Gardens project grows graduate skills - Australian Financial Review [01.03.2010]
Postgraduate students are measuring the carbon footprint of Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens as part of a high-level work placement program designed to generate novel business solutions to enhance Victoria’s economy.
The Melbourne Business Practicum is a partnership between the University of Melbourne and the Committee for Melbourne, a network of leaders drawn from the city’s major companies and organisations.
Four students from the university’s business and economics faculty are taking part in the Botanic Gardens practicum and there are other projects already on the drawing board.
The idea is to have a team of postgraduate students from a variety of business disciplines come together to work on a problem during a 10-day work placement.
In the case of the Botanic Gardens, the aim is to produce an environmental accounting model that might then be applied to other gardens around the world.
Supervising the project is associate professor Brad Potter from the Graduate School of Business, who said the model would combine cutting-edge science, accounting and environmental management practise.
“The students will also be able to draw on the extensive archives at the Royal Botanic Gardens and the considerable expertise of the garden’s staff,” Professor Potter said. The Committee for Melbourne has 170 members who work together to enhance the city’s “liveability and economic prosperity”.
The practicum concept was developed by the Committee’s Higher Education Taskforce.
“A priority identified by [the taskforce] is the need for greater integration between our university and business sectors,” said David Miles, who chairs the government advisory body Innovation Australia and co-chairs the taskforce.
“The practicum also provides an opportunity for highly-skilled international students to gain greater exposure to Australian business culture, which is especially important if they are considering making Australia their permanent home.”
The next project will focus on urban development.
Students will examine the regulation, taxation, cost frameworks and other incentives associated with commercial and housing developments in Australian cities.
The team will be hosted by public policy think tank, the Grattan Institute, and their findings will be used to make recommendations on how market design can encourage commercial and housing development that matched local needs.
Agnes Banyasz, the manager of the university’s Business and Economics Careers Centre, said the practicums would enhance the work of local businesses while giving students hands-on experience.
“Corporate partners only have to provide space for the students and a commitment that the senior staff from the organisation will listen to the students’ presentation at the end of the 10 days,” she said.
The local practicum series is modelled on an international work placement program developed by the careers centre.
Ms Banyasz said almost 100 students had visited countries such as China and Singapore in the two years since the program began.
The program is run during university holidays every February and July.
For the students working on the Botanic Gardens project, plants and trees will pose the greatest challenge when it comes to measuring carbon, Professor Potter said.
“All plants have different carbon absorption characteristics and efficiencies depending on their age – a young tree is much more efficient in carbon offset than an established tree.”
By Joanna Mather, Education reporter