UniSA's new boss Dr David Lloyd wants to make university fun again UniSA's new boss Dr David lloyd wants to see students socialising and enjoying university life. Picture: thinkstock Source: Supplied CLUBS, societies and spaces to mingle are part of the vision of UniSA's new boss to add fun to the campus experience of the university's 35,000 students. Irish import Dr David Lloyd said the sense of student community was absent from the university's culture so improving their experience was his priority. "Universities are about experience, it's about the people you meet, it's about the friends you make who you have for the rest of your life," he said. To me, if you have 35,000 students, that's the heartbeat of the institution and it can't be `come in, learn and go home'. Dr Lloyd won the role of vice-chancellor after the departure last year of Professor Peter Hoj, who left to join the University of Queensland. The biochemist, who was previously bursar and director of innovation at Trinity College Dublin, moved to Adelaide straight after Christmas and has been officially at the helm of UniSA for little more than a week. "Clubs and societies, to be honest, I think that's where people make their friends (because) it's like-minded individuals and there's a level of it going on (here) but it's at a lower level than I would have expected for a university of this size," he said. We need to instil that layer on the student experience. I think the university can help through a provision of infrastructure, provision of funding and just spaces for people to engage in. Also on top of Dr Lloyd's to-do list is to expand alumni involvement, review the university's structures and forge a stronger relationship with local industry. "UniSA is a place where you come in and you work hard and then you go and get a job," he said. I think if we're producing work-ready graduates, business-aware graduates, I want to make sure they are the right nature of graduate for the businesses they're going in to. Dr Lloyd challenged new Higher Education Minister Grace Portolesi to revise the Government's decision to axe funding for Education Adelaide, which promotes studying in SA to international students. Ms Portolesi said Education Adelaide played a positive role in marketing SA as a study destination and would work with its board and the universities to explore future options.