This sporting life
The face of university sport is changing, with students now just as likely to compete in quidditch or dragon boat racing as they are to play cricket or hockey. Sport has always been a big part of university life, and in the early days macquarie’s students chose from the usual suspects – rugby, hockey, rowing, cricket and tennis. Daringly, for a New South Wales university, macquarie also...
Meet Andre Nguyen
How do you use the skills you learned in your day to day work? In both my Bachelor of Commerce and Law degrees, we were encouraged to think creatively and outside the box. While it might sound clichéd, this way of thinking helps with innovation and it develops the skills to really think on your feet, to solve problems you will face in the real world. Unfortunately in the real world, the...
The future of Science
There has been much commentary in the media lately about the future of science in Australia, as the proposed changes to higher education wend their way slowly through the parliamentary process. The results of those changes, approved or not, will frame discussion across the nation about the importance of science and scientific research for the term of this government and beyond. There can be...
Students struggle to hear in open-plan classrooms
Recently some schools have begun converting classrooms to open plan learning spaces, with as many as 200 children in one area. While the classroom settings make group work easier and improve children’s social skills, noise can be a big problem for both students and teachers. According to Kiri Mealings, a PhD candidate researching speech perception in open plan classrooms, noise is a real ...
Australia Day Honours
It was another outstanding year for alumni and staff who were recognised in the Australia Day honours. Four Macquarie University professors were recognised for their contribution to education and to their disciplines. Emeritus Professor Farhat Yusuf, Professor Rosalind Croucher and Professor John Croucher all received Order of Australia (AM) awards, while. Adjunct Professor Jim Patrick A...
Family grad gown brings good luck to Macquarie alumni
Everyone has stories of their graduation, but when British Columbia-based alumnus Adrien Byrne travelled to Beijing recently to accept his Master of Politics and Public Policy degree, he wore a gown with its own stories to tell. “The gown passed down to me from my mother, Nora, who graduated from University College Dublin over 30 years ago,” Adrien says. “Her father bought the go...