FRANCESCA DOYLE
Marketing Manager
Carnegie Mellon

Internationally recognised, highly ranked and globally respected, Carnegie Mellon - Australia's first overseas university - is a virtual passport for a sound academic future, finds Ivor Vaz

What do astronaut Judith Resnik, pop artist Andy Warhol, actors Holly Hunter and James Cromwell, billionaire hedge fund investor David Tepper, and mathematics genius John Nash have in common? Not counting common nationality, they are all famous alumni of Carnegie Mellon University. Consider this for starters: Carnegie Mellon has been the launching pad for 15 Nobel Prize winners. It is also affiliated with ten Turing Award winners, seven Emmy Award recipients, three Academy Award recipients, four Tony Award recipients, and countless leaders in their field.

Let's begin with a little history lesson. Carnegie Mellon began as the Carnegie Technical Schools, a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1900. In 1912, the school became Carnegie Institute of Technology and began granting four-year degrees. In 1967, the Carnegie Institute of Technology merged with the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research to form Carnegie Mellon University. The University has seven colleges and schools: the Carnegie Institute of Technology (Engineering), the College of Fine Arts, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Mellon College of Science, the Tepper School of Business, the School of Computer Science, and the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management.

Carnegie Mellon

Since its inception, Carnegie Mellon has grown into a globally renowned institution with numerous degree programs that are regarded amongst the best in the world. According to US News & World Report's 2008 Graduate School Rankings, Carnegie Mellon stood tenth in the overall rankings for universities internationally, ahead of prestigious institutions like American University and Columbia University. What's more, the Heinz School was ranked fourth in the area of Public Policy Analysis, and first in the area of Information & Technology Management.

Circa 2008: Carnegie Mellon became Australia's first overseas university, when it opened with its world-class school in Adelaide, in May 2006 - the H John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management (Heinz-AU) in Victoria Square. It offers two of its best-recognised international degrees - the Master of Science in Public Policy and Management (MSPPM); Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT).

Francesca Doyle, Marketing Manager, says, "Carnegie Mellon Heinz School Australia's presence in Adelaide has huge strategic importance for South Australia. It contributes to the SA Government's strategy of creating a university hub and will enhance the State's reputation as a destination for quality, internationally recognised degrees and research. This reputation will significantly help the state to achieve its strategic plan target of doubling its market of international students within ten years. It will also contribute towards improving the state's public sector performance, increasing work participation in the creative industries, and in increasing SA's proportion of higher education students."

International students currently comprise approximately 50 per cent of the total student body. "We currently have over 110 students," informs Francesca. "So we're small compared to the other universities of SA. However, we have plenty of diversity; our students and faculty come from 24 countries. So when an international student comes to study here, he or she can be rest assured that they're not going to be in a classroom dominated by students from any one nationality alone."

The one thing of note at Carnegie Mellon is that each of its students is on some form of a scholarship. "That's Carnegie Mellon philosophy for you," shrugs Francesca. "Our admission process is very strict - it's as intense as it gets. But if we really feel strongly about a particular student who can't afford the course, we will fight very hard to get scholarships for them in order to get them here. We're a little bit more expensive compared with other universities, but in terms of quality of the degree at the end of it, you'll get a much better return on investment. Our graduates inevitably hit the floor running when they start work."