News and Opportunities
Austrade update 17 August 2011
17 Aug 2011
Austrade Update provides news about recent Austrade activities of interest to the education sector.
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Australian Alumni Excellence Awards 2011 in Chennai, India
Austrade India has hosted the 2nd Annual Australian Alumni Excellence Awards in Chennai with Senator Chris Evans, Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations, presenting awards to Indian alumni for outstanding contributions in specific categories through work or study.
The awards, held on 3 August, showcased Australia’s education excellence and recognised the achievements of alumni across a diverse range of fields, including art and culture, sports, business leadership, innovation and research, community service and alumni service, as well as an honorary award.
The 2011 Award Winners were:
- Honorary Award — Mr NR Narayana Murthy, Chairman of the Board and Chief Mentor, Infosys Limited. Mr Murthy had recently received an honorary doctorate from Monash University. The award was sponsored by Curtin University.
- Alumni Award for Business Leadership — Mr Arvind Jadhav, National Aviation Company of India, is an alumnus of Curtin University with an MBA in Strategic Management. The award was sponsored by University of Technology, Sydney.
- Outstanding Young Alumni Award — Mr Sahil Shroff is associated with the media, advertising industry in India and internationally. Sahil gained qualifications at Deakin and Monash Universities. The award was sponsored by Monash University.
- Alumni Award for Innovation and Research — Dr Jayaraman Gowrishankar, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, completed his PhD at University of Melbourne. The award was sponsored by Perth Education City.
- Alumni Award for Arts and Culture — Mr Raghav Sachar is a singer, musician and actor who studied music and composition at Monash University. The award was sponsored by Macquarie University.
- Outstanding Australia Awards Endeavour Alumni — Ms Ameeta Wattal, Principal, Springdales School, Delhi, was the recipient of an Australian Government Endeavour Executive Award in 2010. The award was sponsored by Australian Education International.
- Alumni Award for Sports — Mr Sanket Shetty, Sports Education Development India Limited, holds an MBA from Edith Cowan University. The award was sponsored by Deakin University.
- Alumni Award for Community Service — Mr Karthikeyan Vaitheeswaran, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), gained his MBA at Victoria University. The award was sponsored by the University of Western Sydney.
- Distinguished Alumni Service Award — Mr Ravi Lochan Singh, Managing Director, Global Reach, is an alumni of Bond University with an MBA in International Marketing. The award was sponsored by Macquarie University.
Left to Right: David Holly (Consul – General, Chennai), Sanket Shetty — Sports award, Akash Mehta (collected award on behalf of Raghav Sachar – Arts and Culture), Vinod Mirchandani (collected on behalf of Dr J Gowrishankar – Research and Innovation), Ameeta Mulla Wattal — Outstanding Australia Awards Endeavour Alumni, Senator the Hon Chris Evans, Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations, Sahil Shroff — Outstanding Young Alumni, Karthikeyan Vaitheeswaran — Community Service, Mr Balakrishnan Sundararajan (collected the award on behalf of Narayana Murthy — Honorary Award), Ravi Lochan Singh — Distinguished Alumni Service Award
Future Unlimited brand showcased at Gujranwala, Pakistan
Austrade Pakistan recently participated in the Gujranwala Business Centre Education Expo, showcasing the Future Unlimited brand. With a large number of local exhibitors and education agents present, the activity reflects a desire to expand Austrade’s network more broadly into tier-2 Pakistani cities to promote Australian education.
The expo was well attended by students, school groups and visitors, including parents and businessmen. Most were excited to see an education expo in the city, given that residents previously have had to travel an hour and a half to Lahore to access similar events.
Gujranwala is an ancient city in the northeast of the Punjab province. It ranks as the third-largest industrial centre in the country (after Karachi and Faisalabad) and is supported by an abundance of raw materials and skilled labour. Major industries include light engineering, textiles, leather, ceramics, cutlery, and electrical engineering.
Gujranwala plays a major role in supporting Pakistan’s economy, incorporating 15 000 smaller cottage businesses and approximately 6000 small-to-medium businesses. It is the main centre of electrical and engineering goods manufacturing industries in Pakistan, which includes the production of electric fans, domestic utensils and appliances, and various types of electrical and industrial machinery.
Left to right: Imran Saeed, BDM Austrade, Lahore; Azhar Shah, Country Manager, Austrade Pakistan; and Rabia Anwar, Volunteer Gujranwala Business Centre.
‘Science for Our Future’ takes centre stage in Singapore
Australian Nobel Laureate Professor Barry Marshall and a team of renowned scientists recently visited Singapore to share with students their views on why society needs more science graduates to tackle the big issues confronting our planet. The three-day festival attracted great interest among students and academics.
To promote a greater awareness of science and its potential to benefit society, the University of Western Australia (UWA) recently undertook the three-day ‘Science for our Future’ Festival, which attracted a lot of interest among students and schools in Singapore.
The team of scientists included: Nobel Laureate Professor Barry Marshall; former Western Australia Premier and former Australian Federal Health Minister Professor Carmen Lawrence; winner of the 2010 ATSE Clunies Ross Award Medical Physicist Professor Tim St Pierre; UWA Chair in Agriculture, Professor Kadambot Siddique and UWA Dean of Sciences, Professor Tony O’Donnell.
Each of the distinguished members of the group passionately shared through their demonstrations how science has advanced the quality of human lives. Students and academics were intrigued by the research carried out by the respective scientists and their success stories in their chosen career paths. Most importantly, students are better informed of the impact that science has on our society and Australia’s excellence in this area.
Stephen Li, Director, AEI; Daniel Sprague, Manager, Perth Education City; Prof Carmen Lawrence; Prof Tony O’Donnell; Elodie Journet, Australian Trade Commissioner; Prof Kadambot Siddique; Nobel Laureate Prof Barry Marshall; Prof Tim St Pierre.