The Role of the AAB

The role of the Academic Advisory Board (AAB) is to provide advice to the Board of Group Colleges Australia (GCA), appropriate to the academic activities of the company. This advice includes comment on curriculum design and content, course delivery, course assessment, and evaluation of courses. The AAB will also provide advice on strategic academic alliances useful to further the overall objectives of GCA. It may provide advice on the appointment of senior academic staff within GCA, or on any other academic matter raised by the Board of GCA.

The AAB is not accountable to the Board of GCA for the design and content of the curriculum, course delivery, course assessment and evaluation of courses, all of which are the responsibility of paid staff of GCA.

Professor Gus Guthrie AM  (FTSE, DSc, Hon LID CChem, FRSC, FRACI)

Professor Gus Guthrie is the Chairman of our Academic Advisory Board.

Professor Gus Guthrie is director of Gus Guthrie Consulting Pty Ltd, established in March 1996 when he stepped     from the post of Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Technology, Sydney, a position he held from January 1988.

Previous positions include President of the NSW Institute of Technology, Secretary General of the Royal Society of Chemistry (London), and founding Dean of Science at Griffith University. He has also held posts at the University of Sussex, the University of Leicester, and the Open University in the UK.

His research interest was organic chemistry, and he holds PhD and DSc degrees from the University of London.

Professor Gus Guthrie has a particular interest in innovation and was Chair of the Queensland Innovation Council from 1999-2002, and was earlier Chair of the NSW Innovation Council for its first two years of operation.

His most recent major consultancy was to lead the team that produced the Guthrie Report for DEST(in the National Protocols for HE Approvals).

He, he was senior advisor, and later consultant, to the Committee of Enquiry into the Australian Financial System (Campbell Committee Enquiry).

His publications include books covering the subject areas of Money Formation and Interest Rates, Foreign Exchange Management, Financial Risk Management, Bank Management and Australian Financial Markets.

Profess is a registered auditor for the Australian Universities Quality Agency and for the New Zealand Universities Academic Audit Unit.

Professor Tom Valentine  (BEc, MA, PhD Princeton, FFTA)

Professor Tom Valentine was previously Professor of Banking and Finance at the University of Western Sydney.

Previous senior academic positions at both Australian and overseas universities include professional appointments as Director of the Centre of Studies in Money, Banking and Finance at Macquarie University, and as Director of the Centre of Applied Finance at the Kuringai College and University of Technology, Sydney.

In additionor Valentine is currently Adjunct Professor of Finance, MGSM at Macquarie University.