Former CQU (then Capricornia Institute of Advanced Education - CIAE) teaching graduate, Professor David Battersby, has just been appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ballarat.

With a working class background, Professor Battersby was the first-ever university student in his family. And it was in Rockhampton, back in the 1970s, where he began this life-changing, higher education experience.

Enrolling in a teaching program at the CIAE, he felt excited and nervous about the road that was ahead, but also felt very privileged. Professor Battersby was amongst students of Whitlam’s “free education” era which gave students from less affluent backgrounds the chance to go to university or teacher’s college.

However, the CIAE was to change his life in more ways than one. It was here he met his wife-to-be Kennece Coombe, who also was studying teaching.

Although Kennece went on to become a teacher, Professor Battersby’s ambitions changed after it being suggested by his lecturers that he could aim for a more academic career.

At this time the CIAE could only offer students diploma qualifications, so after graduating he went on to gain full degree qualifications through the Canberra CAE, the only college in the country at the time offering these qualifications.

So with a Diploma of Teaching and a Bachelor of Education by the end of 1975, the professor took his young family to New Zealand where Kennece taught, and he began an Honours degree. This later led to a PhD from the University of Waikato in New Zealand and a career as an academic by the age of 26.

He worked in New Zealand at Massey University for a period of 8 years, before returning to Australia in various senior appointments, including Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Head of Campus and Dean of Faculty, at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in New South Wales over nearly 2 decades.

Kennece also went on to be a primary school principal, completed her Masters and PhD in Education and for 2 decades was a senior academic in the Faculty of Education at CSU and now holds an adjunct appointment with CSU.

Professor Battersby is the recipient of awards from the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Scheme, the Commonwealth Relations Trust, the Australian-Japan Foundation and the British Council. He has undertaken consultancies for UNESCO and the OECD and a number of government agencies.

Also of interest, is that Professor Battersby is CQU Associate Professor Leone Hinton’s brother.