Charles Sturt University will be closing its three inner-city study centres in a bid to attract more international students to regional centres like Orange, Dubbo, Albury, Wagga, Bathurst and Port Macquarie.
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The university has confirmed it will not be extending the 25-year agreement with Study Group Australia that has seen them operate study centres in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The metro centres, where about 70 per cent of CSU's international students conduct their studies, will instead shut down at the end of 2022.
Charles Sturt Pro Vice-Chancellor, Community and Global Engagement, Mr Tom Burton said this decision was made in light of a new overarching strategy being implemented at the university which involves a heightened focus on the network of regional campuses.
Mr Burton said there will be a big push to bring future international students and researchers out to the regional campuses.
"One of the key priorities is to continue to look at international education and international research as a key component and what we want to do is focus all our efforts on our main campus network in regional NSW," Mr Burton said.
"We want to work with community and employers and the regions more broadly to deliver a really fantastic experience for both international researchers and international researchers."
The existing cohort currently enrolled at the centres, which includes 1500 international students, will be permitted to finish their studies through a teach-out process.
Mr Burton said he was proud of what the centres had achieved over the years, which includes helping over 17,000 students receive qualifications, and said he was excited to enrich the regional Charles Sturt campuses with more bright international minds.
"By bringing multiple cultural approaches out to these regional communities you're really getting community diversity and enrichment," he said.
"You've also got the ability to contribute to the regional economies in a direct and indirect way."
Study Group Australia's managing director Alex Chevrolle thanked the teachers and staff who have worked at the study centres over the past 25 years and said the focus now is on delivering the best possible education for the remaining students.
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