Column piece: People's News Mackay

17 June 2022

Professor Pierre Viljoen

CQUniversity Associate Vice-President (North Queensland and Hinterland)

CQUniversity Chair in Automation and Future Skills

Today marks the last day of Term 1 here at CQUniversity and I wish our students an enjoyable and well-earned three-week break.

It's been a massive term' with plenty of activities taking place on campus which has been wonderful to see.

Just this week' CQU supported a series of Science' Technology' Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) events for the annual Whitsunday STEM Challenge - Festival of STEM (FoS) – where Mackay's brightest young minds had the opportunity to explore their futures.

My colleague Leanne Williams did a fabulous job coordinating the FoS activities that saw many students participate' who otherwise would not have been exposed to STEM learning.

What a wonderful opportunity for them!

We have another exciting event coming up at our campus in the coming weeks' with the 2022 Queensland Independent Secondary Schools Netball (QISSN) and Queensland Independent Secondary Schools Rugby League (QISSRL) Confraternity carnival being hosted from 26 June to 1 July.

While the event is held annually' this is the first time that the carnivals will be hosted in Mackay and it's set to deliver social and educational benefits to the community.

The carnival has become one of the best-known schoolboy rugby league nurseries in the country with dozens of graduates having gone on to represent Queensland at State of Origin level and Australia – we might just see one come out of Mackay from this event.

Before closing' I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Prime Minister elect Anthony Albanese on his win. As part of the ALPs pre-election promises' they committed to funding $9 million for a Mackay Electric Vehicle and Energy Training (MEVET) centre.

I look forward to seeing this very exciting project come to fruition and I will endeavour to keep you updated on the developments of MEVET as they progress.

- Pierre