Monash Memo - articles - 28 November 2001

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Successful staff exchange paves the way

The first general staff exchange between Monash University and King's College London has concluded with the return of media communications officer Ms Fiona Perry.

Describing the exchange as a "great success", Ms Perry said she was grateful for the opportunity and would highly recommend the experience to other staff.

"Having the chance to work at King's was fantastic," she said. "It was an enormously valuable experience, both personally and professionally."

Ms Perry, who works in the Media Communications Unit in Monash's Marketing and Public Affairs Division, swapped jobs and residences with King's College senior public relations officer Ms Melanie Gardner for three months.

While at King's, she produced two issues of the college's newsletter, Comment, wrote media releases and liaised with both national and international media.

Ms Perry said the international work experience had developed her skills and stretched her professionally.

"It was certainly a challenge to be transplanted into a different work environment in another country for three months, but I think I picked it up very quickly," she said.

The influx of media calls after the September 11 attacks in the US was one of the aspects of the trip that Ms Perry said was most memorable.

"When the September 11 terrorist attacks occurred, I was inundated with media queries. King's is world renowned for its experts on war, terrorism and international security issues, and they were very much in demand. Their opinions were featured in British and international newspapers and on radio and television in the aftermath of the attacks," she said.

Ms Perry said the exchange was also valuable in that it allowed her to increase the awareness of King's staff about Monash and to forge closer ties between the two media communications offices.

King's College staff member Ms Gardner produced three issues of Monash News and also undertook media liaison tasks while working in Monash's Media Communications Unit.