In Brief
ANU has signed a new agreement for the provision of a Foundation Studies program for international students. The agreement with ANUTECH, the university's commercial arm, will provide inter-national students with core units in English and study skills, basic computer skills and an introduction to Australia, at the ANUTECH Education Centre. Students will also study units chosen from their field of study. International students who successfully complete the program will be guaranteed a place in their chosen undergraduate course and some will receive credit for at least one unit in their course.   Staff numbers at the ANU have been reduced by 14.5 per cent since 1995. Most of the reductions have occurred in the central administrative areas and in the Institute of Advanced Studies, which has a higher proportion of contract research staff.   Plans for new buildings on ANU's campus to extend research and teaching capabilities have been approved by Council. The new buildings, funded from the Capital Management Plan, include an extension to the Hancock Library building, additional research facilities for the Research School of Earth Sciences, and a new Innovations Building to provide laboratories and office space for externally-funded researchers working with ANU staff.   The Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DEETYA) recently invited the senior Malaysian education officials to Australia to undertake a familiarisation study of Australia's higher education system and in particular, credit transfer arrangements. The tour followed the Australia-Malaysia Workshop on Mutual Recognition of Qualifications in Kuala Lumpur in March. Three officials, including the Malaysian Government's director of the department of higher education, and the Vice-Chancellor of Malay University visited the ANU as part of the tour. Malaysian students form the largest country group at the ANU.   Forty English language students from Graz, Austria, visited the ANU recently during a month-long tour of Australia. The group included students, teachers and academics and was hosted by Classics, Modern European Languages, and English in the Faculty of Arts. The visitors enjoyed a lunch in the Baldessin Precinct Building sponsored by the Embassy of Austria before a tour of the University. Organisers hope the visit will encourage more ANU students to take advantage of the University's exchange program to Klagenfurt, Austria.   The ANU Council strongly endorsed the importance of the Institute of the Arts to the ACT community and as a component of the ANU at its meeting on August 14. The Council noted that serious and promising discussions were being held with the ACT Government on the manner and level of support for ITA and gave its support to the Vice-Chancellor and others involved in these discussions.