News Archive

Our University is privileged to be able to celebrate magnanimity from both individuals and groups who continue a century-old philanthropic tradition.

As universities around the nation face dwindling government financial support, declining international and mature-age student numbers and reduced investment portfolio returns, philanthropy is increasingly vital if we are to continue to make positive lasting contributions to communities locally, nationally and internationally.

For us to be in the strongest position to perform at an international standard of excellence, we must bolster revenue while maintaining vital research, recruiting staff who excel in their chosen fields and encouraging the admission of highly talented students irrespective of their socio-economic background.

By way of example, we recently marked the achievement of UWA-Clough Scholars and the contribution of the Clough family, particularly Dr Harold Clough, whose links to UWA go back more than 60 years and who was instrumental in creating one of the first successful university-industry partnerships: the 35-year Clough Engineering Scholarship program. The success of this pioneering program laid the foundations for many other successful ongoing UWA-industry partnerships and achieved Harold's aim and vision by contributing to building capacity and capability in Western Australia.

We also recently celebrated the opening of the Clough Engineering Student Centre, a modern facility for team-based learning and private study in a professional and contemporary environment supported both by Clough Limited and an individual donation from the Clough family.

Our University has also been pleased to receive other generous donations from the corporate sector.

Most recently, with global miner Rio Tinto, we signed a multi-million dollar partnership that will focus on creating a sustainable supply of graduates and expertise for the mining industry. Rio Tinto will invest with UWA as part of a long-term objective to foster skills for the future and build education capability.

And a few weeks earlier, we signed an agreement with Rio Tinto to enable tens of thousands of Indigenous rock art treasures in Western Australia's remote Pilbara region to be researched, catalogued and promoted. As well, we established the Rio Tinto Chair of Rock Art Studies and appointed a leading Australian rock art specialist to the position.

For our students, the involvement of visionaries such as Dr Clough and leading organisations such as Rio Tinto that have lent their support to UWA leads to improved educational outcomes, business and community relevance and a more positive student experience.

From its beginnings in 1911, and with the original endowment by Sir John Winthrop Hackett, our University has established pathways to learning and discovery that have positioned the University as one of the most influential teaching and research institutions in Australia.

The additional capacity we can build as the result of philanthropy ensures that we can deliver a University mission which the Government can't afford but the community demands.

Australians are philanthropic by nature. And most people recognise that solutions to economic, social, scientific, ecological, medical problems are usually found via research conducted at Universities. The benefits are realised by a healthier and more sustainable and civil society.

We are not looking to philanthropy to overcome a funding crisis but to increase our capacity through increased resources. It is also about delivering - on behalf of our students and staff, as well as our State and our Nation - the benefits "knowledge" will bring as our primary competitive advantage. This is based on an understanding of the role that higher education will play in our nation's future.

Philanthropic donations are essential in our quest for international excellence and our University is very fortunate in continuing to benefit from the generosity of the community as we pursue our ambitious goal of being among the world's top 50 universities by 2050.

Paul Johnson

Vice-Chancellor