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A centre would keep kids local so there ’ s a chance they stay on after their tertiary education .
“ Being able to also use a hub like this for postgraduate opportunities would be awesome , especially in fields like teaching and nursing where we have a real shortage of workers in Mount Isa .
“ Being able to encourage people to do postgraduate study here in Mount Isa helps to keep them here .”
Keeping it local
$ 20m plan to bring a university to the outback town of Mount Isa .
By Wade Zaglas
It ’ s a perennial problem facing thousands of school leavers : should I stay or should I go ? While many teenagers cannot wait to leave a small town like Mount Isa ( population roughly 21,000 ), others wish to stay on the land and stick to what they know and love .
But that comes with one big sacrifice : they want to receive the same opportunities to study as their counterparts , not be relegated to a life they did not want .
The perfect balance could soon be available , with Mount Isa City Council seeking $ 20 million in state or federal funding “ to develop a campus-style university centre to support students completing online tertiary degrees or postgraduate studies ,” ABC News reported .
Councillor George Fortune said : “ A centre would keep kids local so that there ’ s a chance they stay on after their tertiary education and stay in Mount Isa .”
As part of the $ 20-million proposal , students studying at this Mount Isa campus would enjoy all of the facilities needed to complete their studies : study rooms , computers , video conferencing facilities , break rooms and high-speed internet . There would also be administrative centres , and services such as study skills and pastoral care support .
STUDENTS KEEN , YET CONCERNED ABOUT FINANCES
Jake Russell , who studies at Good Shepherd Catholic College and has his sights set on an engineering degree , said the financial sacrifices university life entails has turned a lot of students off further education .
“ The main issue is the price of everything . I ’ m looking at studying at Union College ( UQ ) in Brisbane and they ’ ve quoted me $ 20,000 for the year ,” he said .
“ Of course , that ’ s not including the cost of moving over there . That ’ s an insane amount of money .”
On the other side of the fence is Stepheny Raddish , who said “ she would jump at the chance to study in her hometown ” and is contemplating a business degree .
“ Finding a job and then juggling work and study , paying bills and adjusting to a new city – that ’ s a lot of pressure ,” she said .
POSTGRADUATE OPTIONS ? School leavers are not the sole demographic targeted by a future university in Mount Isa .
“ Often our students might move to Brisbane or Sydney and do their bachelor degree , but many might want to come back and work in Mount Isa and continue their studies ,” Good Shepherd school principal Kathleen McCarthy said .
BUT THERE ARE DETRACTORS …. While it might seem like the perfect balance , one councillor – Kim Coghlan – questioned the university ’ s ability to recruit enough staff for the undertaking .
“ I think it ’ s unrealistic , it ’ s a bit pie-in-the sky ,” Cr Coghlan told a council meeting .
“ We have enough trouble staffing existing education facilities as it is .”
Currently , Mount Isa students can complete only health studies at the James Cook University campus situated in town and access a small range of VET courses .
This isn ’ t the first time such an idea has been discussed . Back in February , The Mount Isa City Council asked the University of Queensland ( UQ ) to build a campus in town .
“ Currently if a Mount Isa local wants to study engineering , they need to travel at least 1,300 kilometres away – even though there ’ s a copper , zinc and lead mine less than a kilometre away from the main street of the town ,” Mayor Danielle Slade said at the time .
Fast forward six months , Cr Fortune still believes a bonafide university centre would open up a whole new range of courses to students and was even backed by one of the city ’ s biggest employers , Mount Isa Mines .
“ Mount Isa Mines would be interested in having something like this here … there has been dialogue with them in the past ,” he said .
“ There ’ s a lack of mining engineers in Mount Isa and across Australia ,” Fortune told ABC News .
The outback city won ’ t have long to wait , with council putting forward its motion for the university centre in October . ■
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