Excelsia College, formerly Wesley Institute, opens at Macquarie Park

Hugh Jackman and Simon Baker might have more countrymen and women emulating their success in the US if a new Macquarie Park college is successful.

Hugh Jackman and Simon Baker might have more countrymen and women emulating their success in the US if a new Macquarie Park college is successful.

Excelsia College, which offers a Los Angeles industry placement scheme among its drama and music courses, marked the opening of its new home at 69-71 Waterloo Rd last week.

The college was previously known as the Wesley Institute and has moved from Drummoyne.

Student Andrew McCleod performs at the opening of Excelsia College. Picture: Virginia Young

It offers its top drama students the chance to meet directors and casting agents in Los Angeles and take classes through the placement scheme.

Former student Anna Sims moved to Los Angeles following the course and won a role in the movie Freedom, which starred Cuba Gooding Jr.

Another graduate, George Zhao, has appeared in the SBS series Family Law.

Excelsia’s Asia Pacific vice chancellor Prof Bridget Aitchison said the scheme exposes students to the reality of the industry and introduces them to working professionals.

Students undertake the scheme before their final year.

Excelsia College has a performing arts focus. Picture: Virginia Young

The college offers postgraduate courses in counselling, music and teaching, and is planning business courses.

A Protestant college, students study a Christian approach to life alongside their chosen field. However, enrolment is open to all.

Prof Aitchison said: “We do have non-Christian students. You don’t have to be Christian to come to us.

“We teach a holistic view of the person and the Christian view permeates how we relate to people as well as what we teach.”

The college’s move to Macquarie Park is one of the results of its collaboration with one of the biggest Christian universities in the US, Indiana Wesleyan University.

The two hope Excelsia will become a Christian university, similar to the Australian Catholic University and the University of Notre Dame but with a Protestant framework.