Monash South Africa - making its mark

With a growing student population, high-quality research projects and a new teaching and seminar wing, Monash South Africa continues to go from strength to strength. DIANE SQUIRES reports.

When pro vice-chancellor Professor John Anderson looks around the Monash South Africa campus, he does so with a great sense of pride and achievement.

"You know, this place is really beginning to look like a serious, first-class tertiary institution," he says.

Professor Anderson's comment came a few weeks before the 2004 round of student enrolments and as the next phase of the campus construction was being completed. And it is impressive -- the new building means that Monash South Africa can now comfortably accommodate future expansion and provide conference and seminar facilities for a range of purposes.

Campus growth: Professor John Anderson, mingling with current students, is looking forward to continued growth at the South Africa campus.

But more importantly, the building is an indication of the significant growth of the campus.

When MSA opened in Roodepoort in the Gauteng region in 2001, there were just 54 students, 20 teaching staff and two buildings. This year, about 500 students will study at the campus under 52 teaching staff.

As well as state-of-the-art seminar and tutorial rooms, a dedicated media centre and a psychology room to view human behaviour, there are now enough on-campus residences to accommodate 284 students as well as facilities for soccer, rugby, basketball, netball, volleyball and table tennis.

And while the campus may still be smaller than Monash's other campuses, as one of the first international higher education providers allowed into South Africa, its progress has been remarkable.

Professor Anderson clearly remembers the early days at the campus and recalls an anxious parent whose property overlooked the site.

"We were holding an information session, and the parent approached me to ask if the building was going to be ready on time. She had been watching through binoculars and said it didn't look as though the students would be able to start their academic year. But the building was finished in time, and her son was among our first students to graduate last year."

Professor Anderson is the first to admit that those students and their parents were brave to have committed to a university that, at the time, had not yet been fully established. Those students, who graduated in 2003, had seen themselves as pioneers, he says.

Valedictorian Mr Kai Grunwald, who found work as a business analyst in his local area within a month of finishing his degree, says he was impressed from the beginning with Monash's global positioning and the degrees it offered.

"Having international options as a young graduate in South Africa is important, and Monash certainly provided that," he says.

"I knew from the research I'd done before starting the Bachelor of Business Systems that it was something unique and of quality. But only now, having entered the business world, do I realise its value, because it has provided me with such a broad base of knowledge and relevant business technology skills.

"What is gratifying is that the benefits I believed would come from studying at Monash have materialised."

As well as its reputation for delivering high-quality education, Monash South Africa has quickly gained recognition for its community engagement and its commitment to making a difference in Africa.

Professor Anderson says academics at the campus have developed a reputation for quality and insightful research that is relevant to the community, from examining different communication methods to gaining a better understanding of the effects of farming on land throughout South Africa.

"The Monash Centre for Law and Reconstruction in Southern Africa is contributing to the development of southern Africa, while academics from across the campus are working to help build knowledge on a range of cultural, environmental and technological fronts."

Meanwhile, he says, the Film and Television Short Course Unit is helping to address skills shortages within the film and television industry in South Africa by offering short courses aimed at those already working in the industry as well as those wishing to enter it.

"Additional teaching and research projects are also constantly being developed to broaden the range of activities at the campus and that seek to address community issues both at a local level and more generally," he says.

"And while Monash is contributing to the region here, the energy, diversity and vitality of Africa is also helping to enrich the Monash community, both in Australia and around the world.".

Action

For more information, visit the South Africa website.