These schemes provide professional staff with the opportunity to build their skills and knowledge through development activities or formal study.

The following grants and scholarships are available:

• Professional Staff Development Grants: Provide financial support for individual staff members or team members to develop knowledge, skills and experience through external providers or programs that directly support and improve performance in their current role.
• MGSM Scholarships for Graduate Certificate / Diploma of Management: Encourage professional staff to develop their management capability through formal study.
• MQ Postgraduate Scholarships: Provide recipients with the opportunity to broaden or deepen knowledge in their chosen career/profession through postgraduate studies at the University.

For the selection criteria and information on how to apply, please visit the Human Resources website.

Applications close Friday 30 October, 2015

If you have any questions, contact the Organisation and Staff Development Program Support Coordinator at develop@mq.edu.au or on ext 9766.

Find out more about the following prestigious external scholarship opportunities:

• Rhodes Scholarships
• Sir John Monash Awards
• Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships
• Cambridge Australia Scholarships
• German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

Interested staff and students are invited to an information session on Tuesday 5 May from 10am to 12pm in the Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM), Room 265/7

To attend please register online by 1 May 2015.

Light refreshments will be provided.

• 18-28 year old;
• Australian;
• Undergraduate students

to participate in semester-based or short-term experiences in the Indo-Pacific region.

Staff apply for student cohort-based programs;

• Semester-based study
• Short-term study
• Practicums / clinical placements
• Internships and mentorships
• Short-term research

These programs can be held in any of these 38 destinations.

Staff are encouraged to utilise any existing academic relationships to create proposals. The programs are required to count for credit at Macquarie, either a complete unit taken abroad or a study component of a Macquarie unit.

FAQs and the Program Guideline can be found on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) website.

A success story of past NCP recipients from Macquarie, Leesa Chen and Allison Chandler, can be viewed online.

We kindly ask that within each faculty a process for submitting applications is passed by the Associate Dean – International, to ensure each application has been reviewed or approved for consideration, after which, please forward to Associate Director, International Relations, Michele Robinson by COB Friday 15 May. Eryn Coffey from PACE International will coordinate the PACE bids and forward to Michele.

For more details regarding application information and submission, please contact Amanda Hough (amanda.hough@mq.edu.au) or on ext 6945.

The following submission deadlines apply for 2015:

Innovation and Scholarship Program (ISP) Grants: 2 April 2015 (Round 1) and 24 August 2015 (Round 2)

Extension Grants (new): 2 April 2015 (Round 1) and 24 August 2015 (Round 2)

Strategic Priority Grants (new): 24 May

Strategic Infrastructure Scheme (MQSIS): 23 November

NOTE: Faculty / Office deadlines may apply, and will be earlier than University deadlines. It is recommended interested staff contact their relevant Faculty / Office Learning and Teaching staff.

Learning and Teaching Grants information session
Learn more about grant schemes and the new portal for submissions. It will also be a forum to meet other staff interested in learning and teaching projects and research.

When: Tuesday 17 February
Time: 10.30am – 11.30am
Where: E6A, 131

Register now.

News about Learning and Teaching Awards programming in 2015 will follow next month. In the interim, the L&T Grants and Awards calendar of deadlines and events can be imported into your Google calendar.

For more information contact Laura Heron (laura.heron@mq.edu.au) or call ext. 1089.

Charitable giving is now a simple and convenient way for staff to contribute from their pre-tax salary to one of our causes, thanks to a joint effort between the Foundation Office and Human Resources team.

“The Staff Giving program has been developed in response to many requests from staff,” said Professor David Wilkinson, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Corporate Engagement and Advancement. “Our community is very supportive of charitable causes, and this program is an effective way for staff to get involved.”

Staff giving is now common across the financial, insurance, retail, communications and entertainment industries, providing an opportunity for employees of companies like NAB, Allianz, Westfield, Optus and Foxtel to contribute to a range of great causes.

Macquarie’s Staff Giving program provides the opportunity to contribute to our medical research areas, including breast and prostate cancer and Motor Neurone Disease research. The program also encompasses Indigenous, accommodation and equity scholarships for students.

“In time, the program will be extended to include external charities too, and staff will have the opportunity to tell us which causes they want to see added,” said Professor Wilkinson.

Donations are deducted each fortnight from your pre-tax salary – which reduces your taxable income, resulting in an immediate tax benefit – and as we expand this fundraising a single donor who may be interested in matching staff giving will be sought.

Learn more about Staff Giving and the scholarship and medical research programs you can support, or contact Megan Pope (megan.pope@mq.edu.au) for more information.

Macquarie students Cindy Huang and Sharfah Mohamed were presented with prestigious New Colombo Plan Scholarships at an awards dinner hosted by the Minister for Foreign Affairs in Canberra just last week.

“Cindy and Sharfah are very impressive young Australians of whom we are tremendously proud; given their accomplishments at such a young age, it’s exciting to think of their potential as future leaders within Australia and the role they can play in strengthening relationships with our regional neighbours,” said Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International) Professor Jim Lee.

They were among just 40 university students between 18 and 28 years of age across Australia selected for the highly competitive scholarships, worth up to $67,000 each.

The New Colombo Plan (NCP) is an Australian Government initiative that aims to lift knowledge of the Indo-Pacific region and strengthen our people-to-people and institutional relationships, through study and work placements.

Read more about Cindy and Sharfah in the Newsroom.