House of Assembly Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1) 52 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Carnegie Mellon University CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY Mr PISONI House of Assembly Unley CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY Mr PISONI (Unley) (14:44): I will just interrupt the Premier tweeting to ask him a question. Will the Premier now provide the answers to questions I asked about enrolments and accreditation at Carnegie Mellon University on 1 July this year? On 1 July this year, I asked the Premier if he could confirm that there were fewer than 20 students enrolled at Carnegie Mellon for the 2010 midyear enrolment and why the two degrees offered by Carnegie Mellon's Adelaide campus are not accredited by the Chinese Ministry of Education and Training. The Premier promised to bring back a report to parliament, yet has failed to do so. The Hon. P.F. Conlon interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order, the Minister for Transport! The Hon. M.D. RANN House of Assembly Ramsay Premier Minister for Economic Development Minister for Social Inclusion Minister for the Arts Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:45): My advice is that CMU's Heinz College is historically significant as Australia's first prestigious overseas university and a cornerstone of the state's university precinct, which has grown to include Cranfield University, University College London, and the Torrens Resilience Institute, which is also the Royal Institution of Science. Members would probably be aware that the global ratings came out last week on universities worldwide. They have changed. I have to say they have changed. For years it has been Harvard No. 1, Cambridge and then Yale; now it is Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, University College London, which— Mrs REDMOND House of Assembly Mrs REDMOND: Point of order, Madam Speaker. Standing order 97 on relevance—the question was about the number of students enrolled and the accreditation of one specific university that has had millions of dollars of government money poured into it. The Hon. P.F. CONLON House of Assembly The Hon. P.F. CONLON: On a point of order, rule 97 is about how you ask questions, not how you answer them. The Hon. M.D. RANN House of Assembly The Hon. M.D. RANN: When I was in India last week— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. P.F. Conlon interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order, Minister for Transport! I'm sure the Premier will think very carefully about his answer. The Hon. M.D. RANN House of Assembly The Hon. M.D. RANN: It was very useful, in telling people and students, to send the message across about us as a destination as a university city, that we can say that we are the only city in Australia which offers Australian, US and British degrees. There is no doubt that Carnegie Mellon and UCL are absolutely critically important in raising our stakes and our status as an international student city. CMU Heinz scholarship agreements are active in 10 countries throughout Asia, South East Asia and Latin America, with more multi-year agreements currently being negotiated. I am told that enrolments have been increasing at an average of 20 per cent to 30 per cent per year. I am advised that in January 2010 the Heinz College's campus in Adelaide admitted its largest intake of full-time students to date. Heinz, I am told, has graduated over 180 students since its inception in 2006, including one of the largest groups in August this year. CMU Heinz has hired 25 Australian faculty and staff, and students have contributed over 20,000 hours of pro bono work to a range of community and business projects.