From the Vice-Chancellor

Deciding to stay in Adelaide was one of the easiest decisions I've had to make in years.

As you may be aware, the University's Council has extended my contract for a further five years, until mid-2012. I'm very grateful to Council for doing so!

Becoming Vice-Chancellor of the University of Adelaide has been a wonderful experience. It's been a lot of hard work, as any vice-chancellorship is, but I'm extremely proud of how the University has flourished over these past four years.

The University of Adelaide already had an excellent reputation when I first joined as Vice-Chancellor, especially for its research, but there were many areas that I hoped to build on or develop at the time.

I set out to ensure that the institution had a secure financial base so that it could continue to build on its teaching and research activities, and I'm pleased to say that this was achieved within a relatively short period of time, which bodes very well for the future.

I also set out to strengthen the University's engagement with the community, and to increase the number of international students, broadening the countries from which they are drawn and the disciplines that they study. This has been achieved - with remarkable results in some cases - and I hope to see more growth in these areas in the coming years.

Of course, all of this could not have been achieved without the collective efforts of a great many people, and I thank them all for their contributions. The quality of our academic and non-academic staff, as well as our students, never ceases to amaze me. It has been a pleasure to be the Vice-Chancellor of a University with such quality brimming from all quarters (and all campuses).

So what does the future hold?

The University will continue to respond to the needs of the community, business and government by delivering innovative programs that satisfy South Australia's strategic aims. We will continue to seek new markets abroad, and to grow the participation in higher education among South Australians. We will capitalise on our excellence in research and become more widely regarded for excellence in education. We will continue to seek new partnerships in Australia and overseas.

It's important to me that the University of Adelaide continues down a path of being widely recognised as an outward-looking university. In 2003, I set out to reposition the University to respond to the new challenges facing higher education in Australia and overseas. A key objective of this reform is to ensure the University plays an increasingly prominent role on the international stage.

Having a global outlook will greatly benefit our students and the South Australian community as a whole. We live in an internationalised society, which is why the University's outward-looking approach to education is so important to the future of our graduates and our community.

I'm looking forward to tackling the future and helping the University to grow. It's already been a very busy four years - but there's so much more to be done! I'm glad that I have been to be given the opportunity to stay here in Adelaide as your Vice-Chancellor, so that we can continue the good work together.

PROFESSOR JAMES A. McWHA
Vice-Chancellor and President