Council has shown their support for the development of the Southern Riverina Country Universities Centre (CUC) that would service the four Local Government Areas of Edward River, Hay Shire, Berrigan Shire and Murray River Councils.
Councils support for a Country Universities Centre, if successful, will provide a vast change in available tertiary study options in the local region. Currently people wishing to pursue tertiary studies in Edward River must either study online or relocate to larger cities where tertiary institutions are based.
Council staff have conducted surveys and garnered strong community and business support for a CUC locally and a steering committee has been established to develop a business case for a regional clustered Riverina CUC across the four municipalities.
The steering committee, chaired by Deniliquin businessman, Mr Bruce Simpson, consists of a representative group from all four local government areas and has been unified on ensuring the funding application must include all four sites, including the towns of Finley, Deniliquin, Hay and Moama.
Edward River Council's Mayor Petta Betts said "The establishment of a Southern Riverina Country Universities Centre would greatly benefit our region, providing much needed educational opportunities and helping to address workforce challenges in the long run."
"It would enable students in our areas to access and complete higher education without having to leave the community – our towns desperately need to retain our educated young people rather than losing them to the big cities."
The steering committee is in the process of applying to the Federal Government's Regional University Study Hubs 2023 Application Round program.
