Oct 6 2006
Under a radical new plan, the Australian Ceramic Society has revised its entire membership structure to keep pace with changes in learned societies as well as changing technologies. The new plan calls for the abolition of annual membership fees, with these to be replaced with a once off joining fee.
Dr. Dan Perera, the Federal President of the Australian Society said, “The Australian Ceramic Society was formed in 1961. Since that time there have been few changes in the way the society functions. However, society itself has changed markedly in the last few years with the advent of the internet. In accordance with these changes, the Australian Ceramic Society has decided to take advantage of the technological advantages of the internet and pass the benefits on to its members.”
Although annual members fees have been removed, all members will still have access to all benefits they used to. These include:
- Access to the Journal of the Australian Ceramic Society
- Access to the quarterly Newsbulletin
- Discounts to the well respected biennial conferences
- Access to plant visits, technical meetings etc
Dr Perera also commented that, “by publishing our Newsbulletin and Journal electronically and communicating with members via e-mail we have reduced most of our costs. This has allowed us to shift our focus back to the members and provide them the same level of service at a much reduced cost.”
The new membership structure has been vastly simplified with just three levels of once off joining fees:
- Corporate membership will cost $150
- Ordinary membership will be $50
- Student will be given FREE MEMBERSHIP.
“While we need to encourage interaction amongst our members, it is the students that we need to attract as they are the up and coming professionals we would like to nurture for the long term. For this reason we have provided them free membership and hope that they will become involved to take advantage of the networking opportunities and industry contact, as well as being a member of a recognised professional society” said Dr Perera.
“We have been watching what is happening with other professional societies such as ours. By learning from others, exploiting available technology and adding a few touches of our own, we have implemented changes that we hope will keep the Australian Ceramic Society viable and vibrant for many years to come” he said.
More details and membership forms can be found on the Australian ceramic Society’s web site at http://www.austceram.com/join.htm