Obiter dicta by Professor Gavin Brown AO

Making a choice

3 January 2003

This is a special edition of the University News welcoming potential new students to the campus. There is no question that it provides a remarkably attractive location for study, combining 150 years of tradition with modern new facilities.

The real question, however, is what goes on here and how that matches your ambition. It is very important to choose a program which you will enjoy while bearing in mind what future opportunities it will offer. Fortunately the University of Sydney offers one of the most comprehensive ranges of courses in the country.

Side by side with breadth of choice comes the quality of the offerings based on three key factors.

The first of these is a research-intensive environment. You are able to learn from staff who are themselves defining new knowledge by making research discoveries. For the fourth year in a row, Sydney University won most competitive funds from the Australian Research Council, well ahead of Melbourne which gained 60 per cent of our total and UNSW which achieved 40 per cent. The two major prizes for young scientists at the Prime Minister's awards came to Marcela Bilek and Joel Mackay of this university while Liz Harry gained the Eureka Prize for scientific research. Glenda Sluga from history was awarded the prestigious Crawford Medal by the Australian Academy of the Humanities, an award given to an outstanding scholar in the early stages of their career.

Secondly we are committed to translating the excitement of creative work to the classroom setting. At a recent seminar reporting on progress with our program to enhance the first year experience, it was emphasised that the challenge is to infuse the learning environment with the spirit of research enquiry right from the start. The achievements of our teachers have been recognised by award recognition at both State and Federal level. The University believes in continuous improvement through student feedback.

The third important feature which must not be under-estimated concerns the contribution made by your fellow students. Sydney is the first choice of most students and that, in turn, not only makes the learning environment more challenging and encourages employers to recruit here, it also ensures a lively and varied student life. Yet again the New South Wales Rhodes Scholar was chosen from here and, for the fourth consecutive year, Sydney won the Australian Student Games. Sydney graduates include the President of the World Bank, the President of the Royal Society, the Prime Minister and both the Chief Justice of Australia and the Chief Justice of New South Wales. Our more recent graduates are making their mark in Australia and around the world.

The University of Sydney continues to build on its strong international networks and provides many opportunities for its students to undertake some of their program overseas. As well as traditional links with the leading British universities and new relationships in China, we now have joint degrees with Paris and increasing exchanges with the United States.

I am very confident of the quality of what we provide and I want to welcome ambitious students who seek a challenging opportunity and are prepared to check out our claims for themselves.