Director's Message to Alumni - 2006
Warm greetings from ANU as we approach the end of the year. I hope you have all found 2006 rewarding, and that notwithstanding any stresses and strains in your professional lives, the year is closing on a peaceful note for you, your families and colleagues. Although scattered widely, you are part of a remarkable network of people.
Many of you live in Canberra or elsewhere in Australia, and large numbers of you in countries around Asia and the Pacific, and still others of you are in Europe, the Americas, Africa and the new states of the former Soviet Union. You are linked by your graduate training with us. And as our evolution into a fully-fledged large and powerful professional policy school continues, we are looking to do much more for you as an alumni network.
More on this shortly; first let me update you on some of the main developments in the School in 2006. Perhaps the biggest change this year has been the formal adoption of our new name, following an act of the University Council mid-year. This is something I have been working towards for some time. As the Crawford School of Economics & Government, or more commonly, the Crawford School, we proudly take on the legacy of Sir John Crawford. As many of you know, Sir John was a pioneering Australian civil servant in the second half of the twentieth century, driving major economic change and helping to link Australia with Asia and the Pacific, and then a pivotal academic leader at the ANU. It is hard to think of a finer or more appropriate tradition with which to associate ourselves. And, subtly, it speaks to our driving ambition to emerge as one of the truly great policy schools of the world.
Equally important, our plans for a magnificent new home for ourselves are rapidly advancing. In the middle of the year, my colleagues and I took the big decision to establish the new and permanent premises for the Crawford School around what is locally known as "Old Canberra House", the first residence of the British High Commissioner. It is an extraordinarily beautiful spot at the southern end of campus overlooking the lake.
We are now working hard with architects designing a 'micro campus' for ourselves that incorporates the marvellous heritage of Old Canberra House and the breathtaking natural environment of the site. This will allow us all to come together in one large, modern and sophisticated facility, appropriate for an institution with our ambitions. We expect it will take the best part of two years before we move in but, as you can imagine, it is something we are all keenly anticipating. We envisage a future home of which all of us can be truly proud.
Intellectually, there's all sorts of exciting ferment. Our faculty has been further enriched by the arrival of Professor Trevor Breusch (econometrics), Dr John McCarthy (environmental governance and Indonesia), Dr Kazuki Onji (Japan economy) and Dr Michael Ward (environmental and resource modelling). Under Quentin Grafton's leadership we have a new series of Policy Briefs, designed to get some of our best ideas out to policymakers. And along with numerous individual research accomplishments, there have been some big institutional advances: the Centre for Democratic Institutions has joined the School, a major international policy research network, the East Bureau of Economic Research, was launched by the Treasurer, and very large scale funding has been secured for an Australia-wide environmental policy research unit as well as an Australia-Indonesia governance research partnership. All potent stuff.
The School's student base continues to expand. All up, there were about 450 professional coursework students, 70 doctoral students with us this year, as well as about 300 senior government officials participating in executive programs. All of which leads me back to you and plans to strengthen our alumni network very seriously. Let me give you a taste of what we have in mind.
We already know that when you studied with us, overwhelmingly you had a very positive experience and that very many of you retain deep affection for us and your former classmates. Our challenge is to renew the relationship by finding ways of offering you things that you value today. Broadly, we will be seeking to do this in two ways, helping to keep you in contact with your friends within the alumni network, and providing what we think will be attractive packages of ideas and information on a complementary basis.
There are all sorts of initiatives we are working on in this respect, including joining with Princeton's Woodrow Wilson school to establish PolicyNet, an elite global network of students in top policy schools, with alumni around the world in policy roles. But that is just a taster. What we won't be doing is trying to raise money from you. What we will be doing is looking to make it attractive for you to stay engaged with us. The essence of a great school lies in the three things: great staff, great students and a great alumni network.
So, stay tuned as we roll things out in 2007. I am enormously proud of our School and the way it has evolved. I hope you are too. We have a tremendous future and we look forward to having you engaged in it.
With all good wishes,
Andrew MacIntyre
Director, Crawford School
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