Victoria Uni opens Brisbane campus focussing on international students

Victoria University has opened a new campus in Brisbane aimed at the international student market which is growing fast post-Covid.

Victoria University’s new campus in Brisbane

Victoria University has opened a new campus in Brisbane aimed at the international student market, which is growing fast since the end of the pandemic.

The campus in Fortitude Valley has nearly 100 students, mainly from India and Nepal, and is expected to expand quickly.

India and Nepal are Australia’s second and third largest international student markets, and both are growing strongly even as China, the largest market, holds steady.

The new campus offers bachelor degrees in business, IT and cyber security, and masters degrees in areas including business analytics and applied IT.

Students at the new campus study under the VU block model, which means they take units one at a time in intensive four-week chunks, which the university’s experience has shown leads to better academic results. Class sizes are deliberately kept small, with a maximum of 35 students, so students can work interactively with each other and their instructor.

Vice-chancellor Adam Shoemaker said VU Brisbane would “ensure students have the skills to either embrace further study or embark on an in-demand job”.

“These students will join over 13,000 VU international students from across 108 countries,” he said

VU also has a campus in Sydney, with more than 2000 students, which also focuses on the international market, although both campuses are open to domestic students as well.

Like the VU Sydney campus, the Brisbane campus is operated in partnership with Education Centre of Australia, a third-party education provider that also works with the University of Canberra and Swinburne University.

Celina Chopard, director of VU’s Brisbane and Sydney campuses, said courses in early childhood and education were also offered in Sydney and it was hoped these would be available in Brisbane as student numbers grew.