HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Subject Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-10-14 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

Flinders University Tonsley Campus

Ms DIGANCE (Elder) (16:02): Recently, courtesy of representatives from Flinders University—namely, David Banks (Director of Buildings and Property) and Steve Woodrow (Project Director, Tonsley)—I was invited to host a group of business leaders and secondary school principals from my electorate of Elder to visit the Flinders University campus at Tonsley.

It was fantastic to see firsthand the vision of Flinders at Tonsley, which will be a place where students interact with business and where business interacts with researchers to make new products of the 21st century in areas such as engineering, medical devices and nanoscale technologies.

We heard about and saw the ambition of Flinders unfolding as it sets out to contribute to the skills and experience needed to underpin job creation and community engagement, from inspiring students in schools to supporting commercial ventures. This will see Flinders redefine the traditional role of a higher education provider in an innovative way, blending the university into the future economic and social fabric of southern Adelaide as well as elsewhere.

Flinders University is investing $120 million in the redevelopment at Tonsley, which confirms its commitment to strong and effective teaching and collaborations with business and the community. The centrepiece of Flinders' presence at Tonsley is its new building that will house 2,000 students and 150 staff when the Flinders School of Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics, New Venture Institute, Medical Device Research Institute, Flinders Partners, Southern Knowledge Transfer Partnership, and the Centre for Nanoscale Science and Technology relocate to the site in early 2015. Included in the numbers just mentioned are around 60 academic staff spanning six disciplines, 60 postdoctoral staff, 170 research higher degree students and 150 honours students, with 35 specialised laboratories. The campus will include a main lecture theatre which will seat up to 160 students with an innovative approach to catering for those requiring wheelchairs.

In the medium to longer term Flinders will look to locate more than 6,000 students and 500 staff at Tonsley, with further high-density building. Students and staff will find a building that has been designed to have the utility and flexibility to meet the changing needs of an evolving modern workplace, while at the same time providing a personally rewarding and satisfying environment for those who work and study there.

As well as the Flinders campus, we visited the university's 2,000 square metre pod within the broader Tonsley complex. This pod is planned to house heavy engineering equipment used for teaching and research, as well as a marine tank and a large hexapod robot, which is a mechanical vehicle that walks on six legs. From our visit, it was apparent that collaboration and entrepreneurship were well at the heart of the university's activities at Tonsley, as we learned that an integral part of studying engineering at Flinders will be the opportunity to experience future employer environments firsthand through a 20-week work integrated learning placement. The close business-industry relationships are seen as essential for Flinders at Tonsley and play an invaluable role in preparing job-ready graduates.

The building was impressive even in its unfinished state, as we witnessed the building's glass facade and open ground level, allowing the building to integrate seamlessly with the surrounding precinct. The views from the building were 360° and looked out onto all aspects of the Adelaide landscape—towards the foothills, the city, the seascape, and the Finders University main campus and Flinders Medical Centre.

The internal open plan was impressive, as the imagination could visualise that the design would foster interaction and collaboration between university staff, students, industry and the general public. It is apparent that the design supports a collaborative style of learning while acknowledging the importance of casual interaction in sharing and developing knowledge. The lower two floors will have extensive shared spaces for the students, staff, local industry professionals and the public to congregate and meet.

I would like to highlight in particular the new venture institute, which extends hands-on learning experiences for students to translate their successful research into leading-edge products and services. I commend to the house anyone wishing to visit this leading academic tertiary complex to please do so.

Time expired.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT