| Dr James Langridge and his wife Helen, with the ship’s bell and... Dr James Langridge and his wife Helen, with the ship’s bell and clock Dr Langridge was presented with at his retirement dinner |  |
Pictured at the retirement dinner (from left) MC Chris Grange...
Pictured at the retirement dinner (from left) MC Chris Grange, Vice-Chancellor professor Gerard Sutton, ITC Chairman Brian Hickman, Dr James Langridge, Chancellor Michael Codd AC and former Vice-Chancellor Emeritus Professor Ken McKinnon | 
| Dr Langridge thanks Professor McKinnon after the former Vice-Chancell... Dr Langridge thanks Professor McKinnon after the former Vice-Chancellor’s speech. Professor McKinnon described Dr Langridge as “one of the most important members of the University of Wollongong ever” |
Tributes flow for Dr Langridge’s ‘extraordinary contribution’
21 Nov 2008 | Nick Hartgerink
More than 170 people gathered at the Innovation Campus on Thursday night (20 November) for a dinner to pay tribute to the remarkable career of Dr James Langridge.
Dr Langridge spearheaded UOW’s international expansion over the past 20 years, and is credited with the success of the University of Wollongong In Dubai (UOWD).
Dr Langridge is retiring from his roles as Vice-Principal (Overseas Operations) of the University of Wollongong and Chief Executive Officer of UOW’s commercial arm, the Illawarra Technology Corporation (ITC).
He is leaving on a high, with UOWD having just recorded its 3000th graduate in its 15th year and firmly entrenched as the leading western university in the United Arab Emirates, and ITC in November announcing a record $9.2 million profit for the last financial year.
However, Dr Langridge will continue to assist the University and ITC develop business opportunities in the Middle East in a part-time capacity as chairman of a company overseeing their Middle Eastern operations.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Gerard Sutton and his predecessor, Emeritus Professor Ken McKinnon, both spoke glowingly of Dr Langridge’s contribution to the University since he joined the staff in 1974.
“My overwhelming emotion is gratitude for Jim Langridge’s absolutely extraordinary contribution to UOW and to its commercial arm, ITC, and to Australia more generally,” Professor Sutton said.
The Vice-Chancellor said in the late 1980s Dr Langridge had led a small group from Australia’s higher education sector in pioneering international student recruitment “planting the seeds for the huge growth of international students into this country”.
“Education is now Australia’s third largest export earner after coal and iron ore – ahead of tourism and way ahead of traditional exports like wheat and wool,” Professor Sutton.
“And thanks to Jim UOW has links with most of the major US universities, and one of Australia’s largest Study Abroad programs.
“Jim has turned ITC from a $1 million company into a $75 million company employing a lot of people in this region and around the world,” he said.
“But the success of the University of Wollongong in Dubai stands out, and will be Jim’s permanent legacy. We wouldn’t be in Dubai, and wouldn’t be where we are in Dubai, without Jim Langridge.”
Professor McKinnon, who appointed Dr Langridge to ITC in 1990 and sent him to the Middle East in 1992 to investigate the possibility of providing education services in the region, said he had “become one of the most important members of the University of Wollongong ever”.
Professor McKinnon paid tribute to Dr Langridge’s “we can do it” approach, which he said had benefited UOW enormously over the years.
“Jim is one of the most contributory people of my acquaintance,” Professor McKinnon said. “UOW has set many benchmarks of what to do and how to do it – especially for what it does overseas, and that’s down to Jim.”
In his response, Dr Langridge thanked his wife Helen and his family and paid tribute to Chancellors Justice Robert Hope and Michael Codd, Vice-Chancellors McKinnon and Sutton and ITC Board Chairmen George Maltby and Brian Hickman for their support over the years.
Mr Codd and Mr Hickman presented the Langridges with a magnificent brass ship’s bell and clock as a retirement gift.
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