10 June 2004

Russell Raggatt preparing his speech for Friday night's graduation ceremony

Almost 400 people are expected to witness the first Alice Springs graduation ceremony to be held as part of Australia’s newest University.

Starting from 7pm at the Alice Springs Convention Centre this Friday night, the Charles Darwin University Alice Springs Campus ceremony will mark the completion of Vocational and Education Training and Higher Education studies for 733 students.

124 graduands will attend the ceremony including 31 Higher Education graduands from the University’s Darwin Campus who have chosen to have their award presented at the Alice Springs Campus ceremony. Family and friends of graduands will also be attending the ceremony.

Friday night’s event will feature media personality, Barbara McCarthy, who will present the Occasional Address to the Alice Springs graduands.

Mature age student, Russell Raggatt, will provide the evening’s graduand response. Mr Raggatt, 51, will graduate at Friday night’s ceremony with the Diploma of Accounting thus completing the study he undertook to change his career.

Having held various positions and business interests including his most recent job of managing the Royal Flying Doctors Café at Alice Springs, Mr Raggatt will commence as an accountant with Tangentyere Council – an Indigenous service organisation in the Alice Springs region – next week.

“Working full-time and undertaking pre-requisite certificate subjects as well as diploma subjects was intense but worth doing as it reduced time taken to complete my Diploma,” Mr Raggatt said.

“Studying at Charles Darwin University was a great experience and my lecturers were very helpful, especially Sidney O’Flaherty.

“People thinking about studying should just bite the bullet and do it. You learn so much, it is a rewarding experience and it is possible to undertake certificate or diploma subjects for less than the cost of cable TV.”

Looking forward, Central Australians are set to benefit from an expansion of research and education activities being generated by Charles Darwin University.

These include a new Higher Education Centre for the Alice Springs Campus, secured funding to improve IT capabilities for a number of local organisations, the appointment of Professor Donna Craig to the University’s inaugural Chair in Desert Knowledge and the construction of a new mobile learning facility for remote communities in the region.