The PIE’s Editorial Director, Amy Baker, was honoured with an award for Excellence in Professional Commentary this week as part of annual awards that are organised by the International Education Association of Australia (IEAA).
Announcing the winner on stage during the AIEC conference in Brisbane, Brett Blacker, the new incoming President of IEAA, praised The PIE News’ commentary and media coverage on global international education issues, saying, “This award recognises Amy’s insight in identifying a gap in the industry and for having the initiative and drive to get it off the ground.”
“I was so delighted to receive this award and it has been great to be in Brisbane and receive such warm congratulations from so many of our Australian readers,” said Baker.
“We have reached over half a million unique users since our launch and it is wonderful to receive feedback from the sector that our coverage is so well received.”
Other winners included two well known names in Australia who were honoured with a Distinguished Contribution award: Rob Lawrence of Prospect Research & Marketing, a market-leading research and strategy specialist in the sector who presented on employability earlier in the week, and Graeme Baguley, whose student support and welfare work at QUT has been pioneering.
At an international student panel held during AIEC, one student at QUT explained how well supported he felt, with support that ranged from pastoral to practical, such as helping him file his tax return.
There were further awards for Best Practice/Innovation in International Education (multiple winners); Excellence in Leadership in International Education (Dr Anna Ciccarelli, formerly University of Queensland); and for Outstanding Postgraduate Thesis on a Topic related to International Education (to Mark Fielding of UWA for work looking at internationalisation and its impact across secondary schools).
Recipients of the Tony Adams Fund 2014 grants were also presented on stage. These grants are offered to support professional development and study in the international education sector.
