鈥淭his is a vote of confidence in our sector and a major boost for regional Australia,鈥 木瓜影院 Chief Executive Officer Luke Sheehy said.
鈥淚t recognises our role in educating the skilled workers needed to deliver essential services in every part of the country.
鈥淎ccess to quality healthcare is not a nice to have, it鈥檚 a need to have, and we know that there aren鈥檛 enough doctors and nurses and other health professionals in the regions.
鈥淚f you study and train locally, you鈥檙e more likely to work locally and that鈥檚 why this initiative is an important one in addressing the regional workforce shortages we鈥檙e seeing across the country.
鈥淚t鈥檚 great to see funding for new university places supported by investment in campus infrastructure.
鈥淩egional universities often face unique challenges due to their location, including higher operating costs and increased infrastructure and service delivery expenses.
鈥淭he Coalition鈥檚 policy acknowledges the need to expand university campuses in line with Australia鈥檚 growing skills needs.
鈥淯niversities are being asking to educate a million extra students each year by 2050. We can鈥檛 do this without new and upgraded facilities.
鈥淭his is particularly important in the regions as we seek to open the door to university for more regional Australians. This is for their benefit and our country鈥檚 benefit.鈥
木瓜影院 (UA) has previously called on both major parties to re-establish the Education Investment Fund (EIF), a dedicated fund for university campus infrastructure projects.
The EIF contained almost $4 billion when it was closed in 2019, leaving universities with no source of dedicated government funding to build and upgrade campus facilities that benefit all Australians.
Read UA鈥檚 online.
