Sister State Visitors
17 December 2005
A recent visit to the University by a delegation from
Queensland's USA Sister State, South Carolina (Sunshine Coast Daily
10/12/2005) reinforced to me the sorts of challenges we face as a
rapidly growing regional institution in Australia. In the US, many
of the regional campuses were established as 'Land Grant
Universities'. Part of the establishment charter was very generous
allocations of freehold land that these universities have been able
to develop, trade or sell to progress core business, such as
establishment of new buildings.
It's a situation that would be very handy to us at present. We
have rapid growth in student demand and a parallel allocation of
new Commonwealth funded student places. This is a very healthy
situation to be in both for the University and the region. The
Commonwealth funding, however, covers the cost of teaching students
and not the buildings to house them, or the major equipment items
required to service expensive discipline areas such as the sciences
and health.
We face a growing challenge regarding funding for the
infrastructure that is essential to accommodate growth in student
numbers, and the expansion of program offerings. Further
development of the campus is critical to ensure quality education
and research outcomes for the community.
There has been some very welcome support on this front of late,
with an allocation of $1.5 million from the State Government and $2
million from the Commonwealth Government towards the construction
and fit-out of the new Science Building. This is a $13 million
project in total and a major financial commitment for the
University.
The South Carolina visit also had me thinking about the
differences between the private financial support for Universities
in the US versus Australia. Much of the pioneering wealth generated
in the US during the 1800s and early 1900s stayed in the country
and a tradition developed of strong sponsorship for the university
sector. The same was not generally true for Australia. The
squatters took much of their wealth back to Europe, and besides,
few universities were established until relatively recent
times.
At USC a quite outstanding relationships is developing between
the University and its community. The University Foundation, a
vital fundraising arm for the University, takes responsibility for
developing projects of this sort. The Annual support from the
community continues to grow with a greater awareness of the
opportunities to help with the growth of the Campus as well as the
ensuing commercial and life-style benefits to the region.
An example of this is the Art Gallery which was supported by over
$0.5 million in community donations. The new University Art Gallery
has been a means of generating a wider community interest in both
the arts and the University, with the result that many people from
the region who have previously never envisaged that they would have
links with a University, have discovered a whole new focus. In fact
a Queensland Government report from 2004 listed the University
Gallery as having the highest recorded percentage of educational
visitors of any gallery or museum in Queensland.
And so, the community and the region are discovering that there
are many ways to become involved in their local University, and
increasingly are developing a pride of ownership. The events
planned for our Ten-Year Celebrations which commence next year,
will be interesting, challenging and creative, and hopefully will
evoke an even greater interest.
Professor Greg Hill is Acting Vice-Chancellor of University
of the Sunshine Coast in the absence of Professor Thomas.