22 Aug: Vol 24, #12 - UWA News staff magazine - The University of ...

Vice-Chancellor’scolumnTrackingprogress on theAcademic ProfileOur Academic Profile wasdeveloped in 2000 as an integralpart of the University’s planningprocess.It was designed to provide the academicbasis for developing (and directingresources preferentially towards) areasof particular strength, importance andopportunity over a 10 year period.It set out a strategy for combininga greater emphasis on the selectivedevelopment and resourcing of particularactivities within the University, withinthe overall context of a comprehensiveteaching and research mission.This week, I provided to Senate amid-term (2005) assessment of progresstowards achieving the Academic Profilewhich particularly highlighted two keyareas.The first relates to enrolment targets.Our Academic Profile set an enrolmentgrowth target of between 20-25 per centover 10 years – with targets (by 2010) ofa total enrolment of around 20,000; anundergraduate : postgraduate mix of 70:30;and within the 30 percent of postgraduates,a mix of 18 per cent research and 12 percent coursework. This year, we have atotal enrolment of 16,987, with 76.6 percent undergraduate, 10.4 per cent higherdegree by research, and 13.0 per centpostgraduate coursework.Set against a growth rate of 12 percentsince 2001, we can conclude that ourgrowth target of 20,000 by 2010 will bemet. However, while we are likely to farexceed the 12 per cent higher degree bycoursework target, unless we continue toact to ensure we increase higher degree byresearch enrolments, we will not achieveour higher degree by research target.We have already intervened to increasethe number of higher degree by researchenrolments as a result of a review ofpost-graduate research. Initiatives includeincreasing the number of University fundedscholarships, establishing a fund to meetthe cost of fees of a number of internationalresearch students and increase in teachinginternships. However, it is likely that theimpact of these changes will take some timeto become apparent.The second issue of importance relatesto the areas of ‘strategic opportunity’ whichwere identified in the 2000 Academic Profileas: exploration, production and exploitationof minerals, oil and gas; managementof agricultural and natural ecosystems;genetic epidemiology; humanities and socialscience research program; health andbiomedicine, injury research, prevention,repair and rehabilitation; Indigenous studies;information technology, telecommunicationsand computer science; and internationalmanagement and business studies.We have found that many of these areashave advanced as a result of significantexternal funding, and the clustering ofresearch into areas of strategic opportunityis by key staffing appointments.However, we have also learned that ithas been difficult to advance many of theseareas of strategic opportunity in the absenceof general discretionary funding.We also know that although most of ourresearch and training centres fit within theeight strategic areas, relationships betweenexisting centres are not sufficiently strongto gain advantage by related centres forminga research cluster within the eight areas.In this context, formation of ‘wholeof institution institutes’ within which thecentres would work to assist in buildingresearch critical mass. Such a model hasbeen demonstrated to work successfully ina number of high-performing research-leduniversities in other parts of the world andI believe it is a structure which we shouldconsider at our University.Alan RobsonUWAnewsVice-ChancellorSmall schoolThe smallest school in theUniversity, Agricultural andResource Economics (ARE),ranks third in terms ofresearch.The Dean of the Faculty of Natural andAgricultural Sciences, Professor AlistarRobertson, described the school as “thejewel in the crown” of the faculty.“To be ranked third out of 33 schoolsis a tremendous achievement and nextyear’s Honours projects in this schoolreflect the breadth of the new faculty.They are not just agricultural projects: theschool also includes resource economics,and there is a great diversity of research,”he said.Professor Robertson was speaking at acelebration of an unprecedented amountof funding secured by Honours studentsfor their projects next year.Seven of the nine Honours studentshave external funding and the othertwo have support in kind from industrypartners.Head of School, Associate ProfessorMichael Burton, said the school usuallyhad one or two Honours studentson scholarships, but this year wasoutstanding, with the students bringing inmore than $16,000.“It’s great, not just for the financialside, but for the contacts with theprofession that are being made by thestudents and the school,” he said.Professor Robertson said it wasparticularly important that the studentshad gone out and negotiated their ownfunding because this was what “life afteruniversity would be like.”The Honours projects range froman evaluation of BankWest’s databaseon farm businesses in WA to a wastetransportation model for BHP Billiton’sactivities in the Pilbara.Matt Titmanis has $5,900 funding fromBankWest to use their extensive databaseto investigate what useful information itcontains, specifically the determinants ofprofitability, variability in profitability, andfarm efficiency. His supervisor is Dr BenWhite.Lyon McLeod has sponsorship in kindfrom BHP Billiton to look at its wasteTHE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA • 22 AUGUST 2005