarming”, Dr Kennedy asks, “if we have not identifiedtemperature as an important limiting factor?”

“Although Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth” hecontinues, “my research suggests that water availability ismore important than low temperatures in determiningspecies distributions.”

“Thus we should be focusing on how global warmingwill modify patterns of precipitation and snowmelt if weare to understand the biological consequences of globalchange”.

Department of Geography

6 UWA news


The idea of playing hockey underwater mightstretch the imagination for the uninitiated.

But it’s not stretching it too much to place UWA at theMecca for this unusual sport.

Australia has been the world underwater hockeychampion for 12 of the past 14 years. And WA is the topstate, holding the national title for 16 years, before losing itfor the first time last year.

Four UWA staff and one student represented Australia atthe world titles held in Tasmania last April: all of them camehome with gold medals.

Craig Mackenzie, Manager of Uniprint, and wife Bronwyn,an administrative officer, Gavan Wise, a University courier,student Clare Forward (vice-captain of the Elite Women’steam) and another staff member who doesn’t wish to beidentified all devote many hours a week to a sport that somepeople have never heard of.

It’s a sport that requires great aerobic fitness, skill, agilityand teamwork. It was created about 50 years ago as arecreation for British naval divers, to keep them fit.

It has since spread to about 40 countries around the world.With about 100 players in Perth and more in country areas,WA has developed a reputation for having the best players.

So much so that Gavan Wise moved to Perth from theeastern states five years ago, to better his chances of makingthe Australian team.

A multiple medal winner, Gavan is passionate about thesport that he’s played and coached around the world. Hetrains up to 18 hours a week, including running, swimming,cycling and lifting weights. He was in the gold medal-winningElite Men’s team at the World Championships this year.

Bronwyn Mackenzie and Clare Forward were bothmembers of the Elite Women’s team, which also won gold.Craig Mackenzie won gold in the Men’s Masters division andwas captain of that team.

They explained that the game is played by teams of six,with four substitutes for each team. The players wear mask,snorkel and flippers and play with a 30cm wooden stick,manoeuvring a plastic-coated lead puck along the bottom ofa 2m deep swimming pool.

A 25m x 15m court is marked out with goals at eitherend and the skills needed to pass the puck between playersare similar to soccer or field hockey.

Craig Mackenzie said that most underwater hockeyplayers were born of scuba divers, looking for a challenge,rather than former field hockey players.

Players are actively involved in the play for between 10and 15 seconds before surfacing for a quick breath of air, buteven then, they are still watching the game.

Close teamwork and training is very important because,unlike field sports, you can’t shout instructions at yourteammates while underwater.

The first time some people hear of underwater hockey,they are tempted to laugh. But the skills, fitness anddedication of the players are sobering.

Gavan Wise says it’s an inexpensive sport to play but hisconstant interstate and overseas travelling for competitionmakes it an expensive choice.

“Because it’s a minority sport, it’s very difficult to getsponsorship,” he said. “And we’re a long way down the listfor consideration as an Olympic sport.”

Bronwyn Mackenzieand Gavan Wise showoff their gold medals.

Gavan Wise (right)at the worldchampionships.

Pass, shoot, goal . . .

all underwater!

Pass, shoot, goal . . .all underwater!

UWA’s World Champions

UWA news 7


Engineering skills could providethe edge at this year’s Avon

Descent.And part of the edge (of the boat)

will be made of a new material used inballistics, called zylon. It’s part of avacuum bagged foam sandwichconstruction developed at UWA.

Two final-year engineering students,Andy Buck and Haydn Law, are buildinga powerboat to take part in the race inAugust. They aim to make it the best-engineered boat for the unforgivingAvon course.

Their consultant is PhD studentLaurie Walker, whose research intocomposite materials was the inspirationfor the project.

The students are concentrating onbuilding a hull that will be faster,lighter, stiffer and tougher than theircompetitors’.

Haydn and Andy have spent about amonth building the boat, Daytrader HQ,named after their major sponsor, a newon-line share trading company, partlyowned by a UWA graduate.

Laurie’s job was to find sponsorsand materials and he had great success.The boat would have cost about $8000to build, but sponsorship has coveredall of these costs.

Preparing for ahigh tech descent

Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Toyobo Company in Japanhas given the team the zylon.Other materials have comefrom Ciba Specialist Chemicals,Synthetic Resins, Colan FibreGlass Products and Araldite.

Further financial assistancehas come from Sound andVibration Technology andNoise and Vibration Moni-toring Systems.

The sides of the hull arebasically polystyrene foam. The base isa carefully engineered sandwich,starting with a layer of carbon fibre(inside the boat), then 3mm ofdivinycell (a heavy-duty foam, whichencases the hull sides), followed byunidirectional carbon, then the styrenecore. Under the core is the zylon, thenanother 10mm of divinycell, finishingwith several alternating layers of fibreglass and kevlar.

The transom is a balsa carbonconstruction and the whole vesselshould weigh about 30kg whencomplete. It will be painted by CarlisleCollege of TAFE with signwriting by PKSigns and should be ready for watertesting in July.

Andy and Haydn have already takenpart in a trial on the Swan River and

have another trial to complete to beeligible for the race. Neither of themhas been in the Avon Descent beforeand will compete in the novice 8hpstandard class.

Laurie paddled the Avon Descentlast year and that started him thinkingabout using engineering skills andcomposite materials to build theultimate Avon competitor. He doessome boat building on the side and allthe students had been involved inmaking windsurfers, but this is theirfirst power boat.

“Haydn is in charge of the design, soif it’s slow it’s his fault; Andy is incharge of construction, so if it fallsapart, it’s his fault. I’m just theconsultant so I take no blame!” laughedLaurie.

Laurie Walker keeps clean with thefoam sandwich construction used forthe bottom of the boat, while AndyBuck gets dirty sanding the hull.

EIGHT graduates from UWAreceived recent Queen’s Birthdayhonours.

The Hon. Dr John Dawkins wasmade an Officer in the Order ofAustralia (AO).

Birthdaypresents from

the Queen

Five others became Members inthe Order of Australia: RonaldGreen, for his services to the RedCross; the Hon. Bill Hassell, for hispromotion of business and com-merce and to the communitythrough Anglicare; June Jones(former principal of St Hilda’sSchool) for services to education incurriculum development andeducational theory; EmeritusProfessor Roy Lourens (Department

of Accounting and Finance); andPeter Panegyres, for services asCrown Solicitor for WA.

The Medal of the Order ofAustralia (OAM) went to MerleBignell of Kojonup for her work inlocal history; and Joyce Westrip, forservices to the arts, especiallyadministration of cultural eventsfrom the Indian Ocean rim.

The University congratulatesthem all!

8 UWA news


UWANews is published fortnightly. Information for thepublication dated July 24 should be forwarded to Joanna

Thompson, Publications Unit, ext 3029, fax 1162,email: [email protected]

NO LATER THAN 5 P. M. ON JULY 12

Media enquiries to Public Affairs on 9380 2889.

Unless a restricted audience or charge is specified, allthe events/exhibitions listed here are free and open to

all and may attract media interest.

Tuesday 27 June

LAWRENCE WILSON ART GALLERY“Ian Frith and Victorian stained glass”. Ian Frith is a stained glassartist who has worked in some of Britain’s most importantchurches and cathedrals. In the context of our exhibition, Therewas war in Heaven: stained glass design by Henry Holiday, Ian will talkabout religion and the art history of stained glass during theVictorian period. 1pm, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery.

Wednesday 28 June

PATHOLOGY RESEARCH SEMINAR“A possible mouse model for Alzheimer’s disease”, Dr TerryRobertson, Pathology. 1pm, Pathology Conference Room, G14,Ground Floor, M Block, QEIIMC.

Thursday 29 June

STATISTICS SEMINAR“Spatial survival analysis”, Professor Adrian Baddeley, Mathematicsand Statistics. 2.15pm, Blakers Lecture Theatre.

Monday 3 July

BOTANY SEMINAR“Challenges for world food production in the new country”, DrDonald L. Smith, New Sun Professor, McGill University, Montreal.4pm, Room 2.14, Second Floor, Botany.

ADVANCE NOTICE

Saturday 29 July

AUSTRALIAN FEDERATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN(WA) INC. — DINNER AND DEBATE 2000In association with Medical Women of WA, Women inEngineering and Women Lawyers of WA. The topic discussed:“Medico-legal implications of tissue transplantation and cloning”,intro. by Professor Val Alder, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Research,Murdoch University. 7 to 11pm, Winthrop Hall. Dress: Formal.Cost: Tables of 8: $480 or $60 per person (incl. GST). RSVP by 22July. Enquiries to L. Cala on 9384 1174 (after hours) or [email protected]. Partners, friends and students also welcome.

Every two years, the world-wide community ofmathematicians working in Abelian Groups and relatedareas holds an international conference.

Following Colorado Springs in 1996 and Dublin in1998, the 2000 AGRAM Conference will take place atUWA from July 9 to July 15. The acronym stands for‘Abelian Groups, Rings and Modules’.

Apart from WA and the eastern states, the 50participants come from every part of the world,including Fiji and Malaysia in our vicinity, Mexico, Canadaand the USA, South Africa and Morocco as well asGermany, Czech Republic, Russia and China.

They range from famous established mathematicianssuch as 91-year old Professor B. H. Neumann fromANU and Professor L. Fuchs from New Orleans topostgraduate students from Australia and overseas.

The conference was last held in Australia in 1987,also in Perth. AGRAM is sponsored by the Departmentof Mathematics and Statistics and the AustralianMathematical Society. It will be opened by Professor M.Barber, Vice-Chancellor for Research at 10am onMonday 10 July. For further details, please call PhillSchultz on ext. 3381.

2000 AGRAM CONFERENCE

Friends and colleagues of the late Grace Vaughan haveprovided a sum of money to establish an award to beoffered to individuals wishing to pursue studies in thearea of social justice and human rights at UWA, orindividuals with a demonstrated scholarly orprofessional concern for social justice and human rightswishing to travel in Australia or overseas for furtherstudies likely to benefit the community. The award for2001 will be $2000.

Staff, students and others interested in applying orrequiring further information should contact theAdministrative Officer, in the Faculty of Arts on ext.2096. Closing date is September 1 2000.

FACULTY OF ARTSGRACE VAUGHAN

AWARDS 2001


UWA news 9

Oscar, the Department of Zoology’s bluebudgerigar, loves mimicking members of

staff.

His favourite phrase is “Where’s Wally?” whichadministrative assistant (and Oscar’s owner) Kerry Knottsays is on everybody’s lips.

“He’s our senior technician, Wally Gibb, and the mostwanted man around here,” she said.

Oscar spends Monday to Friday in the department office,mostly out of his cage, chatting to the staff and sitting ontheir shoulders. Here, he makes friends with Andrea Davis.

Oscar’sa livinglogo

UWA student and champion swimmer Jonno van Hazeljust missed out on going to the Olympics by 0.3 of asecond.

In our last issue, we said he finished fifth in the semi-finals of the Australian Olympic swimming trials. In fact,he finished the semi-finals as the third fastest qualifierbut was narrowly beaten by slightly slower qualifiers inthe finals.

Jonno came in fifth in the finals of the 50m freestyle.Only the two fastest swimmers go to the Olympics.

Catch that torch

IF you’re on campus on Saturday July 8, take a peek

out the window about mid-afternoon.

The Olympic torch will be passing the University,

along Fairway, from about 3pm. It will be carried from

Princess Road, into Fairway, then left into Clark

Street, right into Broadway, right again onto Mounts

Bay Road, then left into Winthrop Avenue.

The Fairway leg should take about 15 minutes, but if

you miss it, you can catch it outside the front of the

University a few minutes later.

Faster than

we thought!

10 UWA news


C reative writing studentscould have no better teacher

than a highly successful, award-winning author, in the midst ofwriting her fourth novel.

Inspiring is an adjective that DrBrenda Walker’s students undoubtedlyuse about her.

But she insists that, conversely, it isher students who inspire her.

“My students are so excited aboutthe possibilities of writing. They createa very positive environment in which todo my own writing,” Dr Walker said.

She has been teaching creativewriting since its inception at UWA.Current colleagues include ProfessorDennis Haskell, Dr Van Ikin, poetMarcella Polain and, more recently, DrSteve Chinna.

Some of her students are writingsubstantial, publishable novels.

“But it’s not a forcing ground fornovelists. My second/third-year course,Theory and Practice of CreativeWriting, is an exploratory course,which places emphasis on technique.

“It’s not a waffly course. It includeshow to negotiate with a publisher as

well as focusing on techniques ofpoetry, scriptwriting and fiction,” DrWalker said.

Her third novel, Poe’s Cat , anhistorically-based novel, has just beenreprinted by Penguin, after its initiallaunch in Australia and the UK underthe Viking imprint. It has now taken itsplace among the Penguin standardorange spine paperbacks.

Dr Walker’s current manuscript,which will be released by Penguin next

Inspiration for bothteacher and students

Brenda Walker . . . finds UWA a very supportive place in which to write.

year, is about the shiny idealism of the19-year-olds who went to war, lookingfor excitement.

“I suppose I was inspired to adegree by my students here. I look atthe 19-year-old boys in my classes andit’s unbearable to imagine them facingthe horrors of Gallipoli.

“All the imagined horror of Poe (inher last novel) becomes historicallyrealised in Gallipoli and France.”

Department of English

“My students are so

excited about the

possibilities of writing.

They create a very

positive environment in

which to do my

own writing”

Dr Walker has just returned from awar historians’ tour of Istanbul andGallipoli and spent a sabbatical atSydney University last year, working onher new novel.

Although success as a writer is nowpart of her life, she tells her studentsthat it is not economically easy to be awriter in this country.

“They’re sensible about it, but they’realso focused and dedicated,” she said.


UWA news 11

Young Aboriginal dancers wait fortheir turn to perform.

Sir John Winthrop Hackett is commemorated ingrand style on campus but his grave was left for

many years crumbling and peeling.The Office of Facilities Management has recently been

given the go-ahead to restore the impressive grave atKarrakatta Cemetery.

The father of our University is remembered every daywith Winthrop Hall, Hackett Hall, Winthrop Avenue,Hackett Drive and the annual Hackett studentships namedafter him.

A lawyer from Trinity College, Dublin, Sir John emigratedto Australia in 1875. By the 1890s, he was virtually runningWestern Australia, in tandem with the Premier Sir JohnForrest.

According to UWA’s foundation Professor of English, SirWalter Murdoch, “Hackett’s was the commanding brain,Forrest’s the commanding will.”

His dream that higher education should be accessible toall led him to donate 425,000 pounds to the University:150,000 pounds went to the building of Winthrop andHackett Halls; 50,000 pounds to the maintenance andmanagement of the Hackett buildings, library and grounds;190,000 pounds for Hackett studentships and bursaries;10,000 pounds to the Hackett student loan fund; and 25,000pounds endowment for the Vice-Chancellor’s salary.

Sir John’s wife Deborah and his daughters Patricia andJoan are also buried beneath the impressive monument onhis grave. The ashes of his son, General Sir John WinthropHackett, and granddaughter Susan are also interred in thegrave.

The Hackett grave at Karrakatta.

Restoration will involve cleaning of the granite monolith,resetting loose components, repointing all joints andrepainting the lettering. New groundcover will be plantedand maintained by Unigrounds.

In October, the grandchildren of Sir John will visit Perthfrom the UK and Zimbabwe for the Bussell family reunionand the Office of Development will host a function tocelebrate the establishment of the Hackett Foundation andrestoration of the grave.

Ningali Lawford, the actress whose infectious grinadorns Water Corporation billboards (pictured), is

the star attraction at an aboriginal healthconference to be held next month.

Run by UWA’s West AustralianCentre for Remote and Rural Medicine(WACRRM) the conference will be heldon 29 and 30 July at the Sebel Hotel inPerth.

Ningali will talk about Aboriginal healthfrom a personal perspective, about thedifficulties experienced by Aboriginal peoplewhen seeking medical assistance.

WACRRM is working to counteractthe inequality in health between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians by educating doctors in Aboriginalhealth and improving medical services in remote andregional Australia.

“The conference has two objectives,” says WACRRMdirector Greg Down. “The first is to raise the profile of

aboriginal health among GPs — toacknowledge their role in this area andto encourage them in their potential toplay a bigger role.

“The second objective is to use theconference as a forum to discuss wherewe are going in aboriginal health — theimprovements that have been made andthe future, from a GP’s point of view,for improving aboriginal health.”

Also speaking at the conference willbe Dr Ngaire Brown, the Executive

Officer for the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Associationand Preventative Health Co-ordinator for World VisionAustralia’s Indigenous Program.

For more details contact Annika Priest on 9384 2822.

Remote medicine . . . in the CBD

Restoration honours ourgreatest benefactorRestoration honours ourgreatest benefactor

12 UWA news


The new pink building oncampus that people are

puzzling over will be revealed in allof its glory by July (but probably ina more sedate colour!).

The new wing behind the old IrwinStreet building on James Oval,colloquially known as the CricketPavilion or Archives, is to be the homeof the Institute of Advanced Studies.Construction began at the start ofMarch and the steel-studs frame andweatherboard-clad building was up in aflash.

The architectural design is entirely inkeeping with the original University

New homein advancedstage

building and will provide study spaceand meeting areas for visiting scholars.

In 2000, the first year of operation,there are more than 25 new visitors toUWA and the IAS, most of them toparticipate in cross-disciplinary researchprograms. A future Professor-at-Largescheme will see scholars, writers, artistsand public intellectuals housed in abuilding that then allows them to roamwidely across the campus.

The IAS and its building will beofficially opened on 11 September byDr Colin Lucas, Vice-Chancellor of theUniversity of Oxford. In the meantime,the Advisory Board was shown thealmost-completed addition to thecampus architecture at the start of itslast meeting.

Terri-ann White,Executive Officer, IAS

IAS board members are impressed with their new home.

Western Australia’s animalemblem, the numbat, has

contributed to its scarcity by itschoice of food.

Numbats eat termites, which areactive during daylight hours, sonumbats, unlike other marsupials, arediurnal animals, which forage during theday and sleep at night.

With their noses down snuffling outtermites, they are easy prey forpredators like snakes and birds withvery well-developed sensory systems.

LEFT: Catherine Arrese has a passion forAustralian native animals.

BELOW: WA’s numbat: its visual capacitywill dictate its environment.

Through the eyes of a rare speciesZoology PhD student Catherine

Arrese is working out exactly whatnumbats can see.

“Once we understand that, we canwork out the best environments for re-introduction and translocation,” she said.

Catherine is working with Perth Zoo,which is involved in a numbat breedingprogram, in a bid to rid the marsupial ofits endangered tag. Her PhD is beingsupervised by Professor Lyn Beazley andProfessor Don Bradshaw.

Her work also encompasses thevisual capabilities of other species atrisk, the honey possum and the fat-tailed dunnart.

“We have found that the numbat hasa very good visual acuity, which isunusual in marsupials. The numbat’slifestyle doesn’t require such goodvisual capability — it’s an adaptationleft over from its past life as acarnivorous predator.

“But it doesn’t really help thenumbat avoid its predators becauseits eyes are situated halfway betweena frontal position and a lateralposition. They are not far enough

round to the side or high enough on itshead for it to sense the presence of asnake or bird while it has its head downfeeding, which it does most of the day,”Ms Arrese said.

“So its visual system lets it down andcontributes to it being endangered.”

She hopes to be able to recommendthe best locations for reintroducingnumbats, bred at Perth Zoo, (as well ashoney possums and fat-tailed dunnarts)to the wild, taking their vulnerabilityand eyesight into account.

Institute of Advanced Studies

UWA news 13


• UWA needs to enable ourstudents to be competent worldcitizens and employees, comfortablyable to operate anywhere in the world,through what we provide them interms of course knowledge content,generic skills, research skills, andexperiences with other cultures,languages, travel and study abroad.

• UWA needs to connectmeaningfully with the global changes ininformation communication technologyand flexible modes of delivery so as toadapt these technologies/modes toimprove the quality of educationalprovision, as well as to strategicallyreach the new groups of studentswhich are now possible.

• UWA needs to ensure that oureducational provision is high qualityand relevant to different markets, andinternationally known to be so, so thatwe recruit the best students possiblefrom wherever they are in the world.While we want to continue to providewell for our local market, our potential

for attracting new kinds of high qualitystudents is huge.

• UWA needs to strategicallyconsider how to confront theenormous and rising global demand forhigher education brought on by growingmiddle classes in developing countries,the requirements of professionalcontinuing education, and the interest inlifelong learning. This demand isparticularly strong in our region. Wehave a high-quality product that isincreasingly in demand but the demandcannot possibly be met throughtraditional means. Others will seek tomeet it (news media alliances, computercompany conglomerates, publishercollaborations). Universities could easilylose their monopoly on not onlyknowledge but also certification.

• UWA needs to develop ways toparticipate in the policy and researchdebates on globalisation so that theintellectual resources of the Universitycan be brought to bear on a dominantissue of our generation. As has been

pointed out, this area is highly contested.We need to be active participants in thedebate, and most importantly, creatorsof our own futures.

UWA intends to be active in relation tointernationalisation. Last year we held areview of our internationalisationapproach and an eminent panel made aseries of recommendations. Faculties,departments and other units aroundthe University have recently respondedto this review. The new International-isation Committee will be working on astrategic action plan based on thisreview and on the responses to it. Ofthis you will hear more later. I inviteyou to visit the new website forInternationalisation (go to the UWAhome page) which includes the launchof the strategy and an important speechby Professor Alan Gilbert, Vice-Chancellor at the University ofMelbourne on the issues facinguniversities provocatively entitled:‘Globalisation or Marginalisation:Managing the Collapse of a 900 YearMonopoly’.

Continued from page 16GLOBALISATION, INTERNATIONALISATION AND UNIVERSITIES

14 UWA news


Redundant Equipment for SaleITEM PRICE AGE COND. CONTACT DEPARTMENT EXT

Bids should be accepted by Monday 24 July with departments to have first option

Departments are reminded that all University equipment available for sale must be advertised in the UWA News. Receipts should be PeopleSoft accountcoded 490 (computing with barcode), 491 (non-computing with barcode) or 493 (items with no barcode). If equipment has an existing barcode please

contact extension 3618/2547 for details.

CONDITION refers to the general condition of item ( 1 = as new; 2 = good; 3 = serviceable; 4 = unserviceable). AGE refers to the nearest year.

CLASSIFIEDS

There are times when all of us have challengingissues to deal with. When personal or work relatedissues make life difficult, the University has anEmployee Assistance Program (EAP) to help staffmanage these issues more effectively.The EAP is a professional, confidential counsellingand consultation service. The services of DavidsonTrahaire are available FREE to you and your familyfor up to six sessions a year.For appointments, please ring Davidson Trahaireon 9382 8100 or if urgent 9480 4847(24 hours).Their offices are located at Suite 11, 100 Hay St,Subiaco. Further information can be obtained atwww.admin.uwa.edu.au/sho

UWAEmployeeAssistanceProgram

Power Mac 7100/80AV $500 5 2 Stuart Elec. Eng. 389980MB/700HD/CD/KeyboardSun Sparc II + printer $250 7 3 Tony Crystallography 27262 x Apple LC 630 with FPU 12M/350M $150 6 3 Tony Crystallography 2726HP Omni Laptop 486 (sceen fading) 16M/ $150 6 3 Tony Crystallography 2726500M PCMCIA ethernet & modem 14.4Gateway Laptop P 133 $600 4 2 Tony Crystallography 2726Apple Performer 6360 $300 3 2 Tony Crystallography 272648M/1.1G 15" Mon, Hi performance module$50 6 3 Tony Crystallography 2726Apple CD with remoteMac LC111 Offers 7 3 Penny Org. and Lab. Studies 3467Mac Powerbook520 $300 7 3 Penny Org. and Lab. Studies 3467Toshiba Profnotebook 8mg/T2450 ct/500 $350 5.5 3 Penny Org. and Lab. Studies 3467Mac 11vx Offers 8 3 Penny Org. and Lab. Studies 3467Apple Mac LC11 $70 or offers — 2 Dianne Eng. and Maths Sciences 3704Apple Mac LC475 $140 or offers — 2 Dianne Eng. and Maths Sciences 3704Lanier MP.510-5 Dictaphone $50 Mandy or Liz Applied Cancer Studies 7284/7287Singer Caramate II Slide Viewer $50 Mandy or Liz Applied Cancer Studies 7284/7287NEC Silentwriter LC890 $150 Mandy or Liz Applied Cancer Studies 7284/7287Postscript Laser PrinterNEC Silentwriter LC800 $150 Mandy or Liz Applied Cancer Studies 7284/7287Postscript Laser Printer, plus2 toner cartridgesHP 7225 B Plotter $50 Mandy or Liz Applied Cancer Studies 7284/7287Epson FX-85 Dot Matrix Printer $50 Mandy or Liz Applied Cancer Studies 7284/7287Panasonic KX-P1092 $50 Mandy or Liz Applied Cancer Studies 7284/7287Multi-mode Printer (Dot Matrix)2 x Epson LX-800 Dot Matrix Printers $50 each Mandy or Liz Applied Cancer Studies 7284/7287Omnicrom Laminator $50 Mandy or Liz Applied Cancer Studies 7284/7287Macintosh SE Computer $50 Mandy or Liz Applied Cancer Studies 7284/7287GBC Thermabind Thermal Binder $50 Mandy or Liz Applied Cancer Studies 7284/72873 x IBM 190 Correctable $10 (the lot) Mandy or Liz Applied Cancer Studies 7284/7287Ribbon Cassettes – Typewriter2 boxes of 5 Pegasus Typewriter Ribbons $20 ( the lot) Mandy or Liz Applied Cancer Studies 7284/7287

FOR SALE

KB LASER HATCHBACK (1985), white,mechanically A1, reliable and in good condition.$2750. Contact Caroline at home on 9387 1471.

OLYMPIC TICKETS, 27 to 29 Sept., 3 events, 2tickets each. Events are athletics, basketball andcanoe/kayak. Total cost: $430. For moreinformation, contact Cynthia on ext. 7179 or9474 9160.

TO LET

BRAND NEW THREE-BEDROOM HOME inScarborough/Doubleview, near beach and shopsand 15-20 mins from UWA. Unfurnished, readyto rent, preferably for long-term period. $240 p/w.Call Jo on 9245 2530 (a/h).

WANTED TO RENT

ACADEMIC COUPLE, no children, on studyleave from Europe, seeking accommodation frommid-November to March 2000. Preferably smallhouse/cottage or townhouse, ideally near ocean,in leafy surroundings and close to publictransport. Please contact Bob Tonkinson on ext.2858 or [email protected].

Full page $500Half page $250Quarter page $125Eighth page $ 80Sixteenth page $ 65

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Phone: 9380 3029 Fax: 9380 1162

Advertising Rates

UWA news 15


ResearchGrantsContracts

&

EDITOR/FEATURE STORY WRITER

Lindy BrophyTel.: 9380 2436 Fax: 9380 1192Email: [email protected]

CAMPUS DIARY/ADVERTISING/CLASSIFIEDS/REDUNDANT EQUIPMENT/

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Jo ThompsonTel.: 9380 3029 Fax: 9380 1162

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UWAnews onlinehttp://www.publishing.uwa.edu.au/uwanews/

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Colin Campbell-FraserTel.: 9380 2889 Fax: 9380 1020

Email: [email protected]

newsUWA

ALCOA• Dr Will iam Arthur Loneragan, Botany:“Assessment of multi-scale vegetation patterningin nature jarrah forest and bauxite minesiterehabilitation” — $3100

ARC STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS WITHIND-RESEARCH/TRAINING (SPIRT)• Dr Ian Howard Williams, Agriculture, and DrB. D. Glencross (external): “Diets for farmedpink snapper” — $21080 (2000/2001/2002).

• Dr Wallace Andrew Cowling and Dr JanetMary Wroth, Agriculture, and Dr Guijun Yanand Dr Susan Jane Barker, Plant Science: “DNAmarker-assisted breeding in interspecific crossesto improve canola (Brassica napus L.)” —$109,000 (2000); $96,000 (2001); $83,000(2002).

• Prof Krishnapilla Sivasithamparam and DrRobert Sean Gallagher, Agriculture: “Implicationsof soil microbial communities on seed bankdynamics” — $21,080 (2000/2001/2002).

• Dr P. Poot, Agriculture, and Dr K. W. Dixon(external): “Rehabilitation of the criticallyendangered ironstone communities: physiologicalconstraints of being adapted to a highlyrestricted environment” — $49,377 (2000);$51,192 (2001); $53,003 (2002).

• Dr Brenton Knott, Zoology: “Reproductionbiology and culture of sea cucumber (Echin-odermata: Holothuroidea) in Northern Australia”— $21,080 (2000/2001/2002).

AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE• Dr Brian Terrence Dawson, Human Movementand Exercise Science, and Mr G. Stewart(external): “You play as you train: do trainingactivities match game demands?” — $13,000.

AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH COUNCIL• Dr P. V. Wheatley, Classics and AncientHistory: Fellowship — “Demetrius the besieger.”

• Dr Andre Nicholas Luiten, Physics: Fellowship— “Development and application of a newgeneration of atomic frequency.”

• Dr B. Rasmussen, Geology and Geophysics:Fellowship — “Early-diagenetic phosphates: theirimpact on marine phosphorus ad rare-earthcycles, and potential for high-precision dating ofbilogical and environmental events.”

• Dr Cai-Heng Li, Mathematics and Statistics:Fellowship — “Finite s-arc-transitive graphs andregular maps.”

• Dr Andrei Zvyagin, Electrical and ElectronicEngineering: Fellowship — “Ultra-high speedoptical coherence tomography and its applicationto diagnostic imaging of skin cancer.”

• Dr Pamela Sharpe, History: Fellowship —“Women’s business: female enterprise andeconomic initiatives in early industrial society.”

CANCER FOUNDATION OF WA• A/Prof Matthew William Knuiman and DrDiane Elizabeth Arnold-Reed, Public Health:“Scientif ic support services to CancerFoundation of WA for 2000” — $33,500

DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATIONAND LAND MANAGEMENT CALMSCIENCE DIVISION• Ms T. L. Finston, Zoology: “The relationshipbetween habitat sal inity and ostracodmorphology” — $2500.

DETYA: EVALUATIONS ANDINVESTIGATIONS PROGRAMME• Prof Paul William Miller, Economics: “Highereducation, literacy and labour market outcomes”— $15,000.

GLOBAL FOREST• Dr Pauline Francis Grierson, A/Prof MarkAndrew Adams, Dr T. L. Bell, Botany: “Linkingroot anatomy and function: the role of clusterroots in P acquisition by banksia grandis” —$10,000.

GRDC (GRAINS RESEARCH ANDDEVELOPMENT CORP.)• Prof Krishnapilla Sivasithamparam, Agriculture,Mr B. R. Gaskell, Soil Science and PlantNutrition, Prof Martin Barbetti, Agricultural andResource Economics, and Dr R. Khangura(external): “Effect of rotational sequence ofcanola on severity of damping-off caused byRhizoctonia” — $44,841 (1999); $38,440 (2000);$19,977 (2001).

• Dr Daniel Vaughan Murphy, Agriculture:Fellowship — “Impact of WA Agriculturalpractices on the quantity and quality of activecomponents of soil organic matter.”

• Dr M. W. Sweetingham, Dr M. Shanicar andDr Wallace Andrew Cowling, Legumes inMediterranean Agriculture: “New strains ofphomopsis for resistance on lupins and geneticsof resistance in stem pods and seeds” —$74,185 (1999); $75,027 (2000); $77,224 (2001).

HAMERSLEY IRON PTY LTD, BHP,ROBE/NORTH• A/Prof Mark Andrew Adams, Dr PaulineFrancis Grierson, Mr Bradley Paul Degens andMr Peter Alan Landman, Botany: “Carbonbudgets in the pilbara: effects of mining andother changes in land use” — $70,000.

JANSSEN-CILAG PTY LTD• Dr Stephen Randolph Kisely and Dr DavidJonathan Castle, Psychiatry and BehaviouralScience, and Ms D. Alderton, Ms Z. Bai-gmohamed and Mr N. Preston (external):“Switching patients from depot anti-psychoticsto atypical oral agents: a study of clinical andbiochemical outcomes” — $23,000 (2000);$13,355 (2001).

LALOR FOUNDATION• Dr S. A. Williams, A/Prof Graeme BruceMartin, Animal Science and Production, A/ProfArunasalam M Dharmarajan, Anatomy andHuman Biology: Fellowship — “Contraceptiveeffect of an extract of Mangosteen leaves infemale rats.”

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH• Prof J. Staddon, Dr Clive D Wynne and DrMathew Thomas Martin-Iverson, Psychology:“Learning memory and inference: a new animalmodel of addiction” — $3745.

NHMRC• A/Prof Konrad David Jamrozik and Dr J. R.Rigg, Public Health, and Dr P. J. Peyton and Dr P.S. Myles (external): “Completion of the MASTERanaesthesia trial” — $140,887 (2000); $70,211(2001).

• Dr Silvana Gaudieri, Molecular Immunology andInstrumentation: Fellowship — “Character-isation of the major histocompatibility (MHC)and paralogous regions within the genome.”

• Neil Hamilton, Fairley Fellowship and Mr G. L.Hall, Institute of Child Health Research: Fellow-ship — “Relationship between lung volumes, lungfunction and exhaled nitric oxide in infants withrespiratory disease.”

• Dr G. Hankey and Dr R. I. Baker, Medicine, A/Prof Konrad David Jamrozik, Public Health, andDr Francesco Maria Van Bockxmeer, Pathology:“VITATOPS, a randomised controlled trial ofvitamins to prevent stroke” — $132,651 (2000);$107,123 (2001); $139,936 (2002); $150,000(2003, 2004).

NHMRC (EQUIPMENT GRANTS)• A/Prof George Cheng Yeoh and Dr LawrenceJoseph Abraham, Biochemistry, A/Prof AlanRobert Harvey and A/Prof D. Dharmarajan,Anatomy and Human Biology, and Prof LyndaDent Beazley, Zoology: “Light cycler for PCRquantitation” — $70,000.

OPHTHALMIC RESEARCH INSTITUTEOF AUSTRALIA• Dr C. R. Hicks, Dr G. J. Crawford and Prof IanJeffrey Constable, Ophthalmology and VisualScience: “Clinical trial of a novel orbitalprothesis” — $24,000.

RURAL INDUSTRIES RESEARCH ANDDEVELOPMENT CORPORATION• Mr Edward Charles Lefroy, Legumes inMediterranean Agriculture: “Fodder cropconsultancy” — $45,000.

Watch out for more

Research Grants

and Contracts

in the next issue

of UWA News.

16 UWA news


...the last w

ord

There would probably be very few academic staff aroundthe University who did not have international

experience. Nevertheless, there are many new kinds of‘international’ activities developing. We are about to beginteaching a Bachelor of Science (European) where studentsspend a year in a lab at a European university. We arestarting teaching a Master of Educational Management withNanjing University in which most of the program will betaught in Nanjing by our staff and their staff in both Englishand Mandarin. Our Graduate School of Management teachesin Singapore and is about to begin in Kuala Lumpur, Jakartaand Beijing. Our Graduate School of Education teaches inSingapore, Hong Kong and Manila. The Faculty of Medicineand Dentistry is exploring research at master’s degree levelwith a university in southern China. The Department ofEnglish is looking at a PhD program connection with anotherChinese university. There are many other examples. Thesekinds of developments are partially responses to a changingand globalising world.

Globalisation is actually an enormously complex set ofphenomena involving economic, political and cultural aspectsand it is contradictory and paradoxical. Often it is discussed asthough it is one (alarming) force bearing down on us.However, the term globalisation is used to describe manydifferent related matters virtually all of which are contested.For example, in terms of economic globalisation, the centraldebates are about ‘free’ trade versus ‘protectionism’ andwhich will facilitate both a stronger economy and a highstandard of living. The recent protests at meetings of theWorld Bank and World Trade Organisation show that not allagree with the dominant western economic policies of the day.In terms of political globalisation, we see both centrifugal and

centripetal forces at work. Somepreviously separate areas of the world areforming new larger alliances, like theEuropean Union. Other previously unifiedareas are splitting up, usually along ethnicand religious fault lines. Culturalglobalisation is equally paradoxical. On theone hand many feel that we are beinginundated by one dominant cultural force(the macdonaldisation of the world) and,on the other hand, others feel we arebeing swamped by too many multiplecultures, languages and races (the PaulineHanson and La Pen factor).

Another aspect of globalisation is theway it transforms time and space. Wecan see a reduction in the hold of localcircumstances over people’s lives and anincrease in impact of distantcircumstances. While the Nedlands

council’s tree policy is of great concern to many, theAmerican Reserve Bank’s decision on interest rates mayhave a greater effect on domestic life in Nedlands.

Globalisation also compresses time and space, speeding upevents and relationships so that it can be hard to keep up.The now constant cycles of change in industry, government,schools and universities are a result of continual politicaldemands for reform, incessant adoption of ‘new’ theories ofmanagement and change, and interminable demands thatinstitutions do more, for more, with less. Increasedtechnological communication and ceaseless requirements forreporting on performance fuel these.

A key to understanding how globalisation affects UWA is tounderstand how it changes Australia’s place in the world.Arguably we are not a country or a state or a university on‘the periphery’ any more. We are no longer ‘down under’from the real world. We are neither distant nor isolated. Wein WA sit in the same time zone as another two billion people,three billion if we add another hour. Clearly we are notisolated in relation to the location of the world’s populationnor to regions of actual and potential economic growth.

There is a sense that we in Australia and at UWA can bevirtually whatever we want to be, whenever we want,wherever we want. In practical terms it is possible for us todecide what we want to teach, where we want to offer it,and what time framework we want to offer it in. A course ineducational management to Chinese school principals inNanjing in a mixed mode of intense teaching followed bydistance education techniques and including a professionaldevelopment experience in Perth? Why not?

Globalisation in all its forms and with all its paradoxes bringsmany challenges for higher education. Universitiesthemselves have an historically transnational character and inmany ways this makes it easier for them to operate — likeglobalisation itself — as ‘borderless’ entities. However,focusing on the key challenges that face universities andspecifically UWA they are the following:

Continued on page 13

By Professor Paige PorterExecutive Dean(International Relations)

GLOBALISATION, INTERNATIONALISATION

AND UNIVERSITIES

GLOBALISATION, INTERNATIONALISATION

AND UNIVERSITIES

every picture tells a story… · 6/26/2000 · publication will resume on july 24 (copy deadline...

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