May 2, 2016

University of Wollongong announces South Western Sydney Campus in Liverpool

New UOW campus will help transform the rapidly growing South Western Sydney region by meeting its higher education and nursing training needs while bringing significant long term economic, social and community benefits. 

NSW Premier and Minister for Western Sydney the Hon. Mike Baird MP and Mr Craig Kelly MP, representing Federal Minister for Education and Training Senator the Hon. Simon Birmingham, joined Liverpool Mayor Cr Ned Mannoun and University of Wollongong (UOW) Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Wellings, CBE in Liverpool today to announce the establishment of the University’s South Western Sydney Campus.

Opening in 2017, the new campus will initially occupy two floors in the Liverpool City Council’s Moore Street building before moving into larger premises in Liverpool’s new Civic Place development, expected to be completed in 2019.

From the start of the 2017 academic year, the interim campus will offer programs reflecting Liverpool residents’ preferences, spanning disciplines from the University’s Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts, Faculty of Business, Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences and Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health as well as UOW College university entry and vocational training programs.

The University plans to grow the campus from modest beginnings to more than 7,000 students by 2030.

Along with the new campus, the University announced the establishment of the Western Sydney Nursing Education and Research Centre (WeSNER) to train the next generation of nurses and encourage them to study, train and work in the Liverpool area.

Due to commence in 2019, WeSNER will be the University’s sixth nursing training facility, and be similar size and standard as the nursing school currently operating on its main Wollongong Campus. Students will benefit from UOW’s experience delivering nursing and health care education tailored to local health needs in rural, regional, metro and outer-metro communities.

Professor Wellings says the campus and WeSNER are the result of a partnership where the needs and ambitions of Liverpool City, supported by the NSW and Federal Governments, are being enabled by the University of Wollongong.

“In our recently released 2016-2020 Strategic Plan we declared our intention to create a lasting impact and contribute more to society’s needs by aligning our facilities with changes in centres of population, the demand driven system and emerging research priorities.

“Liverpool and South Western Sydney’s population and growth opportunities are booming yet higher education needs have been underserviced, with no major university campus in Liverpool and more than 7,000 resident students leaving Liverpool to study each year.

“The University of Wollongong’s South Western Sydney Campus represents a major, long-term commitment that is aligned with the Commonwealth Government’s agenda of providing opportunities through a more accessible, competitive, sustainable and higher quality tertiary education system. 

“UOW’s South Western Sydney campus will provide greater choice for those preferring to study close to home and bring substantial economic and social benefits by keeping Liverpool City’s brightest minds in the area.

“We look forward to contributing alongside existing providers in the already strong health and medical precinct to meet the health needs of Liverpool’s rapidly growing population while working with the Council and businesses to support innovation,” Professor Wellings said.

Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun describes the University of Wollongong’s announcement as: “a huge boost for our city, its people, and a wise investment for the University.”

“Liverpool is one of the fastest growing regions in Sydney, as well as one of the youngest. Liverpool is home to a vibrant, diverse and young community where 45 per cent of the population is less than 30 years old.

“We place a high value on education and are looking forward to a long and fruitful partnership with the University of Wollongong,” Mayor Mannoun said.

Premier Baird has also expressed his support for the partnership and the benefits it will bring to Western Sydney.

“The NSW Government is committed to supporting the growth of South Western Sydney, which is a powerhouse of the NSW economy.

“Providing quality educational facilities that allow people to study close to their homes and employment is vital, as is training the next generation of nurses who are the backbone of our health system.

“I applaud the strong partnership between the University of Wollongong and Liverpool City Council which is bringing real and lasting economic and social benefits to communities in Sydney’s south west.

“This is exactly the kind of innovative collaboration between government, business and higher education we want to see across NSW,” Mr Baird said.

Over the past four decades the University of Wollongong has developed into a global, multi-campus university with two international campuses (Dubai and Hong Kong) and connections with 200 universities in 35 countries. It has four regional NSW campuses (Bega, Batemans Bay, Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands) and two existing Sydney campuses (in Circular Quay and the Sutherland Shire) in addition to its main campus and Innovation Campus in Wollongong. The South Western Sydney Campus will be the University’s 11^th campus.

The University of Wollongong currently has 32,208 students enrolled across 307 degrees and an alumni community numbering some 131,601 and growing, with a further 1,500 students celebrating their graduations in Wollongong last week. 

The University of Wollongong outperformed all other Australian universities in last year’s official national statistics, scoring the highest number of star ratings in the 2016 Good Universities Guide and the highest percentage score across 12 categories in the Federal Government’s Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) results.