IT should have been an occasion to pop the champagne corks. But Deakin University’s commitment “forever” to the Warrnambool campus was bittersweet. After seven months of community campaigning to retain a university campus in the south-west, Deakin’s announcement on Monday vindicated the fight.
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A university campus is vital to the region – not only economically. It is, and must continue to be, a beacon for education aspiration and opportunity.
Vice Chancellor Jane den Hollander (pictured) said the announcement was great news for Warrnambool. It was, but it wasn’t.
She said the university had decided to retain the campus only with significant changes to make it financially viable. With annual losses expected to top $19 million by 2020, the university will cut unspecified numbers of jobs, half the existing courses, the golf course and its CBD centre.
A $14 million injection from the Federal Government effectively bought the campus two more years but savings associated with the course and staff cuts would reduce the losses to a more bearable $5 million a year. With a plan to rezone the golf course land, the university could also reap a significant return to offset the overall campus loss.
The axing of courses and jobs is a bitter pill to swallow for the community, which has supported Deakin for 26 years.
But Deakin argues technology changes, funding models for universities, low VCE attainment rates in the region and a general apathy to the campus have conspired against Warrnambool. Deakin, too, is not free of blame. Its decisions to cut courses and move away from face-to-face teaching have contributed to the 40 per cent drop in student numbers in the past five years.
Critically, can Deakin make a streamlined campus work? With less courses, how does it attract more students? How does the university translate the community’s passion for keeping the campus into students?
Deakin is exploring adding agribusiness courses, and others, and vowing to work closely with South West TAFE to develop better pathways to the university.
Retaining the campus is a victory, but the seismic changes proposed make it a hollow one. There are many challenges ahead for Deakin but also the community. If families and businesses fail to embrace the new-look campus, the fight will have been for little. As much as we don’t want a pillar of our community stripped back, we have to support it for the sake of future generations.
