THE significance of Charles Sturt University’s 25th birthday can be summed up in a few simple facts: it has nine campuses, 51 per cent of its students come from regional and rural areas and for more than half they are the first in their family to attend university.
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It is this access to higher education that CSU offers to Australian students living outside metropolitan areas that it should be most proud of.
Without it, the substantial costs of accommodation on top of tuition fees would put tertiary education beyond the reach of many current and past students.
Quite apart from the career opportunities which CSU has opened up for tens of thousands of young Australians it has brought benefits to the daily lives of people in the communities where they live.
The university’s ethos has long been to cater for the needs of the communities where its campuses are based by offering places to local students in courses where there is a regional demand for graduates.
Like regionally based universities around the world it knows the best way to attract tertiary graduates to regional communities is to educate regional students.
A sense of community and belonging is a far great incentive to return to work in the regional community where you grew up than any inducement a government can offer. It is true in regional areas of Scandinavia, north America and Canada and it is true in regional and rural Australia.
The result has been that over its 25 years as a university CSU has trained agricultural scientists and farm managers, teachers, physiotherapists, pharmacists, vets and most recently dentists, who are all much more likely to practise their profession in regional Australia.
Though far from an ivy league institution, CSU has nonetheless earned an enviable reputation for producing graduates in demand for their vocational skills and their commitment to contributing to the communities they call home.
Here’s to the next 25 years.
