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Bridging the gap between biotech graduates and industry

21 February 2007

Dr Philip MacKinnon will improve links between biotechnology graduates and industry.

Monash University is a member of a new Carrick Institute-funded project, which aims to co-ordinate the academic approaches to biotechnology teaching with the needs of industry.

The project will assist biotechnology graduates with their career plans and eventual placement within the expanding industry.

Monash project co-coordinator Dr Philip MacKinnon said there is a strong need to match the skills of graduates with the requirements of industry.

"The industry is relatively new within Australia. Presently, most biotech companies are very small, meaning there will likely be significant transformation in the industry structure. On top of that, the technology is developing rapidly, so it is critically important that tertiary educators keep abreast of the developments," he said.

Monash has joined the University of Queensland, University of New South Wales and Flinders University to create a broad academic representation to liaise directly with the industry's association, AusBiotech.

Monash involvement in the Australia-wide project was born out of an 'in-house' review of biotechnology education.

"The Monash review was itself quite innovative, being a systematic investigation of the needs for biotechnology education. We consulted the biotech industry in Victoria, talked to secondary school educators, and to other universities with biotechnology programs," Dr MacKinnon said.

"By working directly with industry representatives through the project, we're hoping to establish a framework to further develop our undergraduate course and ultimately the skills, research potential and knowledge-base of our students, with a view to ensuring graduates have the opportunities to seamlessly progress beyond University to the many careers available within the biotech industry,"

The Clayton campus played host to the first meeting of representatives from the four Universities and AusBiotech.