'City flight' is blocking Australia’s education goals — regional universities need urgent investment now

With the semester underway, and in the midst of a much-anticipated election, I am struck by the gap between our ambitions as a nation to improve higher education attainment, and the challenges facing our regional and outer suburban campuses to support our students and regions.   

The Government’s Australian Universities Accord Final Report released in February 2024, recommends that at least 80 per cent of the workforce should have a VET or university qualification by 2050 to meet future skills demands. Currently, 63 per cent of working Australians hold a tertiary qualification, but the vast majority of them are in cities..  

Although 2050 may seem distant, in university terms it equates to only around eight graduating classes.  

Time is ticking, but with targeted investment we can reach the 2050 target, and the key will be to focus on boosting the capacity of universities in regional and outer suburban areas, where more than a quarter of Australia’s population lives, but where tertiary attainment rates are very low.   

In regional areas only 20 per cent of people hold a bachelor's degree.  

If government wants to improve education access for Australians, the heavy lifting needs to be done in regional and outer suburban communities.   

For people in regional areas to see their local university as a worthy education option, those institutions need to offer the same modern, fit-for-purpose facilities and learning environments as the big city unis.  

Federation’s Berwick campus in Melbourne's Greater South Eastern Metropolitan (GSEM) region has not seen new investments in 30 years, despite offering flagship IT and Engineering degrees to people in the region.   

GSEM is the fastest growing metropolitan region, and needs more STEM graduates to remain competitive, but decades of underinvestment hampers Federation's ability to support those aspirations.  

Second and third-year IT and Engineering students at Federation's Berwick campus must move to the Ballarat campus to complete their practical work due to the lack of a suitable STEM lab – a costly and inconvenient burden on top of their HELP debt.  

Regional universities boast enviable rankings, and deserve the same ‘gold standard’ facilities as the ‘elites’. Federation is the number one in Australia for first-in-family participation, number one in Australia for full-time post-graduate employment and number two in Victoria for full-time undergraduate employment.  

I commend the Commonwealth Government’s efforts to boost regional and suburban higher education attainment.  

These should be complemented by policies to directly grow regional and outer suburban enrolments in critical STEM fields that contribute to local growth.  

This isn’t just about training more nurses or engineers. Without a skilled local workforce, growing communities supporting industries like advanced manufacturing and renewable energy, struggle. A strong local education sector makes the parts of Australia outside of big cities more liveable and prosperous. If students leave for better facilities elsewhere, talent drains away, weakening communities. But we know that 70 per cent of students that study locally will live local after graduation.  

Federation University is growing rapidly, but we lack the facilities to build the demand for places in courses that align with our communities' skills needs. That’s why our policy priorities from now to 2028 are focused on working with government to build meaningful partnerships that lead to strong outcomes for our communities and justify investment.  

With the right Commonwealth support for regional and smaller universities, we can bridge the gap between cities and the regions and ensure that all Australians can share in the nation’s prosperity.

Professor Duncan Bentley is Vice-Chancellor and President of Federation University Australia