About Duke of Edinburgh's Gold Award

The Duke Of Edinburgh's Gold Award (Dukes) is being offered across ACU Campuses in 2010. The program was successfully piloted at ACU St Patrick's campus, Melbourne, in 2009.

The award is internationally recognised, highly prestigious and aims to demonstrate youth leadership in action.

Dukes Values and ACU

Dukes values are in line with ACU's values: ACU strives to foster compassionate, balanced, and empowered students and graduates who create positive change in the community.

"Our Awardees are the best advertisement for the transformational force of the program. When I meet these young people, I am excited and encouraged by the sheer confidence and profound global understanding they exhibit. And by global I mean understanding of themselves, their community and the world around them." The Hon. Larry Anthony | Chairman, Duke of Edinburgh's Award

See ACU's Community Engagement web page and see what other students are doing.

Dukes is Unique at ACU

The key to achieving the Gold award is support and encouragement. At ACU we offer a unique environment to help you achieve the award. These are:

• Campus Coordinators – someone to answer questions and motivate you right on-campus
• Expertise on tap – who better to help you design your physical components of the program than Exercise science students. Business students can assist with planning and marketing. Working together creates new friends and new skills. And, importantly, those assisting others get credit for their work.

Overview of the Award

Dukes is a program that provides you with an opportunity to achieve personal excellence. Dukes is about YOU doing more of the things you enjoy, while achieving your own goals through the challenges of physical activity, skill, community service or volunteering, expedition and residential project.

Philosophy

The Award believes in ten philosophies which state that The Award is:

• Available to everyone
• About experiencing, connecting and developing
• Not a competition
• Flexible
• Balanced
• Progressive
• About personal achievement
• A marathon, not a sprint
• Voluntary
• Fun

Components of the Award

You set your own goals in each of the five components of the Award and work towards them. The components are:

1. Community Service/Volunteering - Connect with your community and realise your passions.

   Any area of interest in the community, such as youth work, the environment or charity work.

2. Fitness/Physical Recreation - Break a sweat and improve your physical fitness.

   This could be through a team sport, individual pursuit or simply getting out there and working up a sweat.

3. Skill - Unleash your talents and broaden your abilities.

   Anything from refereeing, to DJing to learning a musical instrument, to jewellery making. Do your thing.

4. Adventurous Journey - Discover your sense of adventure and bond with your mates.

   A journey into an unfamiliar environment with a group – bushwalking, canoeing, cycling, an urban adventure – staying overnight and testing your resilience.

5. Residential Project - Broaden your horizons and open your eyes to the world.

   In Australia, or anywhere around the globe, limited only by your imagination. Your achievements are your own, and are not benchmarked against anyone else. The Award is about showing regular commitment, generally weekly, over the course of one-two years.

Time Commitment

Participants need to undertake their chosen activity regularly (1 hour per week or two hours per fortnight) for a set period of time as follows:

1. Community Service/Volunteering - 12 months
2. Skill -12 months
3. Physical Recreation - 12 months
4. Adventurous Journey - 4 days, 3 nights
5. Residential Project - 5 days, 4 nights (must complete a training and a practice journey)

Students who have not achieved a Silver Award must complete an additional 6 months in Community Service/Volunteering, Skill or Physical Recreation.

Why do the award?

The award provides you with the opportunity to apply and enhance your qualities and skills in commitment, independence, organisation, communication, leadership and much more.

"The award has given me more structure and purpose to all the endeavours I have taken outside an academic arena. It has helped me discover my passion for trying new things, seeking new challenges and helping others along the way" Gold Awardee

Community engagement and volunteering links in very well with the ACU mission statement of social justice and fits well within the community engagement model.

The Graduate ideals for ACU students are more than the accumulation of knowledge, this specific university experience encourages/facilitates opportunities to acquire employability skills that will leave you with more than a certification when you reach your personal finish lines.

It says to prospective employers that YOU are a person with leadership qualities, integrity, a social conscience and a willingness to take on a challenge. It can be the defining distinction between you and other applicants as it provides you with the competitive edge when seeking employment.

The award also enables you to:

• Once approved, fulfil your course community engagement / service requirements
• Demonstrate your valuable attributes to prospective employers, scholarship bodies and other application processes.
• Demonstrates your personal qualities and professional skills
• Broaden your experiences and engage in diverse activities
• Exhibits communication, negotiation and critical thinking competence
• Meet others and make new friends
• Have fun!

Making a Difference – ACU Graduate Attributes

At ACU the Duke of Edinburgh's Award offers students recognition for their contributions to the common good. ACU's graduate attributes aim for graduates to be:

Ethically informed and able to:

• demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity
• recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society
• apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making

Knowledgeable and able to:

• think critically and reflectively
• demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession
• solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

Skilful and able to:

• work both autonomously and collaboratively
• locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information
• demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media
• utilise information and communication and other relevant technologies effectively.

ACU has implemented a social justice focused community engagement agenda Beyond Today This agenda has the following priority themes, developed to encompass the University's teaching and research capabilities and address community, government and Church priorities:

• Beyond Disadvantage – reaching out to those in our society and most in need
• Beyond Borders - participating in action for change beyond our national boundaries
• Beyond Differences – promoting community engagement enriched by inter-faith and inter-cultural understandings.

Contact IACE to find out about the exciting community engagement opportunities available. Fulfill your Dukes Gold Award Community Engagement, Residential program and other components while igniting or continuing your passion for social justice. Get approval from your faculty and you can fulfil your course community engagement requirements as well.

Eligibility

• Any current student between 16-25 years can participate.
• Students from all disciplines, faculties and year levels are eligible.
• Students can sign up and be supported in the Gold level of the Award at any time throughout the year by contacting James Quine, the Duke of Edinburgh Coordinator @ ACU, at james.quine@acu.edu.au.

Costs

The cost of participation is $100.

Background of the Award

• For any young person aged 14-25 years
• Started in 1956 in the U.K. and in 1962 in Australia
• Run and recognised in over 125 countries
• Approximately 6000 participants commence the award annually in Victoria
• More than 300 educational institutions and community organisations are licensed operators of the award in Victoria in 2008.

Getting started

To get started:

1. Register online at: www.dukeofed.com.au/Online-Record-Book.html
2. Contact James Quine, the Duke of Edinburgh Coordinator @ ACU, on james.quine@acu.edu.au to let him know that you have registered.
3. Give your $100 registration fee to James Quine (which goes directly to the Duke of Edinburgh State office).
4. James will accept you online as an official participant.
5. Find assessors for each of the components you want to address now and discuss goals with them.
6. You're away! Start logging your hours online at: www.dukeofed.com.au/Online-Record-Book.html

FAQ's