Southern Cross University

Southern Cross University

Motto	A New Way to Think
Type	Public
Established	1994
Chancellor	The Honourable Justice John Dowd AO, LLB (Sydney)
Vice-Chancellor	Professor Paul Clark
Undergraduates	11,359
Postgraduates	2,733
Location	Lismore, Coffs Harbour, Tweed Heads , NSW , Australia
Website	www.scu.edu.au

Southern Cross University (SCU) is a University based on the Mid North and North coast of New South Wales, Australia. It is a dynamic regional University with around 14,000 students, just under half of them studying at the University's primary campus in Lismore. The other campuses are located at Coffs Harbour and Tweed Gold Coast.

The University is the country’s seventh largest provider of distance education. It also has international students from more than 50 countries. More than 700 students are enrolled on-campus and with on-shore partners in Australia, with a further 1300 enrolled in overseas programs.

Southern Cross University offers courses in arts and social sciences, business and tourism, health and environmental science. It has established an international reputation for excellence in business, environmental science, plant genetics, Indigenous cultures, tourism and hospitality and education studies.

History

Southern Cross University was established on 1st January, 1994, following the dismantling of the University of New England which had been established as a network university in 1989.

The original tertiary institution in Lismore was the Lismore Teachers College which was founded in 1971. This institution was expanded and renamed the Northern Rivers College of Advanced Education in 1973. Following the publication of the Australian Government White Paper on Higher Education in 1988, and its emphasis on the development of larger institutions, the Northern Rivers College of Advanced Education agreed to an association with the then University of New England and formally became a network member of the newly constituted University of New England under legislation brought down in 1989.

During 1992, in response to a submission from the Board of Governors of the University of New England, the State and Commonwealth Ministers responsible for Higher Education established an Advisory Group to consider the implications of the Board’s proposal that the network University of New England be dismantled.

The Advisory Group recommended that a new university be established in the North Coast Region of New South Wales as an academically integrated institution incorporating the current UNE network centres at Northern Rivers and Coffs Harbour, with the potential to establish additional sites at other North Coast centres as required. It also proposed that the new university develop under the sponsorship of a major metropolitan university for the first three years, while operating under its own name and Council and awarding its own degrees.

The Ministers jointly appointed an Implementation Advisory Panel to advise on the strategies necessary to give effect to the proposed new structures and announced that the successor institutions to the UNE network would be established in time for the 1994 academic year.

On 29th June, 1993, the Minister for Education and the State Minister for Education and Youth Affairs, announced the outcome of the joint Commonwealth/State review of the future provision of higher education in Northern New South Wales. The announcement included the statement that a new university would be established on the North Coast of New South Wales, which would consist of campuses at Lismore (formerly UNE-Northern Rivers) and Coffs Harbour (formerly UNE-Coffs Harbour Centre). It was subsequently announced that the new institution would be called Southern Cross University. Appropriate legislation was passed by both houses of the New South Wales Parliament in October, 1993, and received the Royal Assent on 9th November, 1993.

Professor Paul Clark assumed office of Vice Chancellor in 2004, as the University celebrated its tenth anniversary.

Campuses

Lismore

The Lismore campus is the largest and central campus of the University. It occupies 60 Ha in the North Coast area. The campus is 3 km from Lismore City's CBD.

Students love the lush and tranquil setting of the Lismore campus. Although located near the edge of rainforests and world heritage parks, Lismore is only a 50-minute drive from Byron Bay and the sea. With a population of more than 43,000, Lismore is the NSW North Coast’s regional economic and business hub. It’s also the heartland of the arts and entertainment industries and Brisbane is less than a three-hour drive away.

The Lismore campus houses the majority of the University’s academic and research units and most essential student facilities and services are available on campus.

Coffs Harbour

Students at the Coffs Harbour campus are enrolled in a wide range of prestigious degree programs from award-winning Tourism Management courses to ground-breaking programs in education, nursing, arts, information technology, business, social science, psychology and human services.

Coffs Harbour is the commercial centre of the Mid North Coast and Sydney is just one hour by air from the city’s international standard airport.

• Coffs Harbour Students Association

Tweed Gold Coast

The Tweed Gold Coast campus, on the NSW-Qld border, incorporates the latest educational delivery technology within a strikingly modern facility. The campus provides a dynamic learning environment and is undergoing rapid expand. Courses are focussed largely on business, but include tourism management, sport management, human resource management, social science and secondary education.

Sydney

The University offers its award-winning Bachelor of Business in Hotel Management through The Hotel School in Sydney, focusing on hotel operational skills and management practice and the tourism and hospitality industries.

National Marine Science Centre

Southern Cross University is also a partner in the National Marine Science Centre, located at Coffs Harbour and in the heart of the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Students complete two years of a Bachelor of Marine Science and Management at the Lismore campus. Their final year is at Coffs Harbour where they study specialist marine science units.

Structure

Governance

The University is governed by a Council, to which its Chief Executive Officer, the Vice-Chancellor, reports. This Council is responsible for the management of the University's affairs. The major academic body providing advice to Council on academic matters is the Academic Board.

The Council is chaired by the Chancellor. The Council has 19 members, including the Vice-Chancellor, the Chair of the Academic Board, six members appointed by the Minister, four members appointed by council, three elected staff members and one elected student member.

Academic structure

The institution is divided into three divisions, and a number of Schools and Colleges included within those divisions.

• Faculty of Arts
  • School of Arts and Social Sciences
  • School of Education
  • School of Law and Justice

• Faculty of Business
  • School of Commerce and Management
  • School of Tourism and Hospitality Management
  • Graduate College of Management
  • The Hotel School, Sydney

• Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences
  • School of Environmental Science and Management
  • Gnibi College of Indigenous Australian Peoples
  • School of Health and Human Sciences
    • Department of Psychology
    • Department of Exercise Science and Sport Management
    • Department of Natural and Complementary Medicine
    • Department of Nursing and Health Care Practices

Principal officers

As of 2004, the current holders of offices within the University include;

Principal Officers

Office	Name	Academic Merits
Chancellor & Chair of Council	The Honourable Justice John Dowd AO	QSJM, LLB (Syd)
Deputy Chancellor & Deputy Chair of Council	David Vincent Cody	MBBS(Syd), Ph.D, FRACP, FACC, FAFRM
Vice Chancellor & President	Professor Paul Clark	B.Sc (Hons) (Exe), Ph.D. (Exe), DipEd (Tert) (Monash), FAIP, FIICA
Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic & Quality)	Professor Zbys Klich	B.Ed (Hons) (Nott), Ph.D. (NE)
Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research)	Professor Peter Baverstock	B.Sc (Hons) (Adel), DSc (Adel), Ph.D. (WAust)
Executive Dean (Arts)	Professor Paul Thom	BA (Hons) (Syd), MA (Syd), BPhil (Oxford)
Executive Dean (Business)	Professor Neal Ryan	PhD (Public Policy), Master of Philosophy, MSc (Griffith), B Sc.
Executive Dean (Health & Applied Sciences)	Professor Jenny Graham	DipTeach (Trinity College of Music), DipOccThpy (NSWCollege of Occupational Therapy), MSc (Bradford)
Executive Director & Vice President (Corporate Services)	Mr. Malcom Marshall	BA (CCAE), MBA (CQU)