Professor Jim Mienczakowski is Curtin Sarawak’s new pro vice-chancellor

Miri – 19 July 2013 – Professor Jim Mienczakowski has assumed the position of Pro Vice-Chancellor of Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak), taking over from Professor Ian Kerr, who held the position since May 2010.

An Australian national, Professor Mienczakowski joins Curtin Sarawak from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where he served as Executive Director of Higher Education and Vice-Chancellor of Emirates College for the Advancement of Education, Abu Dhabi.

Professor Mienczakowski has a Bachelor of Education degree from University of London’s Institute of Education, a Master of Arts from King’s College, London and a PhD from Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. He also has a Dip. CSSD from London University’s Central School where he studied in the early 1970s.

He is an experienced academic administrator, having held senior positions in universities in Australia, including Foundation Dean of Education and Creative Arts and later Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Research) at Central Queensland University, and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research, Industry and Community) at Victoria University, in addition to his latest positions in the UAE.

With a strong background in education, having taught in schools in Australia, the United Kingdom and the West Indies, Professor Mienczakowski’s teaching and research interests reflect a broad and interdisciplinary approach to research.

He has published extensively in the areas of qualitative methodological approaches, social sciences, ethnography, health education, schooling and performance, and his published works also include a number of ethnographically informed theatrical plays. He is also on the editorial/advisory boards of a number of journals including Sage’s Qualitative Research.

In his new role, Professor Mienczakowski will lead a team of over 300 staff members (with a current enrolment of about 3,500 students from over 40 countries) and take the highly-acclaimed Curtin Sarawak campus to the next level.

His focus will be to capitalise on the significant and excellent work already achieved in Curtin Sarawak by his predecessor and others and to further internationalise both Curtin Sarawak’s identity and its student intakes.

Growth of Curtin Sarawak’s national and international research capacities and achievements will play a big part in his plans for the Miri campus, but so too will enhancing the total student experience, providing students with richly interactive and personalised learning experiences and effective new teaching and engagement approaches, and equipping them with leadership skills for the future.

In addition, through high-impact research in areas of strategic importance, Curtin Sarawak seeks to deliver outcomes of significant value to the local and regional communities.

“Being recognised and respected as leading in research and education is very much part of Curtin’s global mission. Curtin Sarawak must also contribute to that recognition and also to the rich and diverse fabric of Malaysia’s rapidly developing higher education environment,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Professor Kerr has returned to Perth, Australia where he will assume an adjunct professor position at Curtin University, as well undertake visiting lecturer engagements at a number of universities in the region.

Professor Jim Mienczakowski, Curtin Sarawak’s new Pro Vice-Chancellor.

Professor Kerr (right) symbolically handing over the reins of the campus to Professor Mienczakowski at a recent staff event.