Created Monday, 10 October 2011 in General News

On Thursday and Friday 11 and 12 August 2011, a UCA Executive Team comprising: Barbara Green (President), Iyla Davies (Vice President), Marie Leech (Treasurer), Fiona Crowe (Immediate Past President) and Jane Williamson (Secretary) visited the James Cook University (JCU) Heads of Colleges in Townsville. The visit was the first of two that the Executive planned for 2011. The second visit will be to Canberra in November 2011.

Executive members all admitted that our busy schedules made us wonder about the value of taking two days to go to Townsville. However, careful monitoring of the weather forecast, which promised a couple of warm, balmy days, and the enthusiasm of the Townsville Heads, who provided a full schedule with opportunities for discussion with them and University senior leaders, overcame our reservations. As it transpired, we all agreed that it was a really useful visit on a number of fronts: conversations with the Townsville Heads provided opportunities for sharing and appreciation of the specific issues they faced, while getting together away from home enabled the Executive to focus on plans for UCA.

James Cook University has a number of campuses, including Townsville, Cairns and Singapore, but most of the students are based at Townsville (11,240 or 75%of the total). According to the University’s website, 1400 of the Townsville students live on campus. These students are located in:

• The independent Colleges of St Mark’s (Anglican and co-educational), the Catholic College (St Raphael wing, women only; St Paul’s and St Mary Mackillop wings, co-educational) and John Flynn (Uniting Church and co-educational);
• University housing which comprises: University Hall, George Roberts Hall, Rotary International House (self-catering) and Western Courts – a set of demountable buildings.

It was useful to meet Heads, their student leaders and visit their various Colleges and Halls. This began on Thursday evening with a tour of John Flynn College which was followed by a dinner in the John Flynn Dining Room and an opportunity to open dialogue with leaders from all the Colleges and Halls. The Friday schedule consisted of further college tours and lunch with Ms Tricia Brand (Executive Director Finance and Resource Planning at JCU).

Much of the Colleges/Hall housing stock dates from the 1960s and most has been well-maintained. However, there has been, and continues to be, considerable pressure for expansion. John Flynn College, for example, opened its first residential building in 1968 and further expansion occurred in 1979, 1992, 2005 and 2006. At the moment, the College provides 214 fully catered rooms and later this year a further 19 fully air-conditioned rooms, a gymnasium and a music room will be completed. The Catholic College has also grown and opened its St Mary Mackillop wing in 2010 to house an additional 75 students. Meanwhile, St Marks is currently awaiting the outcome of its application for NRAS funding to provide accommodation for a further 100 students on top of its existing community of 150.

Some of the new developments appear to be of high quality. The St Mary Mackillop wing, for example, is built in the shape of a cross and features interesting common spaces for study and entertainment at the centre of the cross. Most of the rooms have shared ensuites and a RA room we viewed, which had its own ensuite, was a generously proportioned at approximately 18 square metres. These rooms are more expensive than those in the other wings of the College and students are required to sign a longer contract to be in this lovely, modern part of the College.

The plans for St Mark’s expansion are also impressive. They allow for a number of individual buildings of two storeys, housing 6 students per floor with the individual facilities demanded by NRAS requirements. Inevitably, questions arose about the maintenance of community
collegiality with these arrangements but Principal, Denis McMullen, was well aware of the issue and keen to talk to Executive members about their suggestions.

The University housing quality is mixed. George Roberts Hall, for example, consists of well-planned units with three or four bedrooms, a shared lounge, kitchenette and bathroom – although sinks in the kitchenettes would be helpful! A contemporary dining room and large laundries are also on site. In contrast, some of the recent developments are less appropriate. The Western Courts complex consists of a number of demountable buildings, with air-conditioned rooms and ensuites, located on a set of former tennis courts. These rooms are small and house 112 students in total. This development was established in 2008 and was designed, according the JCU website, “to offset the closure of Western Hall, a former Residential Hall at JCU”.

As is the case at a number of university campuses, relations between Colleges/Hall and the JCU authorities appear somewhat fraught. Recognition of the considerable contributions that Colleges/Halls contribute to successful educational outcomes for their students is limited and there appear to be few opportunities for improved communications between the University, Colleges and Halls – although the University authorities have seen the value of meeting with College representatives from time to time. Denis McMullen, the organiser of our JCU schedule, sought to ensure that the Executive would meet with the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sandra Harding, and/or the Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Andy Vann, but this was not achieved. Our lunch with Ms Tricia Brand (Executive Director Finance and Resource Planning) was cordial, and probably seen as appropriate by the University as the JCU Halls of Residence sit in her portfolio, but it did not enable the kind of strategic conversation the Executive sought. Improving the channels of communication between universities and university colleges in ways that enhance understanding of the educational importance of college life is clearly an imperative of UCA and this Executive.

The Townsville visit also provided an opportunity for the Executive to discuss plans to improve the profile of UCA and provide a service to members. We agreed that:

• UCA should be represented at appropriate conferences and summits, eg the Housing Summits, Higher Education Conferences;
• The website should be populated with information of use to Heads. These could include:
o reports on human resource matters, taxation issues, carbon management plans, policy developments, and further educational opportunities, such as service learning, etc;
o training modules for student leaders, such as Resident Assistants;
o papers on matters of interest to the sector;
• Plans for the UCA’s corporate magazine should proceed expeditiously.

We parted on the Friday afternoon with the feeling that much had been achieved. Our thanks to our good friends in Townsville for making us so welcome and to Dennis McMullen in particular,for organising our schedule and driving us to and from the campus.

Jane Williamson

The Australian Research Council (“ARC”) Linkage Grant: Alcohol use and harm minimisation among Australian university students.

 This project is very much in line with University Colleges Australia's commitment to address issues of student welfare in our colleges, on our campuses and in the wider community.

The project will investigate alcohol use among both college-based and non college-based university students in Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne and Gippsland, with a view to developing a new theoretical approach to understanding harm minimisation and better strategies for achieving it.  The project will be conducted by a team comprised of university investigators from the University of Sydney, The University of Western Australia, Monash University and the University of Newcastle, and partner organisations who provide health, accommodation and social services to university students in NSW and Victoria, namely NSW Health, the Victorian Department of Human Services (VDHS), and university colleges represented by University Colleges Australia, the Association of Heads of Australian University Colleges and Halls.

University Colleges Australia has committed $30,000 in cash and $193,000 in kind support over three years. The project furthers our strategic aim to raise the profile of the Association as a peak body within the higher education sector and to address issues relevant to the Association at a National level. The Executive welcomes opportunities to consider participation in, and support of initiatives that contribute to increasing the research output of the Association.

For information in relation to the Australian Research Council, please refer to the ARC website: http://www.arc.gov.au/