Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to advise the House of how Geelong and the greater south-west Victorian region stand to benefit from the Rudd government’s focus on rectifying the decade of inequality and ineptitude that was the former government’s approach to tertiary education in this country.

One month ago, the Minister for Education invited universities across the nation to apply for the first round of funding under the new Diversity and Structural Adjustment Fund. The fund, which forms part of this government’s commitment to an education revolution, has allocated $206 million over four years to encourage higher education institutions to offer greater tertiary access to rural and remote regions, be more responsive to labour market need when formulating course content, develop increased dual sector initiatives and diversify academic focus while encouraging specialisation. During a meeting two weeks ago with Professor Sally Walker, the Vice-Chancellor of Deakin University, the professor advised me that the university would be applying for resources from the Diversity and Structural Adjustment Fund to develop a project known as Deakin @ Your Doorstep. The project has been designed to address the sometimes dramatic differences between metropolitan and regional access and retention rates in secondary and post secondary education environments.

Between 1998 and 2007 the difference in metropolitan and regional retention rates of years 10 to 12 students in Victorian government schools went from nine per cent to 11.9 per cent. Current statistics indicate that university retention rates for rural areas are between three per cent and nine per cent lower than those of metropolitan areas and between 10 per cent and 16 per cent lower for isolated students. Similarly, access rates for isolated students dropped a staggering 31 per cent between 1996 and 2005. Deakin @ Your Doorstep would augment the role of Deakin University’s Warrnambool campus to become the focal point of service delivery of a suite of newly created courses orientated towards greater community engagement, addressing localised skills shortages and increasing retention rates and would be devised in consultation with local government and regional employers.

To drive the program the university would establish localised access points, building on dual sector initiatives with regional TAFEs and other institutions, thus providing the resources required to undertake tertiary education at a local level, including access to adequate data bandwidth, which may not yet be readily available. Deakin @ Your Doorstep will also target students in isolated and disadvantaged socioeconomic areas by offering associate degree programs that are formulated to entice potential students who do not already meet the entrance requirements for tertiary courses and will also operate as a bridging program for students who upon completion may then seek further studies at the undergraduate level. The program is planned to commence with an initial focus on communities around Warrnambool, Colac and in my electorate, including Geelong. It is hoped that later it will stretch across regional Victoria and beyond. There is great potential—(Time expired)