Adelaide University Co-Vice Chancellors Professor David Lloyd and Professor Peter Høj AC visited Mount Gambier last week to connect with local community leaders, staff and students ahead of the institution’s opening next year.
The delegation included Adelaide University’s Provost and Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Joanne Cys, Deputy Vice Chancellors for International and External Engagement Professor Jessica Gallagher and for Student Experience and Success Tom Steer.
The visits follow the launch in February of Adelaide University’s 400-plus program suite with degrees at Mount Gambier including long standing teaching, social work and nursing programs.
Adelaide University will incorporate and build on pathway programs offered by its founding institutions including UniSA’s Foundation Studies and Aboriginal Pathway Program offered fee free at Mount Gambier the University of Adelaide’s Children’s University, which fosters a love of learning in primary school-aged children and operates in several South Australian locations including Mount Gambier.
“Our regional partners provide critical knowledge and opportunities to inform our teaching, research and community engagement,” Professors Lloyd and Høj said.
“They work closely with us across many areas – advising on local skills, student and community needs; collaborating on research and work placements; and providing work for students and graduates. Many teach at our regional campuses.
“Adelaide University will continue to partner with the communities we serve as we aspire to become Australia’s most connected university – an engine for innovation, economic development and social cohesion.
“As the new university takes its shape in the regions from January and works towards expanding local offerings over time, these relationships will be more important than ever.”
Mount Gambier Mayor Lynette Martin OAM said the merger of the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia has the potential to strengthen the local delivery of tertiary education programs, further advancing Mount Gambier as a ‘university city’.
“UniSA is very important to Mount Gambier and the region,” she said.
“Our city has lower levels of school and post-school attainment compared with South Australia as a whole, and the region has a significantly lower proportion of the adult population with Bachelor’s degrees or higher (10.9%, compared with 22.4% for South Australia as a whole).
“The course offerings at the Mount Gambier campus are crucial to enable students who wish to stay in our city with the opportunity to attend university and apply their professional skills in our local community following graduation.”
