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UWS to build high-rise campus in Parramatta. By Dallas Bastian
With the commonwealth’ s interest in Western Sydney increasing, the University of Western Sydney will be part of the urban development of one of the area’ s major cities.
UWS is building a new high-rise campus in Parramatta CBD that is set to hold more than 10,000 students.
“ The campus will no doubt be part of the urban renewal going on in Parramatta in the CBD,” UWS vice-chancellor Barney Glover says.“ The university’ s presence would be part of that development. We’ re certainly looking at this as a catalyst for a range of other developments that would go on around it, particularly in the retail and commercial space.”
UWS’ s Parramatta South and Parramatta North campuses are reaching capacity and have already undergone significant expansion recently.“ Parramatta a very popular location for students at UWS from the greater Western Sydney region and beyond, so in our forward planning we are certainly interested in further strengthening our presence in Parramatta,” Glover says.“ The logical site to do that would be in the CBD, which is in close proximity to our other campuses but also in close proximity to major transport hubs.”
The location also means the campus will be in close proximity to business and government agencies, helping to build connections.“ The university plays a critical role in providing highly skilled graduates for the sort of businesses and industry we
want to attract to western Sydney.
With a large influx of students entering the region to attend the new campus, housing them will need to be a focus. Glover says,“ We anticipate there will be a need for more student accommodation and we’ d be looking to the private sector to provide and respond to that, rather than the university.”
He says there are opportunities for more affordable student accommodation in the area surrounding the CBD as part of the urban renewal.“ I think that’ s a very positive thing for Parramatta,” he says.
The local community will also gain benefits, both in terms of recruiting graduates and establishing collaboration in research, Glover says, adding that accommodation will also bring an influx of consumers into the CBD.
Glover says the decision to build a high-rise came from the limited footprint of land.“ A multistorey facility in the CBD would also provide us with the floor space we need, the future proofing of the building in terms of growth over the next decade and beyond, and also provides us with an iconic presence,” he adds.
The campus will have a strong graduate focus and new graduate programs will be developed across disciplines. Although the details of what will be located there are still being sorted out, the current plan is to have the schools of law and business located at the new campus, whilst a number of other schools will also use the facility – particularly to teach graduate programs.
UWS has a smaller campus of about 4000 square metres in the Parramatta CBD, which Glover says will remain.“ We think we have a long-term need for it, although we will evaluate that over the next three years as we see student demand and opportunity changing,” he explains.
It is expected that the target of 10,000 students will be reached within five years, with the building opening its doors in 2017.“ We will transfer programs there from Parramatta South campus, so it will have an immediate kickstart, but it will be built, we hope, quite rapidly over the ensuing three years,” Glover says.
Parramatta City Lord Mayor John Chedid says the city is excited about the university’ s proposed campus.
“ Our CBD is already well serviced by public transport, making it an easily accessible location for students,” he says.“ We are also developing plans for a Western Sydney Light Rail Network connecting key centres within Parramatta and extending to Castle Hill and Macquarie Park.”
The Westmead biomedical precinct, the Rydalmere UWS business innovation park and the Camellia eco-industrial precinct are also being developed.“ These are becoming centres of excellence that will attract high-end university graduates and the jobs of the future,” Chedid says.“ We have a vision for the future where our region’ s best and brightest students can go on to tertiary education and then highly qualified jobs right here in our city.” ■
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