Student elections are approaching

Message from Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students, Learning and Teaching) Professor Anne Cummins:

Student elections

September brings the start of Student Elections for the 2017 Student Senator, ACUNSA President and Campus Student Association leaders. Students are invited to nominate for these important representative roles and your assistance in encouraging them to consider student leadership is appreciated.

Each Campus Student Association elects a President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer who then make up the ACU National Student Association (ACUNSA), led by the elected ACUNSA President. To be considered for one of these positions students first need to be a member of their respective Campus Student Association.

The Student Senator is a member of the Academic Board and a director of the company Australian Catholic University Limited. The Student Senator does not represent students on the Senate, but rather brings an independent perspective to Senate as a student of the University. Nominees for this position are not required to be members of a Campus Student Association and can be either a postgraduate or undergraduate student. We’d like to encourage postgraduate students to nominate, as the postgrad perspective is equally valued and there has not been a postgraduate incumbent previously.

Learning & Teaching success

The University has recently received the results of the International Student Barometer/Student Barometer Survey (ISBSB) and the Good Universities Guide rankings. We achieved 5 star ratings in the Good Universities Guide for ‘Learner engagement’ and ‘Skills development’ categories under Student Experience. The 5 star rating means we’re in the top 20 per cent of all universities.

Based on ISBSB rankings, ACU ranked No.1 within Australia and is in the top 20 per cent of all universities who participated globally, under the following areas:

• Learning: Class size, managing research, employability, work experience
• Living: Internet access, worship facilities, eco-friendly attitude, transport links
• Support: faith provision, student associations
• Arrival: Internet access at my accommodation, applications to offer.

Overall, 82.6% of our domestic and international students would encourage people to apply at ACU. I would like to thank you for your contribution to these results through a commitment to teaching excellence and student engagement.

In recognition of this same commitment, a number of faculty staff members have been awarded ACU Teaching Development Grants this year. We are pleased to see their initiatives contributing to improving the quality of learning and teaching at ACU, with a strong focus on student engagement and success.

The 2016 recipients will be announced in this Thursday's edition of the staff bulletin.

With every good wish,

Professor Anne Cummins

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students, Learning & Teaching)