Taskforce to establish new university on the Central Coast

 

A taskforce will be set up to establish a new university near Warnervale following further successful talks with senior Department of Education officials in Canberra this week.

Wyong Shire Council Mayor Doug Eaton and Federal Member for Dobell Karen McNamara MP described the trip to Canberra as extremely fruitful.

“I’m confident that our proposal to establish a university campus at Warnervale will be successful,” Cr Eaton said.

“We met with two senior officials from the Department and gave them an overview of the university project and the tertiary education needs of the Central Coast,” he said.

“It was a great meeting – they understood the need for a significant increase in tertiary education provision on the Coast and the advantages of the proposed site at Warnervale,” he said.

The proposed Warnervale campus and associated business park would cater for 7,000 students and create 1,500 permanent jobs.  It is proposed to complement the existing tertiary education offerings on the Coast.

“Yesterday we received welcome advice on the accreditation process,” Cr Eaton said.

“It was also suggested that the complex include vocational education and we discussed possible areas of specialisation.

“The officials agreed to provide us with a swag of technical information and requirements and hold regular meetings with us as the group develops into a taskforce,” Cr Eaton said.

“I’d like to thank our local Member Karen McNamara for organising the meeting and assisting with this important project.”

“I’d also like to thank the Australian Minister for Education Christopher Pyne for his support following our meeting with him last month. 

Federal Member for Dobell, Karen McNamara, said she was pleased to host the talks between Wyong Shire Council and the Federal Government to progress the new university precinct.

“We committed to working with Wyong Shire Council in our ‘Growth Plan for the Central Coast’ prior to the election and I am pleased to see the ongoing development of this project,” Mrs McNamara said.

“Council recently met with the Minister for Education, the Hon Christopher Pyne MP, who was interested in plans for improving education on the Central Coast.”

“Currently in Dobell, only 16% of people are engaged in a tertiary or technical institution. It is crucial that we improve access to tertiary education in order to address local skills shortages and better meet the job challenges of the future.”

“The Government is determined to improve access to higher education and we hope this new university precinct near Warnervale will be able to benefit from our reforms in this area.”

For more information visit Wyong Shire Council