$350K for school revitalisation research program

USQ and the Queensland Department of Education and the Arts are looking forward to 

launching the IDEAS Alliance Research Hub in Toowoomba on Tuesday 16 May 2006.

The IDEAS (Innovative Designs for Enhancing Achievements in Schools) program is an internationally recognised school revitalisation program that originated as a result of discussions between Education Queensland and USQ the late 1990's.

Now, almost $350K generated from this program through intellectual property (IP) will be used to establish an IDEAS research hub in Toowoomba.

Dr Dorothy Andrews is the Director of the Leadership Research Institute at USQ and says the alliance partners always intended to establish a research hub, if the IDEAS program was successful.

'It was always the intention to use the money generated from IDEAS to continue research into school revitalisation.'

Dr Andrews says the program has already helped revitalise more than 160 Queensland state schools, as well as schools in Victoria, Western Australia, Sydney and Canberra.

'One of the initial research projects will look at how IDEAS schools are able to sustain school improvement.

'Another project will look at how IDEAS is working in diverse contexts, so if you create a program in Toowoomba, does that program have relevance in other parts of Australia, like the Torres Strait.'

WHAT: IDEAS Alliance Research Hub Launch
WHERE: Church of Christ Community Hall, 461 Hume Street, Toowoomba
WHEN: Tuesday 16 May 2006, 9.00am-11.10am (AEST)

Media Contact: Amy Cass, USQ Media, +61 7 4631 2092 or +61 412 097 326