Scholarships and Connections: Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, 1960-2010

For over fifty years Australia has welcomed students from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea to study at our tertiary institutions on government scholarships. An important premise behind the scholarship program has been the hope that the connections with Australia developed by these students will be long-lasting and mutually beneficial to Australia and partner governments. The research project ‘Scholarships and Connections’ investigates the life stories and experiences of students from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea who were sponsored for Australian-based tertiary study from 1950s-2010. By recording the personal experiences of scholarship recipients and investigating their networks of influence, this research deepens our understanding of scholarship programs and whether or not they produce outcomes that are consistent with the objective of building mutually beneficial linkages between Australia and partner countries. It examines whether the outcomes are enduring or change over time. The project is especially interested in the experiences of former scholarship-holders in positions of leadership and any networks and ongoing connections they have with Australia. This research provides a better understanding of the personal and professional networks of scholarship alumni, and encourages the sharing of experiences. The interviews will be permanently retained in appropriate repositories and drawn on for use in biographies, radio and television programs, internet applications and educational curricula for schools and leadership programs. This research promotes the values of historical research and scholarship among Indonesians and Papua New Guineans and points to the value of oral testimony from past and recent generations of mobile students for current generations facing important challenges and choices.

Questionnaire data for 'Scholarships and Connections: Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, 1960-2010'

For over fifty years Australia has welcomed students from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea to study at our tertiary institutions on government scholarships. An important premise behind the scholarship program has been the hope that the connections with Australia developed by these students will be long-lasting and mutually beneficial to Australia and partner governments. The research project ‘Scholarships and Connections’ investigates the life stories and experiences of students from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea who were sponsored for Australian-based tertiary study from 1950s-2010. By recording the personal experiences of scholarship recipients and investigating their networks of influence, this research deepens our understanding of scholarship programs and whether or not they produce outcomes that are consistent with the objective of building mutually beneficial linkages between Australia and partner countries. It examines whether the outcomes are enduring or change over time. The project is especially interested in the experiences of former scholarship-holders in positions of leadership and any networks and ongoing connections they have with Australia. This research provides a better understanding of the personal and professional networks of scholarship alumni, and encourages the sharing of experiences. The interviews will be permanently retained in appropriate repositories and drawn on for use in biographies, radio and television programs, internet applications and educational curricula for schools and leadership programs. This research promotes the values of historical research and scholarship among Indonesians and Papua New Guineans and points to the value of oral testimony from past and recent generations of mobile students for current generations facing important challenges and choices.

New money for mental health : will it make things better for rural and remote Australia?

New Australian government funding for the Better Outcomes in Mental Health Care initiative is a significant step forward for mental health, with general practitioners now able to offer direct referrals to psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists and Aboriginal health workers. Incentives for better teamwork between GPs and other mental health professionals have been introduced, but may have unintended consequences, including an exacerbation of workforce shortages in rural and remote areas. Possible solutions to these shortages include rural scholarships for students in the mental health professions; recruitment and retention of students coordinated by university departments of rural health; better access to continuing professional development; and federally funded rural positions and additional financial incentives for rural mental health practitioners.

Overcoming barriers: black African chartered accountants in 1990s South Africa

This paper examines the experiences of black Africans in South Africa who became Chartered Accountants in the 1990s. Building on previous work on marginalized groups within the accounting profession, the study relies on interviews with 22 of those who overcame steep educational, economic, racial, cultural, and political obstacles to join a profession that had fewer than 1% black Africans as members. The interviews indicate that those black Africans who did manage to become CAs in the 1990s shared many common characteristics and experiences. They and their families placed a high value on education and made tremendous sacrifices to meet the requirements to earn the CA certification. Many overcame extreme poverty in their childhoods and attended poorly equipped schools. All were exceptionally accomplished academically, most qualifying for scholarships offered only to the very top black African students in the country. Most faced educational disruptions due to boycotts and political protests that shut down schools and many black universities in the years immediately prior to the bringing down of the apartheid regime. All faced racial discrimination in housing and education. Few had ever met a chartered accountant before enrolling in university; many had never heard of the certification until that point. In the 1990s when they entered some of the major firms to meet their training requirements, they were typically not given the same opportunities as their white peers. Now that they have become Chartered Accountants, and the government has changed and instituted affirmative action policies, most find that they are often offered jobs outside of public accounting. Still only composing about one percent of all chartered accountants, in a country that is 75% black African, most believed that the main road towards overcoming this disparity is through radical efforts to equalize educational opportunities in South Africa across racial lines. Most make professional decisions based at least in part on the opportunities a given position offers towards contributing to the black community.

A performance model of speculative prefetching in distributed information systems

Previous studies in speculative prefetching focus on building and evaluating access models for the purpose of access prediction. This paper investigates a complementary area which has been largely ignored, that of performance modelling. We use improvement in access time as the performance metric, for which we derive a formula in terms of resource parameters (time available and time required for prefetching) and speculative parameters (probabilities for next access). The performance maximization problem is expressed as a stretch knapsack problem. We develop an algorithm to maximize the improvement in access time by solving the stretch knapsack problem, using theoretically proven apparatus to reduce the search space. Integration between speculative prefetching and caching is also investigated, albeit under the assumption of equal item sizes.

A “partnership in teaching excellence”: ways in which one school-university partnership has fostered teacher development

This paper reports on some of the factors that contribute to an effective partnership between an urban Australian university and a State Department of Education. The partnership, currently in its third year of implementation, entails as a key purpose the development of school Centres of Excellence which contribute to the preparation of pre-service teachers. The foundational aims of the partnership include addressing the gap between theory and practice, facilitating pre-service teacher recruitment and providing a guarantee of future employment for identified Faculty of Education students through the provision of pre-service teacher scholarships. Data for the study were collected via two program reviews, conducted at the end of the first and third years of the program. Findings point to ways in which the partnership has enhanced pre-service teacher engagement and learning and also indicate ways in which partners in both institutions might further strengthen the partnership.

Interview with Mustakim Adipradja

Mustakim Adipradja is an Indonesian who studied Architecture in Australia at the University of Melbourne in the 1960s. He married an Australian, has travelled the world and worked in Australia, Singapore and Indonesia. The interview is conducted in Indonesian by Dr Ahmad Suaedy from the Abdurrahman Wahid Center for Interfaith Dialogue and Peace at Universitas Indonesia and was recorded on 2 January 2014. This set comprises: An interview recording in two parts, a transcript of the interview in Indonesian, a transcript of the interview translated into English.

Interview with Dr Fitra Roman Cahaya

Dr Roman Cahaya is an Indonesian university lecturer who studied at Curtin University in Australia on two occasions, one in 2005-2006 when he completed a Masters degree, and one in 2008-2012 when he obtained a PhD. Both periods of study in Australia were on Australian Development Scholarships. The interview was conducted in English by Dr Jemma Purdey of Deakin University and was recorded on 28 May 2014. This set comprises: an interview recording, a timed summary, and a photograph.

Interview with Inge Christanti

Inge Christanti is an Indonesian who studied at Curtin University in 2004-2006. She studied on an Australian Agency for Intenational Development (AusAID) Scholarship and completed a Masters in Human Rights Education. The interview was conducted in Indonesian on 30 May 2014 by Dr. Ahmad Suaedy of the Abdurrahman Wahid Centre for Inter-faith Dialogue and Peace at Universitas Indonesia. This set comprises: an interview recording, a transcript of the interview (also in Indonesian), and a photograph.

Interview with Elisabeth (Nophie) Dewi

Elisabeth (Nophie) Dewi is an Indonesian who studied at Victoria University in 2006-2010. She studied on an Australian International Development Assistance Bureau (AIDAB) Scholarship. The interview was conducted in English by Dr Jemma Purdey of Deakin University and Dr Ahmad Suaedy of the Abdurrahman Wahid Centre for Inter-faith Dialogue and Peace at Universitas Indonesia. The interview was recorded on 30 April 2014. This set comprises: an interview recording, a photograph, and a timed summary.

Interview with Rebecca Emori

Rebecca Emori is a Papua New Guinean who studied at the University of Sydney in 2011-2012. She studied on an Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) Scholarship and completed a Masters in Health Research. The interview was conducted in English on 9 July 2014 by Dr. Musawe Sinebare of the Pacific Adventist University. This set comprises: an interview recording in two parts, and a timed summary.

Interview with Dewi Fajarningsih

Dewi Fajarningsih is an Indonesian who studied at The University of Queensland in 2009-2010. She studied on an Australian Development Scholarship (ADS) and completed a Master of Biotechnology. The interview was conducted in Indonesian on 13 May 2014 by Dr. Ahmad Suaedy of the Abdurrahman Wahid Centre for Inter-faith Dialogue and Peace at Universitas Indonesia. This set comprises: an interview recording, a transcript of the interview in Indonesian, a transcript of the interview translated into English, and a photograph.

Interview with Samson Akunaii

Samson Akunaii is a Papua New Guinean who studied in Australia at James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland 1987-1989. He was awarded an AusAID scholarship through his employer the PNG Institute of Medical Research (IMR) and completed an MBA. His wife and three daughters accompanied him to Australia. He returned to Goroka in PNG and currently works in Corporate Affairs for the IMR. The interview was conducted by Dr Jonathan Ritchie of Deakin University and Dr Musawe Sinebare of Pacific Adventist University. The interview was recorded on 9 July 2014. This set comprises: An interview recording, timed summary of the interview, and photograph of Samson Akunaii.

Interview with Lily Yulianti Farid

Lily Yulianti Farid is an Indonesian who studied at Melbourne University on two occasions. The first was in 2001-2003 when she completed her Masters Degree on an AusAID scholarship. The second period of study began in 2010 and is currently ongoing as she aims to complete her PhD. Both of the degrees are in Gender Studies. The interview was conducted in English by Dr. Jemma Purdey of Deakin University on 24 February 2014. This set comprises: An interview recording, a photo, and a timed summary.