He told Radio National that 'southern cappucinocrats can be mugs', he released a book about the handover of Hong Kong, he fought internal battles about quality and made a name for eJournalism.

And that's only a small number of the many aspects of Alan Knight's 8-year career at CQU.

The Professor of Journalism and Media Studies is moving on to the Queensland University of Technology at a time of great change in the higher education sector.

He recalls attending a gathering of Chinese journalism deans in June this year.

"The Chinese are becoming much better resourced. There's a huge investment in infrastructure and facilities, an enhancement of intellectual quality and a movement away from the old Marxist tradition," he said.

"The challenge for Australian universities is to hold on to qualified staff to keep up with the changes overseas".

Professor Knight is a former Australian Broadcasting Corporation journalist and producer, who specialises in international news, free speech issues and new media.

During his time at CQU, Professor Knight spent 5 years as President of Academic Board and hosted the first conference of Queensland regional universities’ Academic Board Presidents.

He was appointed as the Australian representative on the international Board of the Singapore-based Asian Media and Communications Centre (AMIC).

He joined with the Australian College of Journalism (ACJ) to open a pathway to CQU\'s online journalism courses.

As part of his duties as Academic Board president, Professor Knight had to sit on stage during many hot, slow and worthy graduations. He remembers one in particular with a wry smile.

On one occasion he leaned over the Vice-Chancellor and admitted: "I think I fell asleep during the speech". She replied: "Yes you did ... that wasn't so bad; it was the snoring that was the problem".

Photo (below): Professor Knight works with journalism students in Hong Kong. Details at: http://media.meetup.com/54/ .