Having a HECS of a good time by Christine Kearney

A unique research project examining creativity in the visual arts had its genesis in a UNSW staff development project, which allows staff to substitute tuition fees for HECS in postgraduate coursework programs.

Head of the school of social science and policy, Professor Janet Chan has received a $160,000 ARC grant with Associate Professor Neil Brown from COFA’s school of art education.

Together they will track COFA painting students and recent COFA graduates over three years, looking at how they learn and develop their creative processes, and how the students compare to the recent graduates who are practising artists.

“The idea is to look at how the students’ perception of creativity develops as they go through art school, and how it compares with people already practising in the field,” said Chan.
Chan will be applying to art practice the theoretical framework she developed through a series of internationally renowned studies of police culture.

She says her success with the ARC grant came about as a “direct result” of a research paper for a course she did in the master of art program she is currently enrolled in.

Chan was able to substitute tuition fees of $12,000 for HECS fees of $8,000 for the course, under the staff HECS award program.
“This is a great idea that the University put out and they are really starting to see some tangible benefits from it,” said Chan.
The HECS award scheme was originally an equity initiative – HECS places were made available for low-income earners and female students. It was extended to include UNSW staff in 2000.

“What makes this case particularly exciting is the academic synergy behind the successful ARC grant would never have been expected at the outset,” says director of staff development, Robyn Alexander.
“It serves as an example of how a staff development initiative can support an individual career goal as well as have positive outcomes for the organisation,” says Alexander.

Research assistant in the graduate school of biomedical engineering, Kate Noble is in the final semester of her masters of science and technology with the school of safety science, which she is also doing under the staff HECS award program.

Noble says enrolling in the degree was a way of giving herself some added mental stimulation, after 15 years in a job which was no longer a challenge.

Being able to substitute fees for HECS was another important factor in deciding to do the masters. “I am a level six staff and with all my other financial obligations, paying for university wasn’t an option,” she said.

Within the masters, Noble studied OHS management systems auditing, and has since been recruited by the risk management unit to help them with the University’s self-auditing of its OHS management system.

“The people on the OHS committee at my workplace also come to me on occasion if they want OHS advice,” she said.
“I am gaining a lot through doing this degree and I feel that I’m also managing to have some further input into the UNSW community.”

The staff HECS award program is available across most faculties, with the exception of ADFA, commerce and economics and the AGSM, for which separate staff development scholarships apply. Check www.staffdev.unsw.edu.au