The Education and Training program includes the following activities

Short courses for industry and users: Each of the projects regularly runs seminars for industry and industry/user specific short courses.
Examples in 1997/98 include:
Half Day tutorial on "Internet Protocol Developments and their Relationship to ATM", Brisbane, July 97, 50 attendees
3 day course on "ATM Network Technology", Melbourne, February 1998, 30 attendees
"Day in the Life of Metadata" seminar series, over 200 attendees, in a number of capital cities
Half Day tutorial in collaboration with the Photonics CRC, "Optical and Broadband Network developments", Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, May 1998, 500 attendees
ACSys/RDN Industry Forum, Canberra, May 1998, 120 attendees

Presentations, seminars and conferences

Researchers in the Research Data Network CRC initiate participation at and independently receive many invitations by industry and user groups to present at seminars and workshops. The Centre's staff are also very active in the organisation of major national and international conferences in their field of expertise. Examples in 1997/98 include Asia Pacific Conference on Communications (APCC), Sydney, Dec 1997, 430 attendees 7th International World Wide Web conference, Brisbane, April 98, 2000 attendees

Postgraduate courses and Research

Over the 1997/98 year there were 15 PhD, 11 Masters and 2 Honours research students supervised by staff in the Research Data Network CRC. There has been steady growth in the number of students over the past 3 years. Many of the graduating postgraduate students have either taken up positions within the CRC, or for the industry partners (especially Telstra Research labs). Senior postgraduate students have sent papers to major international conferences, and gain the benefits from meeting leading international researchers at the conferences. PhD students have also spent time working in industry research laboratories (e.g James Kershaw at Siemens in Munich, Awang Manaf at Indonesia Telecom, Farzad Safaei at Telstra Research Laboratories).

Research Data Network CRC staff are active in student supervision, with many students jointly supervised by University and industry staff. Staff from Telstra and Siemens are also involved in the teaching of telecommunications Masters subjects at Monash University.

Masters by coursework subjects offered in 1997/98 included

ISDN Networks and Applications, Melbourne, 2nd semester 1997, 29 students, Lecturer: Dr Bruce Tonkin, Monash University Software Engineering for Telecommunications, Melbourne, 2nd semester 1997, 30 students, Lecturer: Professor Bala Srinivasan, Monash University Applications of High Speed Telecommunication Networks, Melbourne, 1st semester 1998, 15 students, Lecturer: Dr Bruce Tonkin, Monash University Mobile Networks and Systems, Melbourne, 1st semester 1998, 30 students, Lecturer: Mr Tony Guy, Telstra.

Vacation Employment for Undergraduates

Unlike other organisations, the summer period from Dec to Feb is a busy time for the Research Data Network CRC, as most of the projects take on students to undertake research projects. These students often continue to work part-time for the CRC during their studies. Some of these students go on to undertake Masters or PhD studies, or become ambassadors for the CRC when they go out to work for industry. For example in 1997/98, 5 students were hosted in Melbourne.

Visitors

The Research Data Network CRC is keen to market its expertise through demonstrations and discussions and has hosted over 250 visitors in the 1997/98 financial year. These have been from Australia, as well as overseas, and have included many leaders from industry and user organisations. Many of these visitors have taken away ideas for progress and change applicable to their own organisation. It is this indirect training that is also essential in shaping the future of a successful and respected research and development environment in Australia. The Research Data Network CRC encourages visitors to spend time with staff and postgraduates. In some cases the CRC contributes to the expenses of bringing a high quality researcher out to Australia for one to two weeks, in other cases the visitors are self-funded. There is a strong demand from the Asia-Pacific region, especially China, to spend time with the CRC.

Active participation in User Groups

An education program would not be complete without seeking input from the wider community on relevant issues to the field of knowledge of the RDN-CRC. This input shapes the relevance of continued research and helps to guide the strategic direction of the centre. To promote the CRC and to ensure active feedback from users, members of the RDN-CRC are active in a number of user groups. For instance ANSPAG expertise is present at the Australian Telecommunications User Group board of management.

Planned activities

While education is a key component of the RDN-CRC, an increase in requests for technology and application courses by industry, will prompt increased activity in this area in 1998/99.