Submission to the Review of Higher Education Financing and Policy

Advisory Committee for the Dubbo campus of Charles Sturt University

Dear Sir or Madam

I write to you on behalf of the community representatives on the Advisory Committee for the Dubbo campus of Charles Sturt University whose names are listed at the end of this letter. We understand that your Committee is charged with providing the Commonwealth Government with advice on the future development of higher education in Australia. We feel strongly that in addressing this task you should have some appreciation of the educational and related challenges facing regional Australia and western New South Wales in particular.

The highly urbanised nature of Australian society presents particular challenges to those who live in the agricultural and regional areas of this nation but with particular reference to higher education we would like to highlight the issues from two perspectives which relate to Themes 1 and 2 of your Terms of Reference, viz:

• Theme 1 - the role of regional universities as catalysts for development; and
• Theme 2 - participation in and access to university study within regional New South Wales.

Although these comments are written in the context of Dubbo, our region and Charles Sturt University they are offered to highlight issues of importance to all regional communities in this country.

Theme 1 - Regional Universities as Catalysts for Development

Notwithstanding the critical role played by regional universities in providing regional students with opportunities to study at university level they also play a critical role in regional development.

Regional communities play an important part in the overall development and prosperity of Australia and although it is understandable that they do not enjoy the breadth and depth of infrastructure and services that are available to those that live in the major cities we believe that it is important for the future of our nation that they be encouraged to grow. Regional universities have an important role to play in this growth.

Just as the establishment of regional teachers’ colleges overcame the problem in the 1940’s and 1950’s of encouraging young people to teach in rural schools so did the regional colleges of advanced education provide these communities with accountants, radiographers, nurses and other professionals. Similarly it is now the regional universities that are providing these together with graduates in social work, pharmacy, physiotherapy and other disciplines and that are working with metropolitan medical schools to overcome the serious shortage of medical practitioners in rural Australia.

Not only do these institutions provide local students with these opportunities they also attract metropolitan students to the region. Someone educated in regional Australia is much more likely to seek a career and to settle in such an environment.

It almost goes without saying that these institutions have a special responsibility in providing Aboriginal people with the opportunity to overcome the generations of disadvantage that they have suffered. Whilst this responsibility is shared by all universities, those in regional Australia will be better placed to provide Aboriginal people with a less forbidding experience.

Apart form the educational opportunities that are offered by such institutions, regional universities bring a diversity of cultural and economic benefits to their communities. In addition to the research and consultancy expertise that they bring, the presence of a community of scholars brings its own richness and cultural influence. One has only to look at older educational systems such as those in the United Kingdom and the United States of America to see what can be achieved by regional universities.

We believe that there is a persuasive argument that if the gradual erosion of services and infrastructure available in regional Australia and the increasing urbanisation of our society is to be stopped some protection of regional universities is critical. If current policies of economic rationalism are allowed to flow to their logical conclusion large metropolitan universities will prosper at the expense of the regional institutions and at the ultimate expense of regional communities.

We do not feel able to suggest how this might be achieved within your vision for higher education into the next century but we encourage you to consider the role that regional communities might play in Australia in the decades to come and how regional universities can be encouraged to expand on the important role that they already play in regional development.

Theme 2 - Participation and Access

In common with many major regional centres throughout Australia, Dubbo has long sought a university presence in its region. In more recent times important developments have included:

• the development of an innovative approach to technical and further education in the region with the establishment of the Orana Community College;
• the establishment of the Orana University-TAFE Centre (OUT Centre) involving Charles Sturt University, the University of New England and the Western Institute of TAFE; and
• the establishment by the State Minister for Education and Youth Affairs of a working party to consider the future higher education needs of Dubbo and the surrounding area and the publication of its report, entitled "Future Directions: A Strategic Plan for Post-Compulsory Education in the Orana and Western regions of New South Wales" in July 1995.

This Report made a number of detailed recommendations on the basis that the OUT Centre offered a focus for the cooperation between TAFE and the university sector for the development of post secondary education within the region. At about this time, however, the University of New England withdrew from the OUT Centre as a result of the dismantling of its network structure and it was agreed by the NSW Higher Education Unit that Charles Sturt University should become the focus for higher education in this region.

With the active support of the Dubbo City Council and the Western Institute of TAFE Charles Sturt University has responded enthusiastically within the constraints of its resources to establish an innovative campus in this city and we have been privileged to be part of this exciting development.

With respect to participation and access the Report of the Working Party analysed the community need for higher education. Its own work and that of other DEET reports identified inter alia that:

• rural students access higher education (with the exception of education and agriculture) at a rate well below that of their urban counterparts - 1% of the population compared to 3.25% across Australia and 4.1% in major cities;
• about 26% of Dubbo school leavers enrolled at university in 1992 compared to 32.6% in Wagga Wagga where there is a university presence - of those enrolling from Wagga 76% chose to attend Charles Sturt University;
• the retention rate for rural students is lower even though rural students perform better than or equal to the remainder of students;
• the percentage of Dubbo students leaving school at less than 15 years of age is declining;
• a higher percentage of Dubbo students choose to attend TAFE - 3.7% compared to 2.5% across Australia and 2.7% in major urban areas;
• 3.5% of the Dubbo population has a higher education qualification compared with 6.5% for the nation as a whole; Dubbo also suffered a decline in this figure over the past five years compared to an increase of nearly 5% for Australia;
• the areas in demand are (in order) business, education, health and arts, humanities and social sciences; and
• 85% in the 26-45 year age range expressed an interest in university study and 65% of those under 25.

Of the students that are able to pursue higher education most attend one of the regional universities in NSW as shown below: (the relatively high figures for the University of Sydney reflect enrolments at the Orange Agricultural College):

Clearly, without active and viable regional universities the numbers of regional students proceeding to university would be even lower than the current relatively low participation rates.

Yours sincerely
Ms Susan Benedyka
Chief Executive Officer, Dubbo City Development Corporation and Presiding Member, Dubbo Advisory Committee, Charles Sturt University

on behalf of

Mr Neil Black, Director, Western Institute of TAFE
Dr Ian Denney, Director, Western Plains Zoo
Mr Ray Fairweather, Director, Macquarie Area Health Service
Mr Murray Feddersen, Managing Director, CQS Australia
Mr Michael Kennedy, Partner, Darcy Kennedy
Cr Tony McGrane, Mayor, Dubbo City
Ms Lynette Riley-Mundine, Aboriginal Development Manager, Orana Community College

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