Curtin University of Technology
From Free net encyclopedia
Curtin University of Technology is a technology-focused university with its main campus at Bentley, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. It commenced operations with its current name in 1986, and was previously known as the Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT). Its current name is taken from the former Prime Minister of Australia, John Curtin.
Curtin University of Technology is Western Australia's largest university with over 37,000 students, of which nearly 11,000 study offshore. There are five main divisions at Curtin: Business; Engineering, Science and Computing; Health Sciences; Humanities; and Resources and Environment.
Curtin is regarded by many as having the premier Business School in Western Australia. The Department of Computing is renowned for high class graduates in the fields of Software Engineering, Computer Science and Information Technology. It also has strengths in other professional and vocational areas, that reflect its history (see below). Upon becoming a university, Curtin became eligible to grant doctorates by research, and to compete for research funding: while not considered one of Australia's 'big' research universities (such as the oldest universities in Sydney and Melbourne), Curtin has a growing reputation for research success in specific areas.
WAIT was formed in 1966. Its nucleus comprised the tertiary programs formerly conducted in the Perth Technical College which opened in 1900. In 1969 three more institutions were merged with WAIT: The W.A. School of Mines (originally opened in 1902), the Muresk Agricultural College (dating from 1926) and schools of physiotherapy and occupational therapy in operation since the 1950s at Shenton Park.
Curtin has several campuses outside of Perth, notably those located in Kalgoorlie, Muresk (Northam), and Miri, as well as a new campus in Sydney (2005). The first two campuses reflect the university's traditional strength in mine engineering (Kalgoorlie), and agriculture and resources (Muresk). A number of micro-campuses exist in locations such as Esperance and Geraldton, Nursing is the only course offered in Geraldton.
The Miri Campus., in Sarawak, Malaysia, is a significant development for the university. Previously many students from Asian nations have been taught in so-called offshore programs, through local non-university education providers in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. These students received Curtin University degrees, but were not formally studying 'at Curtin'. Now, at Miri, a complete campus of the university, rather than partner institutions, has been established. What merits attention is that Curtin becomes increasinglly popular in the mainland of China in recent years thanks to her accomplished marketing efforts. Curtin, the name has coincidently known as "Scientic Palace" in Chinese language. The Chinese premier WEN Jiabao chose to visit Woodside funded hydrocarbon research facility on its campus during his just-concluded visit to Australia.
Contents |
Merger plans
Curtin University of Technology and Murdoch University were engaged in a feasibility study into the posibility of a merger (June 2005). However, on November the 7th, 2005, both institutions issued a press release that such a merger will not be undertaken.
Interesting points on campus
Interesting places on campus recommended to students studying at Curtin include:
Food
- Main Cafeteria
- Located in the Guild Precinct, building 106.
- Wide range of standard dishes and large eating area.
- Provides a special for selected food on weekdays.
- Noodle house
- Located in building 104 next to Main Cafe.
- Affordable noodle and rice meals available.
- Mexican food also available.
- Simply Delicious
- Unique and stylish food available here.
- Microwave food, take away.
Image:Curtin Bookmark Cafe.jpg
- Bookmark Cafe
- Located on the first floor of the Library building, right near the Library entrance. Building 105.
- Excellent food.
- Good meeting place for students.
- The Vege Patch
- Located in building 210 (near Elizabeth Jolley lecture theatre).
- Healthy alternative on campus, with fresh salads, pastas, sushi and vegetarian meals.
- Café Angazi
- Located in building 408, the new business school area.
- The newest café to open on campus, with coffee and cakes.
Image:Curtin Kirribilli Cafe.jpg
- Kirribilli Café
- Located in building 200 (John Curtin Centre).
- "Five star modern, Australian cuisine in a sophisticated setting".
- The Basement
- Located in building 204 (Engineering building).
- Admittedly a Junk food source with extra caffeine.
- Certified Halal
- George's Kebabs
- Located before The Tav.
- Non-microwave food take away.
- Fairly popular location, usually with long queues.
- The Tav
- Located in the Guild Precinct, building 106.
- Usually has plenty of bands on Friday night as well as other times (usually advertised beforehand)
- Cheap beer and the large indoor/outdoor area allows for much enjoyment between classes.
There is also a decent set of shops 10 minutes' walk away at Manning Road and Kent Street, Karawara, where cheap barbeque chicken on rice and various other food options are available.
Image:Curtin T.L. Robertson Library.jpg
Library
- T.L.Robertson Library
- The only general library on campus, located in building 105. For more info, see the Library web site.
- Teaching & Learning Resources
- Contains resources of particular use to students studying Education, located in building 501.
Commercials
- Pharmacy
- Stocks a selection of drugs and pharmaceutical goods, such as antibiotics, paracetamol, wound dressings, etc.
- Ink Shop
Image:Curtin Abacus Lab 408.jpg
- Eye Gallery Optometrist.
- Best prices on contact lenses and solutions. Perth's cheapest frames
Computer Labs
- Abacus Lab
- General access labs located in buildings 303, 408 and 501.
- Provides PCs running Windows XP, as well as a handful of Macs and scanning and printing stations.
- See Abacus Labs web site for more info.
- Computing Lab
- Labs are located at building 314.
- Labs restricted to students undertaking Department of Computing units.
- Maths Lab
- Lab is Located at building 314.
- Labs restricted to students undertaking Department of Mathematics and Statistics units.
- CBS Labs
- Labs are located at building 402.
- Labs restricted to students undertaking Curtin Business School units.
Student Guild
Image:Curtin Student Guild Complex.jpg The Curtin Student Guild is the student representative association at Curtin University. As well as handling student representation, the Guild manages most of the food outlets on campus, runs the tavern, the second hand bookshop and the Megazone amusement centre. The guild partially finances many of the student associations on campus and run specific guild events of their own. Finally, the guild publishes Grok, the campus magazine. The Student Guild is governed by students through the Guild Council, the official spokesperson of which is the Guild President. The 2006 Guild President is Kate Meenan.
Postgraduate students are represented by Curtin Student Guild Postgraduate Student Association. CUPSA is an autonomous department of the Guild. Other departments include ISC (International Students Committee), Women’s, Queer, Indigenous, and Part Time and Mature Age. Though these departments have autonomy, they are funded by the Guild.
It is the opinion of some that the Curtin Student Guild has recently become under threat from the newly introduced legislation of Voluntary Student Unionism, which will reduce funds available to the Guild.
For more information, see the Guild website.
Student Clubs
- CEC
The Curtin Engineers Club is the largest student club at Curtin University and has many social activities designed to allow students from different engineering fields to keep in contact with each other. It comprises of the famous 'beers on the lawn', giant pub crawls and the biggest Ball of the year in conjunction with SUN, The Nurses Club. The club is affiliated with The Institute of Engineers Australia, and Young Engineers Australia providing a link to the Engineering profession with Face to Face Expo's and Conferences. The club is always working on other academic activities and services to help engineering students. Whilst it is primarily for engineering students, membership is open to anyone. For more information go to the CEC website.
- TPSA
The Town Planning Students Association is the student representative body and social club for the 100-odd students studying town planning at Curtin. Its duties and representative role for the students has become increasingly important in recent years due to the critical lack of professionally recognised urban planners in national and international cities. The TPSA regularly hold social events usually involving the consumption of alcohol with the adopted association motto being 'Planners who drink together, stick together' or 'Planners who drink together, plan better'. The Urban and Regional Planning course held at Curtin is the only undergraduate degree for urban planning in Western Australia. The Architecture and Planning building, number 201 is one of the most distinctive buildings on campus, and was designed by Public Works Architect Vin Davies, and built in 1971.
- ComSSA
ComSSA is the student academic and social club for the department of Computing at Curtin. ComSSA is well known for the social activities it runs throughout the year and provides academic services such as feedback to the department and university, computing related seminars, career expo's, etc. While Computing students are automatically ComSSA members, students from other schools and departments may also join. For more information, see the ComSSA website.
- GEOS
Geos is the social club which caters to students of Geology, Geophysics and other geology related courses in the Resource and Environment division. It regularly organizes social events, principally related to the consumption of alcohol, but often also industry and career related events. Currently, GEOS is petitioning the university to provide a student common room for Geology students.
Transportation
Bentley campus
- Car
There are several car parks around the campus, for staff and student use. Finding an appropriate parking spot, however, is notoriously difficult during the day, with students often having to resort to so-called 'temporary' (read: unpaved) parking areas. For more info, see the Parking and Traffic web site.
- Public transport
Transperth provides several bus services to and from Bentley, see Curtin University Bus Station for more details.
Branch Campus
Sarawak Campus
Image:Curtin n b.jpg Image:Paranomic curtin.jpg
Curtin Sarawak constitutes one of the fastest growing and most innovative universities in Malaysia. It continues a long tradition of providing students with a high quality of education where programs introduced have been designed in consultation with industry and incorporate real world professional experience so that graduates can be immediately effective at the workplace.
Established in February 1999 in partnership with the Sarawak Government, it is the first offshore campus of Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia and also the first foreign university campus to be set up in East Malaysia. In November 1999, Curtin Sarawak was awarded the Multimedia Super Corridor status.
Curtin Sarawak, a world-class facility campus in a garden was completed in 2002. Located in the modern resort city of Miri, it is sited on a 4,000 acre land, built at a cost of RM400 million, is architecturally designed and equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities incorporating sophisticated superior information technology linkages with easy access to the resources of Curtin, Western Australia.
Located 3km from the main campus, Curtin Village, an exclusive custom-designed student accommodation with 24-hour security service was built complete with wireless network service. Free shuttle service to and from the University is provided to the Curtin Village student. The Curtin Village is an apartment style living for six individuals with five bedrooms, three baths, two kitchens, a living and a dining room. Each house is fully furnished with beds, wardrobes, study tables and chairs, dining table and chairs, living room furniture and television, cooking stove, refrigerator and air-conditioning. Each unit has a two-car garage and security grill for all windows and external doors.
With students drawn from various countries, Curtin Sarawak offers a unique international and cross-cultural learning experience and brings to the Asia Pacific region quality tertiary educational opportunities to acquire prestigious internationally acclaimed Curtin degrees.
Library and Information Services
The Curtin Sarawak Library and Information Service (LIS) supports staff and students in teaching, learning and research by expanding and maintaining the breadth and depth of the collections and other information resources. LIS provides assistance and instruction in using these resources by conducting training in the areas of finding and gathering relevant information, evaluating information sources and managing information.
LIS also facilitates inter-library loans with other academic, public and special libraries throughout Malaysia for Curtin’s students and staff. Students also have access to the Library at Curtin’s Bentley campus in Perth through its networked facilities. In particular, they have access to a wide range of academic publications through electronic databases of abstracts and full-text articles.
Image:LectureCur.jpg Image:EngineeringCur.jpg Image:SportCur.jpg
Information Technology
Curtin Sarawak Campus places great emphasis on utilization of modern technology to support teaching, learning and research. Significant investment in computing and networking facilities has been made to ensure facilities are state of the art. The Campus has been awarded Multimedia Super Corridor Status by the Malaysian Government Multimedia Development Corporation and is the first international university in Malaysia to achieve this status, recognising the quality of its academic programs, teaching staff and IT infrastructure.
Sarawak Campus currently has fourteen computer laboratories with four hundred PCs for student use, in addition to the terminals located in the library that provide access to the library’s online databases. Each laboratory is equipped with laser jet printers and an IT helpdesk is available to provide assistance with computer and networking facilities. All students have access to the Internet and email. Sophisticated IT linkages provide access to the resources of Curtin’s main campus in Perth, Western Australia.
Science Laboratories
Students working in laboratories within Curtin University, Sarawak Campus do so under the condition that they abide by Rules and Regulations regarding good conduct and safety. The Science Laboratory Staff requires students to read and sign a form designed to ensure that students understand the necessity of acting responsibly and with care when working in the Science Laboratory.
Surau
A prayer room for Muslim students and staff at the Sarawak Campus is located adjacent to the cafeteria and main lecture theatre.
Food Outlets
A large cafeteria with a number of food stalls is part of the Student Service Complex at the Sarawak Campus. These food outlets provide a range of Asian, Malaysian, Western and local foods for staff and students. All food outlets provide halal food.
Eating out in Miri is relatively cheap and there are plenty of choices, including excellent seafood and major fast-food chains.
Recreation
There are sports and social clubs that cater for the recreational needs of students. The sporting and recreational complex at the Sarawak Campus includes a soccer field, basketball, badminton and volleyball courts, indoor soccer, jogging track and gymnasium. Students are encouraged to make the most of campus life by participating in such games and other social activities that are organised from time to time. Students may also approach the Student Council to start up new clubs, games and social activities.
Alumni
Past Curtin attendees include:
- John Butler, musician
- Priya Cooper, Gold medal swimmer at the Sydney Paralympic Games
- Richard Curry, head of the Department of Indigenous Affairs
- Martin Dougiamas, creator of moodle
- Amanda Higgs, producer of The Secret Life Of Us
- Sheila McHale, Cabinet minister in the Government of Western Australia
- Frances O'Connor, actress
- Tim Winton, author
- John Worsfold, coach of the West Coast Eagles
- Natalia Cooper, Weatherwoman from Channel 9 News.
External links
Template:Australian universities Template:Universities in Western Australia Template:Australian Technology Network