Students from 25 nations enjoy Sydney graduation
Published on 08 May, 2008
The event was a chance for the University to welcome back a former senior staff member, Professor Debbie Clayton*, as guest speaker.
Professor Debbie Clayton
Another former staff member and alumnus Dr Dimitri Kopanakis contributed with an emotional vocal performance.
Chancellor Rennie Fritschy and Vice-Chancellor Professor John Rickard officiated at the ceremony, which included a response by the graduates' representative, Pascal Lachance.
State Director's Leadership Awards were presented to Pascal Lachance, Charanjit Kaur and Farhana Islam.
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*Professor Debbie Clayton, BAppSc, CIAE, GradDipScEd, WAIT, MAppSc, Curtin has worked in the University sector and the Queensland State Government, and is currently a director of Clayton International, a private International Education Consulting Company. Debbie has amultidisciplinary background in mathematics,education and information technology and was a teaching and research academic, an academic manager and a leader in international education development at Central Queensland University for 28 years. During this time, she was involved in the development of teaching and learning models for quality multi-site, multi-mode and multi-technology program delivery and was a recipient of the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Quality Teaching. Debbie led the establishment of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education's awards for exemplar electronic teaching, and the team that developed CAPGRAPH, a graphing and mathematics package used in over 400 Australian schools, TAFEs and Universities. She has extensive experience in both onshore and offshore partnerships with International Education Services Management companies and has developed or implemented transnational education programs in Asia, Oceania and the Middle East. In addition, she has been actively involved in the Queensland State Higher Education International Initiative and Queensland Education and Training International Initiatives and participated in Ministerial Education missions to Hong Kong and China. In 2006, she was selected as the State's Higher Education representative on the Department of Education's CRICOS Consultative Committee. Debbie is an external reviewer for the Oman Accreditation Council and an Australian Universities Quality Agency auditor, whilst her board appointments have included school, education consortia, education services management and a horticultural company. She currently serves on the Board of the International Education Association of Australia and is a member of the Steering Committee overseeing the AEI funded project to develop Good Practice Guidelines for Transnational Education. She has published or jointly published over 60 works including books (with software), monographs, book chapters, refereed journal articles and several conference papers on various aspects related to international education, computer based teaching and gender issues.