The roaring 70s at Curtin: flashback to 1975

1975 was a year of consolidation at the Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT) (now Curtin University). More courses were approved as degrees, and the campus was settling into its landscape. Student numbers climbed past 10,000 for the first time and our annual graduation topped 1000 students in another first.

The United Nations had also designated 1975 as International Women’s Year. We send a delegate to the first global conference on the status of women and gender inequality in Mexico City.

A comprehensive report on women in the WAIT workforce was commissioned as part of WAIT’s contribution to the global spotlight on the status of women. The report provided detailed information about the female WAIT workforce.

The resulting report looked beyond questions of salary, into the way women in 1975 navigated a working environment which was changing slowly to meet their needs and expectations.

In 1975 WAIT had continued to expand, introducing new schools and redesigning others to help meet student needs.

The School of Teacher Education was formed with an enrolment of 540 students in early childhood, primary and secondary education courses.

The Department of Computing and Quantitative studies was also established when the teaching function of the Computer Centre (now Digital & Technology Solutions or DTS) moved to the School of Applied Science. More courses in computer science followed rapidly.

The operational support function of the Computer Centre in 1975 was focussed on the transition of punch card use to on-line editing, a software support service for academics, building a terminal network and acquiring large processing and storage machines.

The School of Art and Design was also formed after separating from Architecture. In 1975 Andres Sanches-Flores created a large-scale Hispanic mural as part of an Artist in Residence program set up to bring a diverse series of artists to work on special projects. The artists also worked with students, transferring knowledge and sharing their experience through lectures and workshops.

Dietetics was transferred from Royal Perth Hospital to Health Sciences and reshaped, with its graduate diploma acquiring an uplift in entry qualifications and introducing more academic rigour to the course.

A new course in speech and hearing began in the Department of Occupational Therapy with an enrolment of 20 students. The course was approved as a bachelor’s degree in applied science (speech and hearing). Students commenced the degree course in 1976.

A significant new building opened this year too. After two years in construction, the Business and Administration (Building 402) was the largest building thus far completed on campus. The building could accommodate 1000 students across nine floors. It represented the bringing together of business, commerce, accounting and administration studies in one location.

And the T L Robertson library introduced polaroid photo ID cards and opened seven days a week for the first time.

1975 degree accreditations approved by the Australian Council on Awards in Advanced Education

Bachelor of Applied Science Civil Engineering

Bachelor of Applied Science Occupational Therapy

Bachelor of Applied Science Psychology

Bachelor of Arts English

Bachelor of Business Information Processing

Bachelor of Engineering Civil Engineering

Bachelor of Engineering Communications Eng.

Bachelor of Engineering Electronic Engineering

Bachelor of Engineering Electrical Engineering

Associate Diploma Nursing Education

The Western Australian Tertiary Education Commission formally accredited the following courses

Bachelor of Applied Science course in Library Studies

Bachelor of Education course in Teaching

Diploma of Teaching course in Teaching

Diploma of Applied Science course in Diagnostic Radiography and

Therapeutic Radiography

Associate Diploma course in English

Graduate Diploma course in Administration

Law elective within the Bachelor of Business courses.