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is situated have support for innovation as well. We’ve been filling
that gap in a way that governments and industry aren’t.”
A similar, engineering-focused venture, this time with UNSW,
is in the pipeline. Marks said this is unusual, though it forms part
of a broader shift in the way universities operate with each other.
“Higher education has traditionally been pretty cutthroat and
competitive,” he said.
“We’re working with the University of Wollongong, UNSW,
Newcastle and USYD in terms of site collaborations.
“I think it’s a side effect of the fact that we’ve had all this
regulatory and budget uncertainty. Universities are actually thinking
it might be more productive for us to work together to overcome
that, and that’s producing innovations as well.”
LA TROBE UNIVERSITY
How many uses can you integrate into a university precinct?
According to La Trobe, seemingly endless ones. Its planned
revamp of its North Melbourne Bundoora campus includes student
and private accommodation; a town centre, including retail,
commercial and entertainment businesses; a sports ground; a
health hub, including a hospital and a health centre; aged and child
care services; research facilities; and parklands.
“We are fortunate in that when our founders established the
university, they acquired 235 hectares of land,” La Trobe vice-
president (development) Natalie MacDonald said.
“We looked at how to benefit students and the research
experience by partnering with industry … [and] not be a university
isolated from its surrounds: the thousands-year-old model of
universities.
“Our driving force is economic growth and community
wellbeing.”
She explained how, for example, the private hospital will benefit
all stakeholders: the public will use it while staff and students
conduct research and undertake work placements.
While La Trobe’s way of executing this may differ to that of
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universities in different locations, MacDonald says the underlying,
integrative message applies to all. “We have to be seen as part of and
contributing to the community, as well as research and learning.
“That is the future of universities.”
JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY
The labs of world-leading scientists like Jamie Seymour, who studies
the toxicology of the deadly Irukandji jellyfish, have been upgraded.
This is part of James Cook University’s physical transformation, initiated
in 2004, and is set to cost nearly $2 billion over 20 years.
Dingy, analogue classrooms, which were “raised as a serious
concern by both the engineering and IT accrediting bodies”,
are being ushered into the digital, interactive learning age. The
Townsville campus of the global tropical health and medicine hub
now also sports an aesthetic facelift, including ‘learning oases’,
tropical courtyards and an arboretum.
According to Hilary Kavanagh, JCU’s director (estate), students
needed a reason to come to campus. However, rather than solely
plan the makeover in line with learning online, he said it will deliver
an experience students can’t get from their computers. Cue:
communal ponds and palm trees.
Like WSU and La Trobe, JCU will also be relying on a mixed-
use campus to ensure it survives beyond future education
metamorphoses. Residential housing for students and the public,
and a ‘health and knowledge precinct’ have been developed. By
2035, an engineering ‘innovation hub’, childcare facilities, an aged
care home, and a hotel will also feature. An ‘ideas market’ (a kind
of town square for university staff, students and the public) is the
centrepiece of the rebuild.
Sarah Hill said developments like those of WSU, La Trobe and
JCU underscore the planning needs of cities at large. The chief
executive of the Greater Sydney Commission, who also spoke
at IRU’s Senior Leaders Forum, emphasised universities’ roles in
shaping innovation, society and the economy. Therefore, she said,
they should be situated accordingly. ■
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