How UNSW’s Early Scholars Shaped a University
When UNSW was still a young untested institution in the late 1950s, a program set the stage for its future as a research powerhouse.
Published on the 09 October 2025
Former UNSW cadets on a recent reunion tour of the Kensington campus.
The UNSW Cadets scheme (1958–1966) was created to attract outstanding students in mathematics, physics and, briefly, commerce - students who might otherwise have headed to the more established University of Sydney.
The cadets were more than scholarship recipients.
They committed to completing honours degrees and continuing on to PhDs while working as teaching fellows.
In return, they received financial support (a stipend of £400 to £550), and the possibility of a career pathway.
For many, this was life-changing.
Though the program ran for less than a decade, its impact was profound.
Of the 41 identified maths and physics cadets, most graduated with honours and nine received University Medals.
Many went on to academic and professional careers of distinction.
Thirteen became full professors or equivalent, three were elected Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science, and two became officers in the Order of Australia. Several forged successful careers outside academia.
Two of the professors were at UNSW. Professor Jaan Oitmaa became Head of Physics at UNSW, and Professor Ted Kraegen (UNSW’s first honours graduate in biophysics) developed the artificial pancreas for diabetes at the Garvan Institute and became a clinical professor in the School of Medicine.
While only seven women were selected to the cadet program (2 in physics, 5 in mathematics), two became global leaders in their fields: Professor Lynne Billard in statistics and Professor Kaye Stacey in mathematics education, where she won the 2024 Emma Castelnuovo Award.
Recently, 12 Cadets met for the program's first-ever reunion. At the gathering, UNSW Deputy Vice-Chancellor Merlin Crossley paid tribute to the cadets, saying they demonstrate “how important the cadet system was—it set the standards and the culture at UNSW.”
They set standards of excellence that shaped the culture of UNSW and helped propel it from “Kenso Tech” to one of the world’s top 20 universities.
Today, as UNSW Science continues to invest in scholarships, pathways and research excellence, the story of the cadets is a reminder of the transformative power of opportunity.
They took a chance on a fledgling university—and in doing so, helped build the institution we know today.
The former cadets were given a tour of some of the university’s quantum computing research facilities.
UNSW
