The end of the year is a time for reflection on our achievements and anticipating the many great things that lie in store in 2017.
For the University, it has been a year of celebrating wonderful new facilities, and of planning for the future. We opened our new Business School and launched the Australian Institute of Nanoscale Science and Technology, based in our incredible building on Physics Road. And further afield — much further afield — we opened our Sydney China Centre in the historic city of Suzhou, near Shanghai. We are anticipating greater collaboration and partnerships with Chinese universities, government and business and it is vital to have a base in the most rapidly developing economy in the world.
Our Campus Infrastructure Services team has been kept busy with plans for new buildings either side of our City Road gates and a new hub that will see key education and research from our various health disciplines brought under one roof. Construction will also commence shortly on our new museum building, which will bring all our collections together under one roof. Scheduled to open in 2018, the museum will be free to the public and bring visitors and tourists to campus and the local area.
We are working still on increasing student accommodation and we have engaged world-famous Gehl Architects to ensure that our campus remains both beautiful and accessible and meets the needs of students, staff and the local community.
Our new grandstand has opened, including a high-performance gym. While that gym is not open to the public, its use by our elite athletes has certainly freed up space at the Sydney Uni Sports & Aquatic Centre, which is used by staff, students and local residents. And on the subject of our elite athletes, we were thrilled with their performance at the Rio Olympics. If the University were a country, we would have been 45th in the world medal tally!
The University continues to engage with local residents and the government on issues that affect Camperdown, Redfern, Darlington and their surrounding suburbs. We have held a number of community briefings and consultations on our new builds, and we have been sure to check in with neighbours of the Queen Mary Building following the completion of its first year of operations. And we are holding ongoing conversations with members of the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community to work on our continuing goal of increasing the number of Indigenous staff and students on campus.
It is a joy to be based in Camperdown and Darlington, and to be able to contribute to and be a part of such a vibrant local community. We are proud and grateful for the opportunity to support the wonderful South Sydney Herald and its dedicated team, and I do hope you have enjoyed our monthly updates this year.
I wish you all the very best for the festive season and the New Year.
