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University Highlights: Sichuan Year-Abroad Student’s Photographic Journey, U of Queensland’s Biofuel Research, Swinburne’s Rise In Good Guide, U of Stirling’s Student Satisfaction Up

Submitted by admin on September 8, 2010 – 12:39 pmNo Comment

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Asia

Sichuan University Year-Abroad Student Posts Video Photo Collage

Amanda Bolduc, a student from the University of North Carolina – Wilmington who studied at Sichuan University during the past year, recently shared a photographic journey of her time in Chengdu, China, attending Sichuan University.

Bolduc, who received a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study abroad, said previously that studying overseas became a priority while she was in college. “I know that I will have college loans and expenses to pay once I graduate, so I have to make the best of the time I have while I’m in college,” she says, “not to mention that I honestly don’t know if I’ll get to do anything like this ever again.”

During her time abroad, Bolduc experienced many historic sites and excursions in and around Chengdu, as well as during extensive travels in Asia, which took her to Japan, Thailand and Tibet.

For more on her journey, view the video above.

Australia

University of Queensland Research On Aviation Biofuel Attracts Funding

A University of Queensland-led global consortium that aims to produce environmentally friendly aviation fuel from algae is one of four UQ research projects recently awarded a total $6.48 million in state government funding.

The grant means UQ’s St Lucia campus will become the base for world-first aviation biofuel research, which has airlines Boeing, Virgin Blue and United States-based green energy company Amyris as backers.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh announced the funding — including $2 million to the aviation fuel project — in Chicago at Bio 2010, the world’s biggest biotechnology conference.

UQ won almost half of the $13 million that was awarded under the National and International Research Alliances Program. Funding is going to two of UQ’s algae-sourced biofuel projects, and two medical projects – one on dengue fever, and one on repairing spinal cord damage.

The UQ projects receiving funding are:

• $2 million for Professor Lars Nielsen’s Queensland Sustainable Aviation Fuel Initiative, which is looking at several ways of producing bio-derived synthetic paraffinic kerosenes (bio-SPK or bio-jet-fuel), in work being done at UQ’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology.

• $1.48 million for Associate Professor Ben Hankamer’s research at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience into high-efficiency microalgal biofuel systems that aims to produce a range of biofuels through “photo-bioreactors”.

• $1.95 million for Professor Scott O’Neill’s advanced work on curbing the spread of deadly dengue fever by shortening mosquitoes’ life cycle (work that also has won backing from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation).

• $1.05 million for Professor Andrew Whittaker’s nanotechnology study at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, which aims to mobilize the body’s own healing abilities to regenerate and repair damaged spinal cord cells, work being done in conjunction with the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.

Swinburne University of Technology Recognized By 2011 Good Universities Guide

Swinburne University of Technology‘s excellence in learning and teaching has been recognized in The Good Universities Guide 2011. The guide has rated Swinburne the best university in Victoria for graduate satisfaction, continuing a successful track record of being best in Melbourne in 2007, 2008 and 2010.

“Over the past five years the university has increased its research intensivity, staff qualifications, teaching quality and graduate satisfaction ratings, while at the same time improving entry flexibility and positive graduate outcomes, ” said Professor Ian Young, Swinburne’s vice-chancellor, in a university news article.

The University has been awarded a five star rating across measures for:

• Teaching quality
• Producing graduates with generic skills
• Graduate satisfaction
• Staff qualifications

The guide also awarded Swinburne four stars for research intensivity, among the top three in Melbourne.
The Good Universities Guide is an annual comparison of universities and private higher education providers in Australia, rating universities in a number of important categories.

Europe

Stirling in UK Top Ten for Student Satisfaction

Satisfaction levels for University of Stirling students have risen for the third year in a row, according to the National Student Survey, putting Stirling in the United Kingdom’s top ten of comparable universities.

“I am delighted that so many students continue to rate their experience of Stirling so highly,” said Neil Keeble, senior deputy principal professor. “Student feedback and input is vital and this independent survey is a useful indicator of how well we are doing in our commitment to improving the student experience. However, we can always aim higher and will be looking closely at the detail of this year’s survey, taking action and making improvements in response to what our students are saying.”

The National Student Survey measures satisfaction by asking final year students to rate a range of criteria from teaching to IT. In answer to the key question, 89 percent of Stirling students said they were satisfied with the overall quality of their course, up from 88 per cent last year and 86 percent two years ago.

The latest figures rank Stirling equal third in Scotland with Aberdeen, just behind St Andrews and Glasgow. Rated against comparable universities in the UK, Stirling is equal ninth, while the extended table including higher education institutions sees Stirling in 15th position.

The University hopes to improve its satisfaction score even further next year with its new £13.9 million state-of-the-art library, which is due to open its doors to students shortly.

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