The University of Queensland has been awarded $350,000 funding for two new projects to benchmark teaching of biotechnology in Australian universities and for teaching large classes.
UQ attracted the funding in the latest round of the Australian Universities Teaching Committee (AUTC).
o The project to benchmark biotechnology teaching nationally and internationally has attracted $200,000 funding. It will be a collaboration between the University of New South Wales, The University of Queensland, and Flinders University. Each institution will make substantial in-kind contributions.
Chief project investigators will be Professor Peter Gray (UNSW), Associate Professor Ross Barnard (UQ) and Associate Professor Chris Franco (Flinders).
Dr Barnard said there had been an explosion in the basic sciences underpinning biotechnology.
"It is critical for Australia to keep up with these developments and to adopt policies that support the growth of new industries," he said.
"In the USA and more recently Europe, these developments have led to a rapid expansion in the number of start-up biotech companies and a tremendous growth in investment in R&D.
"These start-ups are concentrated in areas of research excellence and rely heavily on the strong research/teaching universities to provide staff and intellectual capital. In the short to medium term, Queensland should be well positioned to benefit from this revolution, with a concentration of biotechnology infrastructure and a supply of local talent."
Dr Barnard said the three universities had a proven track record in biotechnology education.
"UQ is a leader in this area and first introduced the Bachelor of Applied Science (Biotechnology) in 1986," he said. "In 1999, this became the Bachelor of Biotechnology. We now offer a suite of postgraduate coursework programs in biotechnology which involves significant teaching and content input from industry and have a strong emphasis on intellectual property management and commercialisation. In 2001, these postgraduate courses are being offered on a HECS basis to local students."
Flinders University offered a comprehensive four years Honours course in biotechnology in 1991. UNSW had offered a major in the science program since 1977 and introduced a four year professional degree course, the Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology, he said.
Dr Barnard said the project would use surveys and interviews to assess the current status of biotechnology teaching in Australian universities and to internationally benchmark these activities against international best practice.
"We plan to assess employment trends and needs for the emerging biotechnology industry in Australia," he said. "This will allow suggestions to be made regarding changes and improvements needed in the teaching and learning process, including curriculum design and modes of delivery."
The researchers will focus on a small set of exemplary universities overseas as benchmarks. They will also approach a set of Australian and overseas biotechnology companies to survey the experiences, attitudes and desires of employers and the graduates they have hired. Australian biotechnology companies will be surveyed on their future requirements for graduates and for any difficulties they foresee in attracting suitable employees.
Dr Barnard said the project material would be compiled into a report by December 2001 which highlighted examples of best practice in biotechnology teaching.
The UQ biotechnology web site address is: http://biotech.facbacs.uq.edu.au/
o A $150,000 project to identify and support effective methods of enhancing learning in large classes will be based at The University of Queensland. It brings together expertise in professional development through the University's Teaching and Educational Development Institute.
The project will be led by UQ Teaching and Educational Development Institute Director Denise Chalmers, and by Professor Deborah Terry and Dr Ottmar Lipp of the School of Psychology.
Many team members are winners of Excellence in Teaching Awards or nominees for Australian Awards for University Teaching, including the winner of the 2000 Prime Minister's Australian Award for Individual University Teacher of the Year, Professor Ron Weber.
Ms Chalmers said UQ had introduced a number of innovative strategies to effectively teach students in large enrolment classes. These included tutor training, Peer Assisted Study Sessions, interactive tutorial classes, team teaching and assessment, computer-based teaching and learning, and innovative curriculum design.
"The project plans to identify emerging issues, practical teaching strategies, examples of good practice, national and international developments and strategies that have been adopted by universities to deal with teaching of large classes.
"We will then focus on disseminating information and skills to enhance the quality of the teaching of large classes in Australian universities in an effective an sustainable manner," she said.
Media: Further information, contact Associate Professor Ross Barnard (07) 3365 4612, Professor Peter Gray telephone 0419 29 2261 or Associate Professor Christopher Franco, telephone (08) 8204 5764 or Ms Denise Chalmers, telephone 07 3365 2899.
Or email: communications@mailbox.uq.edu.au
