The expected announcement of a new university campus for Blacktown, in Sydney’s west occurred yesterday. But it was Australian Catholic University rather than the usual suspects gazing west, the universities of Sydney, NSW and U Wollongong which is expanding into the south-west at Liverpool.

ACU, in cooperation with the Blacktown City Council will open a campus in 2020, using a city-owned building until 2024, when custom-built facilities are complete. ACU will start with pathway and executive education programmes with UG and PG degrees to follow from 2021.

ACU’s existing Sydney campuses are at North Sydney and Strathfield, both distant from the fast-growing outer west.