Getting down and dirty in the Australian Outback isn’t the usual route to a university degree, but for seven Charles Darwin University (CDU) students, it was a requirement of their course.
The students are studying a Bachelor of Humanitarian and Community Studies at CDU’s Casuarina campus in Darwin. One of the practical components of the degree is held at CDU’s Katherine Rural campus, where students are trained in how to carry out emergency repairs on failed water pumps and generators in environments where often no spare parts are available.
The lecturer who helped to develop the course offered for the first time this year said there was a worldwide demand for skilled humanitarian logisticians.
“The intensive course teaches students to think conceptually and learn to trouble-shoot problems in environments where you have to think on your feet,” CDU lecturer Dan Baschiera said.
The students also learn 4-wheel driving skills, quad-biking techniques and light horse logistics.
Mr Baschiera, who is also a volunteer with Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) and has worked as a volunteer logistician in Sierra Leone, said the demand for humanitarian logisticians was likely to increase as global warming continued to generate humanitarian problems.
For more information and enquiries about enrolling on CDU’s Bachelor of Humanitarian and Community Studies, contact Dan Baschiera on (08) 8946 7359 or dan.baschiera@cdu.edu.au.