It is an honour for me, as Vice-Chancellor, to welcome all students to the
2008 academic year. To new students, congratulations on your decision to study at The University of Queensland. For me, there will be no more important challenge over the next few years than to ensure that this institution offers you an exceptional university experience.
For students returning to the UQ St Lucia campus, you will notice a number of enhancements to teaching and learning spaces completed over the summer break. A Science Learning Centre and a Podium for Chemistry students will provide you with new spaces to work in groups and to interact more freely with your fellow students and with teachers. Two teaching rooms in the Parnell and Richards Buildings have been modernised and a number of large-capacity lecture theatres on the St Lucia, Ipswich and Gatton campuses and at the Herston site have been fitted with the Lectopia Lecture recording system which will allow you to access lecture recordings over the internet, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
You are studying at a University that is the home of Australia's most-awarded tertiary teachers and that now has a network of world-class research institutes and facilities that enable us to provide our students with research opportunities and experiences that many other universities are not able to provide. Our research facilities include the newly opened Queensland Brain Institute, the Centre for Clinical Research, located beside the Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital, and Stage One of the Centre for Advanced Animal Science at UQ Gatton. Each of these facilities helps to attract some of the world's best researchers to UQ. UQ is now positioned among the top two or three percent of universities in the world for commercialisation performance, largely due to the success of the world's first cervical cancer vaccine, Gardasil®, developed by Professor Ian Frazer and his team at UQ's Diamantina Institute for Cancer, Immunology and Metabolic Medicine.
As you prepare to immerse yourselves in your studies, I urge you also to take a little time to enjoy the vast range of social and sporting amenities on offer at The University of Queensland. You may like to visit our UQ Art Museum, located within the James and Mary Emelia Mayne Centre at the St Lucia campus, undergoing unprecedented development buoyed by recent exhibitions of Indigenous art and initiatives such as Australia's first self-portrait prize. Or you might like to soak up the beautiful surroundings of each of our three campuses while enjoying refreshment at one of the many cafes and eateries, or relax at our Olympic-standard Aquatic Centre or UQ Athletics Centre.
Again, welcome to the new academic year and seize the opportunities that come with being a part of the UQ community.
Professor Paul Greenfield, AO
Vice-Chancellor
