Country Universities Centre Western Downs, a regional university study hub, opens in Chinchilla

Only 10.8 per cent of people in the Western Downs region has a bachelor’s degree or higher, but a new study hub is expected to help boost education in the region.

Western Downs students will now have access to greater education opportunities after the official opening of a new Regional University Study Hub in Chinchilla.

The centre, known as the Country Universities Centre (CUC) Western Downs, is one of 10 new Regional University Study Hubs that were announced in March 2024, and one of 12 regional hubs across Queensland to be funded through the Australian Government’s Regional University Study Hubs Program.

Western Downs locals enter a new world of possibilities as the new Country University Centre opens.

Only 10.8 per cent of people in the Western Downs region have a bachelor’s degree or higher, with the centre to bring tertiary education to the region’s negating the need to travel a 300km round trip to attend university and preventing brain drain.

“Today, almost one in two young people in their 20s and their 30s have a university degree. But not everywhere. Not in the outer suburbs and not in regional Australia,” Education Minister Jason Clare said in a press release.

“The Universities Accord makes it clear that we need more people from the regions and outer suburbs to get a university qualification.

“The evidence is that where University Study Hubs are established, university participation goes up, and that’s why we’re doubling them right across the country.

“Bringing university closer to where you live will encourage more people, who otherwise might decide not to go to university at all, to give it a crack.”

Senator Anthony Chisholm at the opening of the Country Universities Centre (CUC) Western Downs in Chinchilla on February 19, 2025.

Education and Regional Development Assistant Minister Senator Anthony Chisholm echoed this.

“CUC Western Downs is a great example of how these study hubs help regional, rural and remote students achieve academic success,” he said in a press release.

“Almost half of students who have studied at one of these hubs are the first in their family to attend university and as someone who was the first in their family to attend university, this is fantastic to see.

“Only 20.5 per cent of young people across regional Queensland have university a degree. Creating new hubs across our state makes attaining a degree easier – no matter where students live.”