Study Toowoomba to focus on migrant workers, international students after official launch

A new organisation aimed at promoting Toowoomba as an education destination has been launched. Here’s what is on the agenda.

Study Toowoomba has been launched, with the organisation looking to promote the city as an education destination.

The head of a new association aiming to promote Toowoomba as a top education destination says creating an English language school to support the city’s migrant population will be among the priorities.

Study Toowoomba as formally launched last week, which is governed by a board made up of representatives from the region’s secondary and tertiary education institutions, along with the council as the primary instigator.

Executive officer Philippa Garmany said the organisation, which is partially funded by Study Queensland, would build upon the 8000 jobs already employed in the education sector as of 2016.

“In a nutshell, it’s to promote and support Toowoomba as an ideal education destination for domestic and international students,” she said.

“We’ll be working with tourism to promote it as safe, environmentally friendly for domestic students and international students.

“It’s a really exciting time, and we have been lucky COVID-wise (so) there are so many things we can do in this space.”

Along with working to grow Toowoomba’s international student population, which brought in $43 million to the region in 2016, Ms Garmany said the city needed an English language school established to better support the 14 per cent of workers who were born overseas.

“We don’t have an English language school in Toowoomba, and that could be the scope for us to work on that,” she said.

“Not everyone thinks we need to provide that, but we have a responsibility to making sure people with English as a second language have as many opportunities (as other residents).

If we can get the English language study provided, it’s part of a broader responsibility we have to our migrant populations.”

Ms Garmany said Study Toowoomba also planned to develop a collaborative strategy with top boarding schools to better promote the city as a destination for domestic and international boarding students.

She said a student who starts school in Toowoomba should be incentivised to complete their secondary and tertiary education in the Garden City.

For more information about organisation, head online to www.facebook.com/studytoowoomba.