The finishing touches - NCV set to open 5th January 2009

PLEASE NOTE: This is an old post, the NCV opened on the5th January 2009

With just days till the handover of the NCV the final touches are being applied. The inside of the building is completed, the landscaping will be completed in a few days and the last few jobs such as final cleaning, distributing the soft furnishings and completing signage is almost done. The shots below show how wonderful the building looks. Note that the sign was affixed by abseiling down the main blade - not a job I would have liked.

We are still taking applications so it isn't too late to get a room in the finest university accommodation on this campus and probably at any Australian university.

Above: View of the acoustic screen and main Anzac Parade signage

Above: NCV South Eastern elevation

Above: The north eastern elevation of the NCV

Literally a million dollar feature of the NCV is its wonderful acoustic screen on the front of the building to ensure that the building is VERY quiet. It also serves as a major aesthetic element to the building. Below are some close-ups of this significant architectural feature.

The finishing touches - NCV set to open 5th January 2009

First residents in just three weeks - APPLY NOW!

PLEASE NOTE: This is an old post, the NCV opened on the 5th January 2009

The first residents of New College Village will start arriving from the 5th January. While most residents won't arrive until February, a group of MBA and coursework masters students will start arriving in January. Applications have been flowing in steadily but we still have places, so apply now.

The building will be handed over to us next week (19th December) and we will be setting up all our systems in the week before Christmas.

The biggest development in the last week was the uncovering of the beautiful glass screen on the Anzac Parade side of the building. This acoustic screen is very effective (I've tested it!) and is designed so that residents on the Anzac parade side are able to have their windows open without hearing much outside noise.

In the last week I have been personally inspecting EVERY room as well as all community spaces to ensure that they are of the highest quality. I was struck again at just how many wonderful rooms we have in the building, all with their own character and features (see my previous post on choosing rooms, here). There are NO bad rooms at the NCV.

If you'd like more information on applications visit the NCV website (here).

First residents in just three weeks - APPLY NOW!

Support at the NCV

The New College Village is meant to be a home away from home, not an apartment block. As a result, we will have strong support in place. This will take a number of forms:

Senior Residents (SRs)- the NCV will have a Senior Resident on each floor. These people will usually be upper year doctoral students who will take responsibility for a floor and its residents. The SR will be the person that you can go to with day-to-day questions, academic problems and issues. If they can't answer your questions they will know where to go to get the extra advice or support that you need.

Academic Tutors (ATs) - the NCV will also have residents who also serve as Academic Tutors. Their role will be to offer advice and support in relation to life on campus, how to negotiate and understand the various academic programs and courses on campus, where to go for academic help, rules and regulations about study at UNSW, and general advice about writing, research and meeting University assessment requirements.

The Master - I will live in the building and will be available to offer advice of an academic or personal nature. I am an Adjunct Professor with the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and have extensive experience as a superviser of PhD and Masters students and have been an active research in the social sciences for over 30 years.

University support units - key staff at NCV will be able to direct you to the many units on campus that offer support to postgraduates students.

College Fellows - the College will have a variety of fellows who will have a relationship with the NCV. Fellows will visit the NCV to provide talks and seminars and offer general advice and support.

Residents - because the NCV will be a community it is hoped that residents will help each other. The building has been designed to facilitate inetraction and the various programs that we will have in place will also help to enable residents to support each other. Being part of the NCV will be a privilege. Part of each resident's repsonsibility will be to seek to support and help others.

New College has a long tradition of support to residents; we want each resident of the NCV to have the benefit of a community that offers help and support in many and varied ways.

Support at the NCV