We have had a number of recent successes that puts the Faculty in a strong position for the future. The Commonwealth will provide the University with $60 million to establish the La Trobe Rural Health School. This will see a significant growth in health sciences courses, student numbers, staff and research at Bendigo, Mildura, Shepparton and Albury Wodonga. New teaching and research facilities will be built at Bendigo and there will be new accommodation for students across our regional campuses. Planning for the new school is well underway.
The Faculty has successfully introduced the first year of the new curriculum during first semester and I would like to thank all staff who have worked on the new program for their terrific effort. Inevitably, there are glitches and hitches in putting such a large new program in place. A review of the introduction has been undertaken and there will be some adjustment and modification of the units in second semester to improve the delivery of the units in second semester.
Planning for the introduction of the second year and the move to a new clinical schools model for clinical placements is well underway. We anticipate presenting these changes in more detail shortly, when they are finalised.
As many of you know, we have gone through a voluntary redundancy round to address overall university budget targets. A number of highly valued and longstanding members of the Faculty have left during this process. They will be missed and we wish them well for the future.
As a result of staff leaving, the Faculty has had to make a number of significant changes to administrative arrangements for student services, academic support, research administration and finance and resources. New teams and procedures are being established and we will create a new, modern student and administrative hub for the Faculty on the second floor of health sciences 1 and 2. These changes should be complete by 1st semester 2010. In the meantime, I ask all staff to assist in making these transitions as smooth as possible.
Professor Hal Swerissen
Dean
Faculty of Health Sciences
