Geraldton Universities Centre makes submission to State Govt review to improve local tertiary education access

Regional university students should have more opportunities to complete their entire courses in the regions, according to Geraldton Universities Centre’s submission to the State Government’s university sector review. GUC is urging for any new model of university education to be more inclusive of regional students. GUC’s recommendations included a request to redesign courses from WA universities to be fully accessible for regional students to complete their qualification in the regions. Nursing and some secondary teaching courses are able to be entirely completed in Geraldton, but other courses demand students to travel to cities to complete mandatory practical coursework that cannot be done in regional facilities. For some students this means four days in Perth once per semester, and for others it looks like four trips to Queensland during the academic year. An additional recommendation was to recognise and integrate WA’s Regional University Centres to be part of the State’s higher education landscape, similar to the regional campuses available in the Eastern States. There are currently university centres in Geraldton, Albany, Karratha and Port Headland that offer students face-to-face tutorials for a select few courses. GUC director Natalie Nelmes said being able to teach end-to-end courses at the centre, without having to send students to the city, meant they were putting qualified professionals back into the regional workforce. “We are genuinely committed to removing the barriers faced by students in regional areas, because it is in our best interest as a community to let them receive an education without having to relocate,” she said. Since its inception 20 years ago, GUC has injected 517 skilled graduates in to the workforce, but acknowledges how much bigger their reach could be, should they have the ability to offer courses in their entirety. Education Minister Tony Buti said the review was a chance to have a fresh look at the way the university sector was performing and get a “thorough understanding and a blueprint of how we can do things differently to meet the challenges of an ever-changing world.” He invited the submission from GUC after the State Cabinet visited Geraldton in February this year. A report from the review is expected to be given at the start of July and will detail which recommendations the State Government will be taking into consideration.