UniQuest and The University of Queensland (UQ) are delivering tailored leadership courses to more than 150 delegates from Africa, the Pacific and Papua New Guinea.
UQ, in conjunction with its specialist international development company UniQuest, is currently delivering seven AusAID funded short courses in Brisbane.
The courses are part of the Australia Awards, the Australian Government's extensive scholarship program designed to promote knowledge, educational links and enduring ties between Australia and its neighbours.
Pacific participants are attending from the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga, Cook Islands, Tuvalu, Palau, Kiribati and Papua New Guinea (PNG). African participants are from Niger, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Tunisia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Algeria, Cameroon, Liberia and Mali from Africa.
Many of the participants are high profile leaders in their own countries and include senior government officials, as well as seven Vice-Chancellors from universities in Papua New Guinea.
Ms Karen Haive, an official from the Department of Community Development, PNG, attending the Enhanced Public Policy for Pacific Islands' Ministries of Women short course said the training course would make a valuable contribution to development and gender equity in the Pacific.
"Most of us arrived for this course with either a blank page or half filled page on Public Policy Development Processes, particularly on Women's Development and Gender Equality... it has transformed and increased our knowledge and skills to appreciate the full picture of public policy development processes and cycle," Ms Haive said.
UQ's Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (International) Dr Anna Ciccarelli said the Development Awards short courses gave UQ academics an invaluable opportunity to work in international development.
"The University of Queensland is leveraging off UniQuest's long-term work in the Pacific as well as its experience in Africa and South East Asia to build an excellent point of difference for the University and our academics," Dr Ciccarelli said.
"In addition, it's an exciting opportunity to build long term linkages between UQ and future global leaders."
UniQuest International Development General Manager Mel Dunn said the company's specialist development expertise and UQ's academic, research and training excellence represented a unique combination for delivering AusAID's short courses.
"2011 was the first year AusAID ran the Short Course Awards program and UniQuest was delighted to be awarded seven short courses for delegates from Africa, the Pacific and Papua New Guinea," Mr Dunn said.
"It's recognised that the private sector and universities have an important role to play in supporting Australia's aid contributions, and UniQuest and UQ sit across these two domains.
"Our success in bringing in other private sector partners and drawing on our bilateral academic relationships will greatly contribute to the effectiveness of these courses.
"We also have the experience and expertise to ensure these courses remain focused on key development imperatives."
The UQ-delivered courses run from three to nine weeks and target the agricultural, mining, governance, education, public policy and diplomacy sectors.
They are being delivered by more than 21 UQ academics, many of whom are leading experts in their fields.
The courses have been tailored specifically to the participants' requirements, with lecturers for several courses assessing participants' requirements through pre-course visits to their countries.
Post-course, the UniQuest team will work with many participants – through in-country visits and ongoing support and networking – to help them implement their new skills when they return to their home countries.
Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) course participant, Mr Peter Awuah from Ghana, is an experienced GIS practitioner.
He said that the UQ lecturers had done an excellent job of meeting the needs of all levels of students from basic to advanced GIS skills.
"There is a very good mix of lectures, practicals and field work, with field work outcomes linking back into classroom practical exercises," he said.
"The new concepts I am learning will be most useful for my work in Ghana."
As well as Brisbane-based courses, UniQuest and UQ are delivering a Regional Diplomacy Training Program in Africa, as part of Australia's commitment to supporting Africa's development.
Photo opportunities:
1.
Date: Friday, 22 July 2011
Time: 5.30 – 7.30 pm
Venue: The Terrace Room, Level 6, Sir Llew Edwards Building (Bldg #14), The University of Queensland, St Lucia
The Honourable Karen Struthers MP, Queensland Minister for Community Services and Housing and Minister for Women, will be guest speaker at the closing ceremony for the first AusAID short course to be held at UQ: Enhanced Public Policy for Pacific Islands' Ministries of Women.
2.
Date: Monday, 1 August 2011
Time: 9.00 – 10.30 am
Venue: The Kathleen Room, Staff Club, The University of Queensland, St Lucia
The UQ Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Deborah Terry, will be welcoming 22 attendees to the short course Education Leadership and Management for Senior Managers – Papua New Guinea Higher Education Sector. Attendees include five Vice-Chancellors from PNG universities.
Media enquiries:
Mel Dunn +61 7 3365 4037
About UniQuest Pty Limited
Established by The University of Queensland in 1984, UniQuest is widely recognised as one of Australia's largest and most successful university commercialisation groups, benchmarking in the top tier of technology transfer worldwide. From an intellectual property portfolio of 1,500+ patents it has created over 60 companies, and since 2000 UniQuest and its start-ups have raised more than 282.77€ million to take university technologies to market. Annual sales of products using UQ technology and licensed by UniQuest are running at AUD3 billion. UniQuest now commercialises innovations developed at The University of Queensland and its commercialisation partner institutions: the University of Wollongong, University of Technology Sydney, James Cook University, University of Tasmania, Mater Medical Research Institute, and Queensland Health. UniQuest also provides access to an expansive and exclusive network of independent academics to tailor a consulting or project R&D solution to meet the diverse needs of industry and government, facilitating some 500 consulting, expert opinion, testing, and contract research services each year. UniQuest is also a leading Australasian provider of international development assistance recognised for excellence in technical leadership, management and research. Working with agencies such as AusAID, NZAID, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, UniQuest has developed and implemented more than 400 projects in 46 countries throughout the Pacific, South-East Asia, the Indian sub-continent and Africa. For more information about UniQuest, please visit www.uniquest.com.au.
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