From the Vice-Chancellor

We're about to make history for the University of Adelaide, and some of our international partners in education and our graduates are helping us to do it.

As you might know, the University is holding Open Day again at the North Terrace Campus this month, Sunday 20 August. Roseworthy Campus is also holding its Careers and Information Day on Friday 18 August. There's a lot about Open Day in this issue of the Adelaidean and also on the University's website, so please have a look at what we have in store for you - hopefully you'll find something to your liking. But more on our local activities later.

Importantly, the University will make history by holding its very first International Open Days.

Over the first weekend in September, the University of Adelaide will hold an Open Day each in Malaysia and Singapore. This represents a new element of our engagement with our education partners, graduates and friends in the South-East Asian region, and it is very exciting to be able to open the doors of the University, as it were, to our overseas communities.

The Open Day in Malaysia will be held at the Hotel Nikko, Kuala Lumpur, on Saturday 2 September, while the Open Day in Singapore will be held at the Orchard Hotel on Sunday 3 September. Each International Open Day will feature talks and seminars from the various academic faculties based on our research strengths, as well as involvement from our Development & Alumni office and our graduates in the region.

I've often written in this column about the power of education to bridge gaps between cultures and countries, and these events will play an important role in showing the wider communities in Malaysia and Singapore what the University of Adelaide offers.

For those interested in the International Open Days, there will be more information available closer to the dates.

The concept of opening the University to the wider community - both in Australia and abroad - is something that appeals to me greatly. From the moment I arrived in Adelaide to take the position of Vice-Chancellor I believed that the University was under-selling itself a bit. Years later, the University has more signage to show visitors and passers-by who we are and what we do, our grounds are more beautiful, more open and more accessible than ever before, and our marketing campaigns are really shouting to the world what it is the University is able to achieve on so many fronts.

Open Days are an extension of that. It is true that they are predominantly aimed at recruiting more students, or providing them with a better understanding of our University and what study options are available to them, but Open Days are so much more than that. They are a celebration of University life, of all of the elements that go into making this an exciting and exceptional university to study and work in.

I extend the invitation to you, the reader, whether you are a university student, staff member, volunteer, friend, graduate or just a casual reader of this publication, to see what we have in store for you at one of our Open Days - North Terrace, Roseworthy, Malaysia or Singapore. Our doors are open to you.

PROFESSOR JAMES A. McWHA
Vice-Chancellor and President