Launch of Australian Leadership Consortium

Jul 19, 2005

An Australian Leadership Consortium will be officially launched at the University of Wollongong tomorrow (Wednesday 20 July) marking an unparalleled higher education agreement.

The consortium will see a broadening of leadership training throughout the school sector and into other public sector organisations such as government departments, the police and non-government organisations.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed recently between the Australian Catholic University (ACU National) and the University of Wollongong (UOW) paving the way for co-operation between ACU National’s Flagship for Creative and Authentic Leadership and UOW’s Australian Centre for Educational Leadership. The long-term vision is for the establishment of a broader national consortium of educational leadership involving centres across the country.

ACU National Vice-Chancellor, Professor Peter Sheehan AO, and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wollongong, Professor Gerard Sutton, will participate in the launch.

Professor Sheehan said, “consistent with the shared goals of true collaboration, this consortium is committed to the benefit of all its stakeholders. The MOU has this important objective at its very core.”

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wollongong, Professor Gerard Sutton, said the latest agreement would lead to joint ventures in leadership development in the Asia and Pacific region. The consortium would also allow for collaboration in research, professional development programs, exchange of visiting scholars and mounting joint conferences and seminars.“This Memorandum of Agreement represents a clear example of co-operation between universities in a significant area of higher education,” Professor Sutton said.

The areas of focus in leadership programs to be undertaken will include:

1) Moral and ethical leadership;

2)Leadership for social justice and social responsibility;

3) Emerging leadership paradigms and

4) Leadership formation and effectiveness

At the launch, the ACU National team, led by the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Peter Sheehan, will comprise the Director of the Creative and Authentic Leadership Flagship, Professor Patrick Duignan; the Head of the School of Educational Leadership, Dr Annette Cunliffe; and the Manager of the Creative and Authentic Leadership Flagship, Soma Nagappan.

The UOW team will comprise the Dean of Education, Professor Barry Harper; the Director of the Australian Centre for Educational Leadership, Associate Professor Narottam Bhindi; Professor Steve Dinham (Faculty of Education); and Graeham Kennedy, Regional Director of Education, Department of Education and Training; and Greg Whitby, Director of Schools, Diocese of Wollongong.

Official launch date and time: 9.30am, Wednesday 20 July.

Venue: Vice-Chancellor’s Dining Room, 2nd floor, McKinnon Building (Bldg 67)

Further information: For further information contact Associate Professor Narottam Bhindi on (02) 4221 5477 or (02) 4229 4042 (h) or University Relations at ACU National, Sue Bickford (02) 9739 2513 or 0407 845 634

For more information, contact:

media@uow.edu.au
University of Wollongong
Ph: (02) 4221 5942; fax (02) 4221 3128