Monash University > News and Events > Monash Memo

Ancora Imparo, October, 2007

3 October 2007

September has been an amazing month for Monash University. I will devote this month's column to describing some of the highlights as they reflect so much of what we are trying to achieve in education, research, the student experience, community engagement and international engagement.

The month began with the opening by the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia of our campus in Malaysia, purpose-built by our partners for Monash University Sunway. It is a stunning campus in every way, with state-of-the-art facilities.  It will accommodate 4,500 students, and as we now have over 3,300 students and that number is growing rapidly, planning for stage 2 is already underway.

The outcome of the funding round for projects commencing in 2008 for the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Australian Research Council (ARC) was announced.

For NHMRC Projects, Programs and Fellowships, Monash University received $49m funding, up from $39m last year. This was the third highest after Melbourne and Sydney, although if income from affiliated research institutes was excluded from Melbourne and Sydney (or included for Monash), Monash would have been either the most successful or second most successful.

For ARC discovery grants, Monash received $27.7m, up from $17m last year -- a stunning improvement. Although fifth behind Melbourne, Sydney, ANU and Queensland, these five universities were closely grouped.

In the area of education, Monash University was awarded $10.55m of the $83m on offer in the Learning and Teaching Performance Fund (LTPF), up from around $4.5m in each of the last two years.

We do not yet have comparative data, but from last year's outcomes and knowing the total pool I expect this to be close to the highest amount awarded to any of the 23 universities which received some funding.

The great outcome in the LTPF has resulted from a lot of work to improve our educational delivery and reflects the steady improvements in the student unit evaluations and in the Course Evaluation Questionnaires. It also reflects much improved employment outcomes for our recent graduates.

In the annual ranking of MBAs by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the Monash MBA ranked as the best in Australia, the third best in Asia and the 43rd best in the world.  Most importantly, in the category of "Educational Experience and Personal Development" (based on anonymous evaluation by the graduates themselves conducted by the Economist), the Monash MBA ranked as the second best in the world   

The National Union of Students ranked Monash University in the top 3 category in Australia for the support it has provided to the student campus experience in the period following what has been known as the Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU) legislation, which abolished compulsory amenities' fees.

The inaugural "Research Matters" month -- celebrating the success of Monash researchers with a series of public lectures, a debate and showcasing higher degree students' research -- has been a great success. All the events have been very well attended.

The Music in the Round event was staged in September at Clayton by the Academy of Performing Arts and the School of Music. This event was re-launched after a gap of over 10 years, and was very popular with more than 600 tickets being sold and the performances most entertaining.

The Australian University Games concluded on Friday September 28. Monash finished a very close second to Sydney, with Melbourne a distant third. Monash won many events including the AFL football for both women and men. Another  great performance.

Finally, to round-off the month, on September 29 I signed an agreement with the President of the Chinese Aluminium Company (CHALCO) to establish the International Centre for Light Alloy Research at our Clayton campus. This agreement was strongly endorsed by the Australian Minister for Education, Science and Training, Julie Bishop and the Premier of Victoria, John Brumby. 

The signing was a very high-profile event attended by senior ministers and officials from China, and senior embassy officials from Australia as well as the Director of the Centre Professor Barry Muddle and DVC International Professor Stephanie Fahey.

Everyone involved in these educational, research, sporting and artistic achievements should feel very proud. 

Professor Richard Larkins
Vice-Chancellor

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