Future of the Department
Three main themes determine the Department's approach to the future. They are all based on the premise of the philosophy espoused by the Head of Department, of the need for the Department to have a high profile in the delivery of psychiatric services, as well as its involvement with the community as a whole, both locally and internationally. The Department is very actively involved in the changing environment of psychiatric services, as a result of mainstreaming of the major psychiatric services into the general hospital system. Leadership of this process falls on the leaders of the three Clinical Schools, namely Professors Singh, Burrows, and Herrman, and McGorry (Centre for Young Peoples Mental Health), who are also Clinical Directors of Psychiatry at their respective hospitals or services. These services will form strong components of the new Networks being created in the Metropolitan Health System in Victoria, and thus give the University Department a major opportunity to influence these services.
The second, in the major commitments of the Department, is to its undergraduate program as part of the new curriculum, public, continuing education and general postgraduate education.
The third major theme for the Department will be its Internationalisation Program. The Department is actively exploring a strategic plan to become actively involved in internationalising its curriculum and its programs, as well as working with countries in the South East Asian and Western Pacific Regions to offer teaching, training and support for the development of psychiatric services in these areas. Discussions have involved the WHO Division of Mental Health, as well as the World Psychiatric Association. The Department is represented through components of the WHO Australian Multisite Collaborating Centre in Mental Health established in 1996.
In addition, the Department intends to continue its very active research program attempting to consolidate various sites as well as co-ordinate this area better. Initiatives in the area of Distance Education are underway. The Department is also continuing to review its undergraduate and postgraduate coursework curriculum to utilise more modern methods of teaching including multi-media and interactive computer learning.
In summary, the Department looks with confidence to a widening horizon in which it will continue its contribution to Psychiatry as an academic discipline in this city, the state, the nation and internationally.