By Jess Baker
Warwick students may soon be able to complete university degrees from the comfort of their home town and with all the support a campus would provide, according to a Toowoomba university.
University of Southern Queensland Vice-Chancellor Professor Geraldine Mackenzie told Southern Downs Regional Council at an Information Session last week that discussions were underway to establish a Regional University Centre in Warwick.
“The advantage of having (a) Regional University Centre here in Warwick is that students can enrol at any university and get really strong support,” Professor Mackenzie told the council.
“That support may be having a desk, having a computer, having free Wi-Fi, (and) having study assistance available.”
Although based in Toowoomba, USQ is a mostly online university and, according to Professor Mackenzie, the most popular university amongst those in the Southern Downs.
“We’d love it to be more (popular) because we can support the students to stay here in their local communities,” she said.
“Even if the student comes to us in Toowoomba, they’re close by and they’re much more likely to come back, but we would also love to be able to support students to stay here in Warwick, Stanthorpe or wherever else they might be.”
Professor Mackenzie explained to the council that establishing a Regional University Centre in Warwick would enable students to pursue and complete higher education without having to leave their community.
“It’s really vital for students to stay in the region and we want to support them to do that,” she said.
“We know that around 75 percent of students educated in the regions will stay here, we also know that if they go elsewhere for university they are probably either never going to come back or come back when they’re having families…
“We don’t want to lose people from our regional universities otherwise we lose an entire generation.”
USQ currently operates its own Regional University Centre at Stanthorpe, providing a space for students to access career development counselling, computers, printing services, free Wi-Fi, writing workshops, learning support and more.
Professor Mackenzie said the university would not be able to establish a centre in Warwick as to be eligible for federal funding it will have to be community-led, but the university would like to partner with any organisation willing to take the project on.
“I feel we’ve got really strong support here in Warwick, and Warwick is the obvious place for the next (Regional University Centre),” she said.
