Student Demand Vindicates University Establishment
26 February 2005
It was great to see so many new students at the University for
orientation last week. In fact, it was the largest group ever and
the numbers will increase in the years ahead, as will the range of
degree programs.
I had a chance on a number of occasions in the week to talk with
the new students and I was impressed with their enthusiasm and
desire to succeed.
Staff have said it was the largest and best attended, as well as
the most impressive with respect to the range of activities. The
University is steadily increasing its scale to a level where
students really begin to feel part of a large but still personal
organisation. University students want access to lecturers and
counselling, IT facilities, library and group activities. Small
'learning centres' can never replace a true University campus
experience. And we are well on the way to providing that total
university experience.
The most moving thing for me at the start of each year, however,
is the number of students who express their gratitude to me and to
other staff, for the presence of this University on the Coast, and
the new opportunities it has created for them.
Similar views were expressed by students in the Daily's 'What do
you think?' last week. For example, Simon Richards said he 'would
not be able to afford to go to university anywhere else …I would
have to forego my Business/Accounting degree and take up
labouring'.
Rachel Johnson said she 'never thought of going anywhere else',
whilst others were aware of the costs of going to University
further afield, and these costs could have been prohibitive.
These views give encouragement to us all at the University,
because they represent the raison d'etre for our establishment,
that is, to increase access to university for people on the
Sunshine Coast.
Over 40 per cent of our new students are the first in their
families to attend a university, and they can all be proud of that.
Let's hope they are pioneering a new tradition for their children
and grandchildren into the future.
We also had a higher proportion of women, and larger numbers
coming from areas outside the Sunshine Coast. The numbers from the
Coast also increase annually, especially from Caboolture, Noosa and
Gympie, and we hope that as transport connections improve, and as
we develop some learning centres to deliver some of the early
degree units, in particular, that the University will become
increasingly the university of first choice for students.
Our University Act expects us to meet the needs of the
community, and there is not a university in Australia that is more
committed to its region, and the advancement of that region than
USC.
As the cooperation and support grow, most recently through
addressing SunROC priorities on the knowledge economy, and the
State Government's identification of Sippy Downs as the Coast's
'Knowledge Hub' in its South East Queensland Regional Management
Plan, so the returns to the Coast's economy will increase, in
direct proportion to the level of investment and support.
It is clear that thousands of domestic students and hundreds of
international students want to enter the University and to see it
grow its profile. We are doing our utmost to respond to that
legitimate and encouraging demand.
Professor Paul Thomas is Vice-Chancellor of University of
the Sunshine Coast