Structure of the new university. begins to emerge - Adm.monash.edu ...

Research centre reviews 25 years of Asian studies HOW a Javanese cigarette industryaffected local Indonesian culture in theearly 1%Os sounds an unlikely startingpoint for one of Monash University'soldest research centres.But a work-in-progress seminar atMonash in 1962, based on a thesis by aMelbourne University student, sparked theidea for an interdisciplinary centre thatwould focus on Southeast Asia.Two years later, the Centre of SoutheastAsian Studies was established. This year itcelebrated its 25th anniversary.In 2S years, the centre has crossedalmost as many national borders as it hasacademIc boundaries. Staff and graduatestudents in anthropology, economIcs,education, geography. history. law.linguistics. literature. music, politics andsociology now conduct research into Indonesia,Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philip-­pines, Brunei, Singapore arid Thailand.Each year the centre presents weeklyseminars, as well as two or three majorconferences, for staff. students and thepublic. It also provides travel grants andresearch expense funds for about sixstudents carrying out fieldwork in theregion.The centre has .also assisted .tIC universitylibrary in setting up an extensiveSoutheast Asian research collection. Sofar. it has published 96 of its own titles, includingmonographs, working papers andthe proceedings of annual lecture series.Since 1987, the centre has offered avisiting fellowship to academics whospecialise in the Southeast Asian region.Emeritus Professor John Leggechronicled the centre's beginnings in acommemorative lecture at its silver jubileecelebrations in October. A specialist in Indonesianaffairs. Professor Legge was oneof the driving forces behind the centre'sestablishment."The proposal to the Arts Faculty Boardin 1964 to set up the centre involved anumber of significant choices," he said."Herb Feith and [ had in mind the Cornellmodel based on a graduate operation.The idea was that undergraduates wouldreceive a basic training in one or twodisciplines and would then go on to focuson an area 'at graduate level."Having established a teaching approach.the two academics then had to define thegeographical extent of the area that wouldbe the centre's focus."Rightly or wrongly we chose a narrowerscope (than other instituttoRS). Sincethen the centre hb re~i~ted suggestionsthat we should take in India and Pakistanand become a Centre of Southern andSoutheast Asian Studies.''But then Southeast Asia was reallybeyond our initial resources. We wouldhave to admit that. at first, we were only aCentre of Indonesian and Malayan Studies.. 'That was where most of our expertiselay. with Herb Feith and myself to coverIndonesia. and Bill Roff and Cyril Skinnerto look after Malaya. Ailsa Zainu'ddin(Education) was to join us a little later."The centre's establishment coincidedwith confrontation between Indonesia andMalaya. and events were changing rapidly.MONASH REPORTER.. It seemed that what was happeningthere posed urgent problems for Australia.We were strongly policy-oriented. with asense of the imponance of explaining Indonesiato a wider Australian public."And we were also concerned to engagein a dialogue with policy makers andshapers of opinion .••To that end. the centre held a number ofseminars for senior members of theDepartment of External Affairs, theDepanment of Defence. members ofParliament, journalists and businesspeople.'·We felt that we had established a relationshipbased on confidence with poIicymakersand reporters. We hoped that theywould feel that there was some advantagefor them in gelling an academic slant onthe matters they had to handle on a day-todaybasis. "Professor Legge was quick to point outthat a contemporary emphasis now appearsa little old-fashioned_ Although there wasstill a need for such an approach, he said,su~h an emphasis had to be pan of abroader concern with history, culture andlanguage.Under the directorship of ProfessorJamie Mackie. who was appointed in1968. the centre began to focus on othercultures and disciplines."We moved confidently into Thailand.Vietnam. Kampuchea and Burma. and atthe same time became less narrowlypolitical in focus." Professor Legge said."The development of ethnomusicologyunder Margaret Kartomi, the growth ofSoutheast Asian interests in the departmentof Geography, with the aid of BasilJohnson, Mal Logan and Gale Dixon, andthe appointment of Malaysia specialistMichael Swift to the chair of Anthropology,helped to extend ourdisciplinary base .••With an increase in scope, the centrebegan to attract increasing numbers of'graduate students from the region."This was of tremendous imponance inenriching the program by giving us directcontact with students from the countrieswe were studying." Professor Legge said."It also gave us a network of contacts inSoutheast Asian countries as those studentsreturned to take up academic or civil serviceor other poSitions at home."About 50 graduate students are affiliatedwith the centre. Many are from countrieswithin the region. including Brunei,Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philij>pinesand Singapore.In 1979, Professor Jamie Mackie wassucceeded as Research Director by DrDavid Chandler. Since taking over therole. Dr Chandler has concentrated oncommunication between members of thecentre through regular newsletters. socialgatherings and publications.Projects planned for next year include aconference highlighting Melbourne's Indochineserefugee community and a conferenceto be held in Thailand. sponsoredjointly by the centre and the Siam StudiesInstitute .The centre also will administer an exchangeprogram recently established withGadjahmada University in Yogyakana.SolUlt_st AsIan Studies, research director, Dr David Chandler (leftl andEmeritus Professor John Legge at the centre's 25th anniversary _rations.Kennedy to chair national distance education forum Page 4THE director of the Monash­Gippsland Distance Education Centreand of the Gippsland Institute of AdvancedEducation, Dr Tom 'Kennedyhas been elected the first chair of theNational Distance Education Conference(NDEC).Dr Kennedy was elected for a two-yearterm by representatives of the eight NationalDistance Education Cenlres and twospecialist distance education providerswhich. togelher with the CommonwealthGovernment. make up the conference.In the past year the Government has attemptedto rationalise the provision ofdistance education by designating a limitednumber of inslitutions as Distance EducationCentres. Two of these centres are inVictoria, the Monash-Gippsland centreand Deakin University.The idea is that other institutions wantingto provide external courses shouldwork with a Distance Education Centre todevelop and produce the course material.Dr Kennedy said the conference wouldprovide a forum in which to discuss initiativesto support the national distanceeducation etlon."We are looking at co-operation betweeninstitutions to come up with thehighest quality course materials as costeffectivelyas possible. "He said the conference would have aplanning role, so that resources weretargeted effectively. and students whorelied on distance learning would have accessto the broadest possible range ofcourse options .The conference also will advise theFederal Government on education andtechnology issues. because of the overlapbetween distance education and the use ofnew technology.The Fedeml Minister for Employment.Education and Training. Mr JohnDawkins, welcomed Dr Kennedy 's ap-pointmenL He said Dr Kennedy's broadbackground and expenise, including hiswork at the Gippsland Institute, which wasa signifICant provider ofdistance educalionthrough its link with Monash University.would he particularly valuable to thedevelopme,nt of distance education inAustralia."There are already more than 50,000external students throughout Australia. anddistance education. under the umbrella ofthe national conference. is playing a major---role by opening up new avenues of opportunityfor many more Australians." MrDawkins said,• Dr Tom KennedyDECDIBER t989)