A 73-second video and separate three paragraph email have seemingly brightened the prospects of retaining a university campus in Warrnambool.
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Deakin University Vice Chancellor Jane den Hollander posted a video saying the Warrnambool campus is open for business.
She assured students and prospective students that they would graduate with Deakin Warrnambool degrees in the next five to six years and encouraged more people to sign up for trimester two courses.
Her comments are being interpreted as a back flip from earlier statements Deakin intended to exit Warrnambool and hand over operations to another provider.
Talks with Ballarat-based Federation University are reportedly still happening but neither party will comment until after the July 2 federal election.
Professor den Hollander’s comments were far from clear about Deakin’s intentions – “no changes will affect ...(students) irrespective to what might happen, or may not happen, to the Warrnambool campus over the next five to six years.” But Warrnambool mayor Kylie Gaston was adamant the announcement was positive.
Her take on the video is that Professor den Hollander and Deakin have re-committed to Warrnambool.
Then, on Friday, Professor den Hollander said in an email seen by The Standard that Deakin had committed an extra $15,000 for a student recruitment campaign for next trimester.
Both the video and email are hardly those of an organisation about to exit Warrnambool. Professor den Hollander and Deakin are changing tack.
Instead of giving up because of declining numbers, Deakin is doing what the community has urged it to do – stay and fight.
The extra marketing dollars are a step in the right direction and the Regional Tertiary Advisory Group is also taking significant strides to help Deakin harness community support for Warrnambool.
This is good news.
Questions remain unanswered though. Why the sudden shift?
Circumstances, timing and brand management seem to be preventing questions like that being answered for now.
But as Cr Gaston said: “We are definitely staying alive.” That’s a relief for the campus’ dedicated staff and students. This is only a small win. There is a bigger battle ahead – recruiting more students.
