Over $60m allocated by Government for increased University access in the suburbs

The Federal Government will invest over $66 million to double the number of university study hubs across the country, including establishing hubs in the outer suburbs of our major cities for the first time. 

The announcement has been made ahead of the Australian Universities Accord Interim Report, which will be released tomorrow by Education Minister Jason Clare, and is understood to be the first immediate action delivered from the report. 

“I want more young people from the outer suburbs and the regions to get a crack at going to university, and this will help,” Mr Clare said. 

“A lot of Australians in their twenties and thirties have a university degree, but not in the outer suburbs and not in the regions,” he added. 

“I want this to change, and that means bringing university closer to them.”

For many Australians, the Minister continued, their postcode is “a brick wall” which prevents them from attending University. The cost of moving closer to a campus or a long and expensive commute is a major barrier to study. 

Through the funding, the Federal Government will establish up to 20 new Regional University Study Hubs (formerly Regional University Centres) and up to 14 new Suburban University Study Hubs, in addition to the 34 existing Regional University Study Hubs currently operating across the country. 

The hubs will provide computer facilities, internet and study spaces, as well as in-person administrative and academic skills support for students undertaking study at any Australian institution.

The 34 new hubs will be created in areas without a significant physical university campus and where the percentage of the population with university qualifications is low. 

Locations will be determined through an independent process run by the Department of Education.