Goulburn country university centre opens in $8m roll-out

A new Country Universities Centre was opened in Goulburn by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, hoping to replicate the huge success of the inaugural Cooma CU centre launched in 2013.

The Snowy Monaro CUC  now has 198 registered students studying graduate and post graduate degrees. It has seen an amazing 95 per cent completion rate for students.

The aim of the CUC  is to give students in regional areas an improved learning experience through  engagement, ending the isolation of regional learning.

Some of these issues were to be discussed at The Land’s Next Crop forum to be held in Cooma at the Cooma Hotel on Thursday at 5.30pm. The CUC’s ceo Duncan Taylor is a special forum speaker.

Meanwhile, the CUC is due to expand again with a new centre planned for Broken Hill. The NSW Government has put up $8 million to fund future centres. 

Many regional towns lose some of their brightest people because of poor access to higher education.

The CUCs create spaces that allow students, educators and support staff to come together.  “We want students to succeed – and this CUC will help those students by providing assessment help, academic skills, motivation support, and face to face tutorials in some instances,” NSW Deputy Premier and Regional NSW Minister John Barilaro said.

Mrs Berejiklian, Mr  Barilaro and Goulburn MP Pru Goward  officially opened Goulburn’s new Country Universities Centre (CUC).

Mrs Berejiklian said the centre in Goulburn is the first of at least five new Country Universities Centres to be opened in regional NSW.

“The new Country Universities Centre in Goulburn will give students from the region a place where they can access high-tech facilities, professional support, academic advice, and help with assessments, all close to home,” she said.

The new CUC will provide students with access to computers, meetings rooms and video conferencing facilities, plus staff who will work with students in face-to-face tutorials and workshops.

Mr Barilaro said the Country Universities Centre program will stop the brain drain of students leaving the country to study in the city. “We know that if we give students the opportunity to study at home in regional NSW they will bring those skills into the local workforce and continue to grow our regional communities and economies.

The Goulburn Country Universities Centre will operate immediately ahead of the 2018 university year, while a second Country Universities Centre in Broken Hill is scheduled to open shortly.

CEO of Country Universities Centres Duncan Taylor said the support from the NSW Government to fund the regional campuses will break down the boundaries regional students often face in accessing and completing higher education courses.

“Geography is one of the biggest challenges regional students face when deciding on whether to go to University or not, and I commend the NSW Government for getting behind this program and expanding CUC’s to Goulburn,” Mr Taylor said.