ROCA President's Annual Report
It is my pleasure to provide a brief outline of the 2009/2010 ROCA year. This has been my second stint as President, the first being some two decades ago. Something I have come to realise over many years is to keep speeches and reports as short as possible..... and this one will be no exception.
In my 30+ years on the ROCA Committee, the organisation has never been more relevant than at the present time.
While the external appearance of courses offered by Roseworthy Campus may have altered somewhat from that at the time of the merger with the University of Adelaide in the early 1990's, the core fundamentals of Roseworthy have not. Roseworthy Campus has been positioned to produce graduates possessing hands-on and theoretical professional expertise in agriculture, but now primarily with an animal focus. Linked to the new Agriculture program administered from the Waite Campus, Roseworthy Campus also retains its role as an education and research site for broadacre agronomic industries.
From ROCA's perspective, the students and graduates are still rurally inclined and positioned to contribute greatly to the future of regional Australia.
One challenge for ROCA is to capture the hearts & minds of current Roseworthy Campus students to ensure they relate to the organisation and can see value in becoming aligned with it in the long term. Even prior to the merger of Roseworthy College with the University of Adelaide, ROCA found it difficult to attract new membership from graduating students.
The answer may lie in creation of greater student camaraderie through the use of ROCA's networks, with a firm commitment to continue this into each person's graduate years. The current generation of students at Roseworthy Campus is looking to link in with a sense of history, tradition and heritage. With some considered thought, ROCA could easily profile itself to meet this need.
A second challenge for ROCA is to retain its current membership and ensure graduates of past eras do not become isolated. With ROCA's restricted funding base, the current debate is centred on how to best communicate with the membership. E-mail and web based mechanisms will be the key for the future, however ROCA is quickly realising that a significant number of members do not have access to this technology.
Although ROCA currently has 596 "lost" members on its books, the aim is to retain contact with all ROCA members at any cost. It would be a shame to lose contact with more of our ROCA members simply because they may not respond to a call for funds. In the long term, the disenfranchisement of a member is a loss for the member, ROCA and the University.
This year the ROCA Committee decided its core focus needed to be on Roseworthy Campus, its students and graduates. This is the reason why ROCA did not enter into global debates surrounding agricultural education and research, particularly in relation to the sale of the University of Adelaide's three bequest properties in the north of the state. However from ROCA's point of view, it would now be opportune for some of the revenue realised from the sale of these properties to be placed into the Roseworthy Campus & Student Fund for use as student scholarships to encourage future participation in Roseworthy based courses.
ROCA is based on its membership and the work put in by the Committee. Special thanks to Mark Seeliger, Ray Taylor, Locky McLaren, Darren Koopman, Dick Turnbull, Peter Dunn, Damien Rixon, Ian Rice, Alan Richardson and David Spencer. ROCA also acknowledges the tremendous support provided to it by the University of Adelaide's Development & Alumni Office.
Dale Manson
ROCA President
Reports Archive
2009 ROCA President's Annual Report
2008 ROCA President's Annual Report
2007 ROCA President's Annual Report
2006 ROCA President's Annual Report
2005 ROCA President's Annual Report
2004 ROCA President's Annual Report
2003 ROCA President's Annual Report
