In Principio v18 no2 (2007)

4 • UNIVERSITY NEWS Professor Hayden Ramsay Provost, Sydney, & Executive Dean, College of Philosophy & Theology A personal reflection As fellow Scots reading this will know, in Scotland the Provost is the equivalent of the Mayor in Australia - the civic head of the community. So when I told my old mother back in Scotland I was now Provost in Sydney she was very pleased indeed! Being a Catholic university at this time gives us an extraordinary opportunity to represent the 1,000 year old Catholic tradition of the University as the home of reason. In 2008 we play host to the youth of the world, hundreds of thousands of young, faith-filled men and women at the peak of their intelligence and enthusiasm. The idea that Catholicism is dying or that Catholic universities are contradictions will then be untenable. Part of the genius of the Church, ancient and yet ever-new, is its appeal to youth and to the searching of young minds for good answers. World Youth Day 2008 is like a whole university on the move-a collegiate body of youth brimming over with ideas and questions and looking for answers. Notre Dame campuses around the nation are in prime position to respond from the riches of a tradition the University is now making available to the next generation . Last week on a sunny day I chatted at Notre Dame to students of Sydney University. It felt very good to have these visitors here, attending mass, having lunch, meeting Notre Dame students. How could all this have happened in two short years? Wearing my philosopher's hat, I have two thoughts. First, whenever Catholic faith announces its perennial appeal to reason and to questioning students appear, excited by some of the w isest answers ever given to the deepest questions ever asked. And secondly, wherever people are evidently trying to wed commitment to truth with commitment to love men, and women will see that place as a good place to be. UNIVERSITY NEWS Outstanding students receive early offers to Notre Dame 81 Western Australian (WA) and 104 New South Wales (NSW) school leavers have been granted early university offers for 2008 as part of the Notre Dame High Achiever Early Offer Program (EOP). The EOP was introduced in 2006 to give secondary schools the opportunity to nominate academically strong students who have made an outstanding contribution to school and community life. This year the University received 271 applications (147 in WA and 124 in NSW) for studies in 2008, which was a substantial increase on applications received in 2006. Schools who nominated students to the Fremantle Campus included St Luke's College, Karratha and Manjimup Senior High. In NSW, students at Loreto Normanhurst, St Spyridon College, Sydney Grammar School and MacKillop Senior College were among those nominated. The successful Fremantle Campus applicants were addressed by Vice Chancellor, Dr Peter Tannock, at t he EOP award ceremony where he congratulated them. "It is a great pleasure to welcome to Notre Dame such high calibre students who have made a great contribution to their School community," said Dr Tannock. Mrs Remmie Masarei, Manager of Notre Dame's Fremantle Campus Admissions Office commented, "We are delighted to see the number of applications increase. This is a great opportunity for outstanding students to be acknowledged for their contribution to school and community life and their strong academic results." Those selected by the Sydney Campus Admissions Office will attend a breakfast in early January 2008 at which they will be officially welcomed to the Campus community by students admitted through the EOP in 2007. The offers received by the successful nominees are condi tional on them completing Year 12 and meeting the academic requirements for each course. School leavers accepted ,nto the Early Offer Program with Vice Chancellor. Dr Peter Tannock and Admissions Manager, Fremantle, Romm1e Masarei.