Regional students get uni funding boost
Posted on November 13th, 2018
Federal Member for Capricornia, Michelle Landry, has announced a funding package to encourage and grow access to tertiary education for regional and remote students and benefit Central Queenslanders.
CQUniversity is one of the universities set to share in $92.5 M to support more students, with an additional $9.1 million over four years to be provided to increase the number of bachelor students at CQ University’s regional campuses, including Rockhampton, Townsville and Cairns. CQUniversity will receive funding for an additional 165 bachelor places in 2019, increasing to 193 places from 2020 ongoing.
The funding package also includes an additional 1,995 scholarships through the Rural and Regional Enterprise Scholarships program. This is on top of the 1,200 scholarships that are currently available. The scholarships support students from regional and rural communities wanting to study courses such as science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM). Applications are currently open for Round 2 of the $24 million Rural and Regional Enterprise Scholarships program. Scholarships of up to $18,000 are available to help students in Capricornia with the costs of studying at a university or a vocational education and training institution.
The current round of scholarships closes Friday 14 December 2018. For more information, including on how to apply, visit https://www.education.gov.au/rural-and-regional-enterprise-scholarships or https://www.qtac.edu.au/scholarships
A national strategy for increasing regional, rural and remote higher education participation will also be developed, with an advisory group chaired by former Victorian premier Denis Napthine.
Regional Universities Network chair Professor Greg Hall said 70 per cent of graduates from regional universities stay on to work in the regions.
