A Yarra Ranges Council initiative to establish “satellite university campuses” using existing infrastructure was unanimously supported at the National General Assembly of Local Government (NGA) today.
Representing the Yarra Ranges Council at the Australian Local Government Association’s (ALGA) 31st NGA, council mayor Jim Child put forward YRC Motion 103 which called for the Federal Government to facilitate the development of satellite university campuses in the municipality.
The motion’s vision would leverage existing infrastructure to deliver online courses in the Yarra Ranges for young people going into higher education.
“Let’s use the facilities out in our municipality. It could be libraries, it could be our other centres that we’ve got where we could actually have our young people come and do their online studies,” Cr Child said.
More than 1200 mayors from across the nation attended the NGA to engage with federal politicians, build partnerships between councils and advocate for better funding.
The Your Library Ltd facilities were highlighted as potential learning hubs due to the libraries having high speed NBN.
Cr Child said it’d ensure there’s no “half hearted” education experiences where students drop out of calls due to bad internet.
The motion aimed to join the relevant bodies together to make it happen.
“What we’re requesting is that they have those conversations with the government, the university bodies and also us as councillors to bring the two bodies together to say, ‘this should happen.’ ”
“It’s petty simple and it’d be a great outcome for our young people.”
When asked about an on campus institution in the Yarra Ranges, Cr Child said it’d be great to have more face-to-face facilities, but it would be dependent on other factors like population growth.
“A lot of that depends on a growing population – we’re not in a growth corridor, so that’s something to think about as well.”
“The main thing with this motion this afternoon is to actually fill that gap with this great technology that we’ve got at the moment and the infrastructure that’s there, and we should be able to do this easy,” Cr Child said.
YRC Motion 103 also argued satellite university campuses would help university campuses which are already under pressure from financial threats.
The motion also received support from a rural council in Queensland, who made an amendment to the motion to include students finishing their final years of high school in locations where years 10 to 12 aren’t offered.
“They’re constricted as well in these rural areas where the secondary schooling only goes to Year 10 and these hubs would actually provide for them locally with the technology,” Cr Child said.
