By Abbey Cannan
The Noosa Shire will be the hub of new ideas, as the official opening for a new social enterprise division within The University of the Sunshine Coast was held at their relocated office in Noosa on Monday 29 April.
Around 50 people attended the launch of the USC Centre for International Development, Social Entrepreneurship and Leadership (CIDSEL), including Mayor Tony Wellington, Councillor Ingrid Jackson and University of the Sunshine Coast Vice-Chancellor Professor Greg Hill.
Professor Greg Hill said CIDSEL does a lot of great work for the USC community and that USC has a positive partnership with Noosa.
“We get somewhere between 45 to 50 per cent of school leavers from Noosa enrolling in USC,” he said.
“CIDSEL is a business entity within USC that supports itself. It is Government funded, mostly by DFAT. We talk about soft diplomacy between Australia and the nations in the Indo-Pacific and that’s where CIDSEL fits into the equation, it’s there to foster leadership in up and coming leaders from the Indo-Pacific region, it’s into social entrepreneurship, and it specialises in providing programs and courses that foster that in the developing world. The work is split between in-country provision, but particularly in terms of individuals from these countries coming to Australia and studying with us.”
“CIDSEL has a multi-million-dollar budget and most of the expenditure comes in accommodation and living costs for people who come to Australia and spend time with us here. For the Noosa community, that is a pretty important development for you because these courses are now going to be centred here, they will be staying in accommodation in Noosa and they will be eating at the restaurants.”
Mayor Tony Wellington said that CIDSEL’s objectives are both admirable and grand.
“Noosa is certainly proud to support and play host to CIDSEL. As I understand it, the centre’s aim is to utilise the academic expertise of the university to tackle local and global challenges to make a positive social impact on the world. Noosa Council looks forward to supporting the centre and its objectives. I know that there will be a wide range of spin-off benefits to businesses in our shire and hopefully there will be some wonderful cultural exchanges,” he said.
USC CIDSEL Manager Tami Harriott said the department is aligned with where Noosa needs to be, in terms of economic development for the region.
“I think it gives us an opportunity to collaborate in terms of the wealth of talented resources we have here in Noosa and people who are moving to the region who would like to contribute in terms of economic development, international development and their industry expertise and we are the conduit for doing that,” she said.
“Our partnership with the region is more than just the courses we do. We really want to support the region to build the capacity of the people living here, utilising the talent and the resources that we have. We want to add something to the community in which we live.
“We have seven staff members and a range of different types of projects. Some of the work we do is capacity building which is professional development projects so it’s a short course. There’s consulting work, impact valuation work and technical assistance that we are aiming to do as well.
“The areas we want to grow in will be the areas around growing our knowledge hubs. The knowledge hubs that we’re starting with are agriculture, education, health, private sector development, national security and impact development.”
