STUDENT CENTRE RELOCATION
The St Lucia Student Centre will be undergoing major renovations from 29 November 2004 until 14 February 2005 to upgrade the services currently available to students from the Centre. Student Centre staff will continue to be available from the Traffic office, ground floor, level 1, JD Story. During the building phase access to the Student Centre services from the Traffic Office will be from the bus stop side of the building at level 1. Information on the upgraded services will be forwarded to all students before the commencement of semester 1, 2005.
The Student Centre team would like to apologise for inconvenience caused during this time and look forward to offering improved service in 2005.
Please note that Graduation tickets will be available from the UQ Centre, building 27A from 9:30am to 4:30pm weekdays, and up until the time of the ceremony for graduations on that day.
If you would like to discuss any aspects of the relocation please contact Kate Heffernan, Manager of the Student Centre.
GRADUATIONS
As mentioned above, all December graduation tickets for St Lucia graduands will be distributed through the UQ Centres for the first time. Tickets will be available from Ipswich, Gatton and St Lucia campuses from 29 November 9:30am - 4:30pm daily.
HIGHER EDUCATION SUPPORT ACT (HESA) REFORMS UPDATE
- The final session of HESA training in 2004 was conducted at Gatton on Friday 19th November, completing a series of training which took place during November at all University sites. Over 300 general staff, most of whom are involved in administering or advising students, attended training and the feedback has been very positive. Participants reported the training was helpful both in terms of increasing their understanding of how the reforms will impact on students and the implications for their own position responsibilities. The HESA training will be repeated at St Lucia in the week beginning 7th February 2005 and information about these sessions will be promoted in SASW and UQ Update during January.
- Staff in key sections involved in assisting students with enrolment enquiries (eg AskIT and the Student Centres) recently attended a demonstration on the new electronic Commonwealth Assistance Forms. From 1 January 2005, all students receiving some form of Commonwealth assistance (eg those in a Commonwealth supported place, those receiving HECS-HELP or FEE-Help) will be required to complete this form as part of their enrolment through mySI-net.
- Enrolments for continuing students opened on Monday 22nd November. To assist students to understand the higher education reforms the re-enrolment notice that was emailed to all students contained links to important sites. These sites included information on:
Undergraduate students http://www.uq.edu.au/study/index.html?page=21154
- A web-based 'Fees Calculator' has been developed to assist students and staff estimate the cost of a student's study for a particular semester. The tool prompts students for information about their fees status (international, domestic fee-paying etc) as well as their program level (undergraduate, postgraduate) and calculates their fees based upon individual course selections. A direct link to this tool is located on the right hand menu bar of the Program and Courses website homepage (http://www.uq.edu.au/study/), with additional links inserted on other relevant pages also. The Fees Calculator provides information for commencing and continuing students and staff may wish to familiarise themselves with this tool if they advise students on fees issues.
The Department of Education, Science and Training has developed the website called Going to Uni which is intended to provide information to prospective students on all Australian higher education providers as well as the Higher Education Reforms. The link to this site is: http://www.goingtouni.gov.au/Home.htm
Enquiries concerning the HESA reforms can be directed to Maureen Bowen (m.bowen@admin.uq.edu.au) or Anne Gilmore (a.gilmore@admin.uq.edu.au).
CHAPLAINCY SERVICES UPDATE
Brisbane Chaplains who assisted in organising the Dreaming Landscapes Global Conference at Griffith University this July, met for a celebratory luncheon at Toowong's Regatta Restaurant on Tuesday 16 November.
AUSSIE INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP PROGRAM
Preparations continue for the James Morrison Concert to be promoted by the Aussie International Friendship Program in conjunction with Chaplaincy Services. The event is planned for Monday 9 May 2005 at the UQ Centre. More details will be made available as it comes to hand.
The AIFP management committee and Chaplaincy take this opportunity to thank Kristy Gan and Shahreen Aman for the excellent job they have done as the first joint coordinators of the program. We look forward to their return in 2005.
This is not the Indian Rope Trick, but Shahreen the Snake Charmer at UQ
CHRISTMAS BREAK-UP BREKKIE
A reminder for the Christmas Brekkie for staff of the Student and
Administrative Services Division to be held on Thursday 23 December at 7:30am at Genies Cafe. Tickets are $12.50, please contact Gaylene on 52224.
BEL HECS-BASED POSTGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS
The Faculty of Business Economics & Law offers HECS-based Postgraduate Scholarships in each semester to members of the general staff who have been in a full-time continuing appointment/s within the University for a period of at least two years and who gain admission to a postgraduate coursework program within the Faculty. Applicants must apply separately for admission to the relevant program.
Applications for a Scholarship with a Semester 1, 2005 start should be submitted to the BEL HECS Scholarship Officer by 30 November, 2004. For more information, or for a copy of the application form, please contact Wendy Levkovich on ext 69061 or email: wlevkovich@bel.uq.edu.au.
UQ HISTORY IN PHOTOS
UQA S177P981 - Courtesy of the University Archives
Caption: Varsity Students' annual antics ? Air Mail Madness
[from the Queenslander Pictorial, May 9, 1935]
This photograph shows one of the floats of the annual ?Commem. Day' Procession. This ritual began shortly after World War I, where students, in a ?spirit of youthful revelry and joyous festivity', would parade down Brisbane City streets on humorous and politically satirical floats. Later in the day the Degree Ceremony would take place at City Hall, which was usually followed by a dinner and ball in honour of the newly fledged graduates.
The procession was described by some as the ?annual assault upon the taste and tolerance of Brisbane'. One tradition was the ?student crocodile' which went in and out of city stores, across streets and even through tramcars, and was described by the Courier in 1930 as "a sinuous ?crocodile' of hilarity'.
By the mid 1960s the Commem. day festivities began to appear to be increasingly an anachronism from a bygone era. The move to St Lucia and the growing size of the student population made the Commem. day processions, dinners and balls an impossibility. Police restrictions ultimately confined the processions to the University grounds and by the late 1960s the tradition had petered out.
Courtesy of the University Archives, University of Queensland Library
Class and Examination Timetabling Replacement Project
Thank you for reading Student and Administrative Services Weekly 37-04.
Authorised by the Academic Registrar