Universities Accord: California model offers campus win for regions

A broad government-issued review into universities will look at opening a second national university in regional Australia.

James Cook University’s Bebegu Yumba campus. Picture: Matt Taylor

A broad government-issued review into universities will look at opening a second national university in regional Australia.

Education Minister Jason Clare on Wednesday said an NRU could be based on the University of California model, which has 10 locally governed campuses across the state, including UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles and UC Davis, but operates as a “statewide institution with central governance”.

As such, regional universities would opt in to become part of an NRU.

The Universities Accord Interim Report says an NRU would be a distinct educational model that was “shaped by Australian ­geography”.

“It could support high-quality regional education, offer a growing range of opportunities to students from regional communities, and deliver excellence in regional research. It would have a strong regional voice and through its campuses would retain its important local community identity.”

While the report suggests the NRU would provide substantial and lasting support for under-­represented cohorts, Mr Clare said it did not mean the Australian Nat­ional University and other regional institutions were not adequately serving rural and regional populations.

“What the report says is if you develop a university model like this, it would create a university system of scale that might attract more of the best and brightest students and academics from the rest of the world to come and participate,” he said.