Higher Education Conference 2015
 
E-Newsletter 21 January 2015
Early bird closing soon - don't miss out!
We know that many of you have just returned from annual leave and with the long weekend coming up, we are giving you some extra time to register for the 2015 Higher Education Conference at the early bird rate.

The early bird registration will now close next Friday 30 January (was this Friday 23 January), so take a few moments out of your day to register and enjoy the early bird rate of $1850 (normally $2100).

You can register online by clicking here.
Unprecedented line-up of international speakers

The 2015 Higher Education Conference will bring you an exciting and unprecedented line-up of speakers who are academic leaders and experts from around the world.

We are pleased to welcome Dr Michael M Crow to open the Conference with a keynote address on Wednesday 11 March. President of Arizona State University (ASU), Dr Crow is regarded as an academic innovator and leader who has been at the forefront of effective collaboration between education and technology.

Since joining Arizona State University in July 2002 Dr Crow has been guiding the transformation of the university into one of America’s leading public metropolitan research universities, an institution combining academic excellence, inclusiveness, and societal impact - a model he terms the "New American University." During his tenure, ASU has witnessed an unprecedented academic infrastructure expansion, quadrupling of research expenditures, and attainment of record levels of diversity.

Following Dr Crow, Professor Dame Julia M Goodfellow joins the panel for our plenary session, Universities: shapeshifters. Professor Goodfellow has been Vice-Chancellor of The University of Kent since September 2007 and is the incoming President of Universities UK.

Before joining The University of Kent, Professor Goodfellow was Chief Executive of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) which she joined from Birkbeck College where she had been Professor of Biomolecular Science, and Vice-Master. She was the first woman to become Chief Executive of any of the UK Research Councils. Bringing a wealth of experience to the panel, in 2011 she was appointed to both the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council and the UK Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology.

Key speakers Chief Scientist Professor Ian Chubb and Business Council President Ms Catherine Livingstone will be joined by Professor Alain Fuchs for a plenary session on the second day of the conference, Sense in our future: universities and the new era. Professor Fuchs is the Executive President of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France.

Dr Fuchs is a knight of the Order of Academic Palms (1996), member of the Board of directors of the International Adsorption Society, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. His field of research includes molecular simulation of the behaviour of confined fluids, which has resulted in a number of collaborations with industry. We look forward to his exciting contribution to the conference.

Other international speakers include Professor Colin Riordan, Chair, UK Higher Education International Unit, Universities UK and President and Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff University; Dr Jiang Bo, Vice-President of Tongi University, China and Dr Tom Corr, President and CEO of Ontario Centres of Excellence, Canada.            

A word from our sponsor
IELTS – the test developed with Australian expertise!

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is delighted to be a key partner sponsor of the Universities Australia Higher Education Conference 2015.

As we celebrate 25 years of English language testing, we acknowledge our long and proud association with Australian institutions - the original funders of the research and development of the IELTS test.

From 1989 when we were first launched by three partners - British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge English Language Assessment, IELTS has become the world's most popular high-stakes English language test. IELTS delivers results that are highly secure and a valid assessment of language proficiency.

Find out more about IELTS by visiting our website and signing up for our quarterly newsletter Expressions. Click on the video below to watch the 25th anniversary video of IELTS.
Accommodation
While there is still some more time to register for the Conference, it's best to lock in your accommodation as soon as you can. Hotels in Canberra have a tendency to book out fast when big conferences are in town.
To assist delegates, Universities Australia has secured a discounted rate for a number of premier hotels in Canberra.

The hotels for which we have negotiated special rates are:
  • Crowne Plaza
  • Novotel
  • Hotel Realm
  • Burbury Hotel
  • Hyatt Hotel
Bookings should be made by the end of January to secure the conference rate. For further details about the hotels including location, rates and links to book, click here.           
Thanks to our sponsors
Universities Australia thanks our sponsors for their support in bringing this premier conference to light.