New structure for engineering centre

This feature covers two subjects, The Warren Centre’s new corporate structure and secondly, industry experience opportunities for Engineering & IT students.

The Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering’s governance structure within the University of Sydney is changing to remove conflicts between the University’s governance policies and the commitments made by the University when the Centre was established, and enshrined in its Constitution at that time.

The Centre is no longer simply an activity of the Faculty of Engineering, albeit an independently financed activity legitimised by a constitution and an independent board appointed by the Senate! The Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering Limited has been established as a not-for-profit Company Limited by Guarantee whose only Member is the University. The company’s ABN is 27 132 821 688.

The direction of the company is effectively unchanged; the Centre’s original objectives are enshrined in its corporate constitution, all 14 of the directors of the company are former directors of the Centre and the Chair, Executive Director and Management Committee remain unchanged. At the inaugural board meeting the Directors adopted the Centre’s existing business plan thus ensuring the continuity of all ongoing activities.

So what will change that people external to the Centre’s administration might notice? In general the changes will be cosmetic, like the inclusion of the ‘Ltd’ in our logo. However invoices (eg for Programs and Sponsorships) will be from The Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering Limited rather than from the University of Sydney, and the Centre will be entering into contracts in its own right in the future rather than on behalf of the University.

One thing that will not change relates to Donations to the Centre. Any donations (as distinct from sponsorships and program memberships etc) should still be made to the University of Sydney ‘for The Warren Centre’ and all donors will thus be able to rely on the University’s status as a tax deductible gift recipient to obtain a tax deduction for their donation. The University has entered into a Deed that provides The Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering Limited with full access to the benefits of those donations to support the activities of the Centre.

While every effort is being made to avoid this change impacting negatively on any of the Centre’s many worthwhile activities the administrative changes are absorbing a significant portion of my time! Changes to our website and other items will occur over the coming weeks.

Now to the second subject: the Faculty of Engineering/Engineering Sydney is keen to hear from organisations that are able to offer 12 weeks industry experience for our Engineering & IT penultimate year students over the summer break, preferably paid. Engineering Students must gain this experience to be able to graduate as Engineers. If you could help please contact Keiran Passmore on (02) 93515768 or at kpassmore@eng.usyd.edu.au

Robert A H Mitchell