But its expanding at many more

The University of Newcastle will teach-out undergraduate courses and then focus on rsearch and post-graduate study in Port Macquarie on the NSW north coast. The university now teaches nursing, midwifery and teaching there, with around 50, mainly casual staff.

Vice Chancellor Alex Zelinsky tells the university community the move is due to changes in HE supply since the university opened there, in 2003. The Charles Sturt U regional-network now has a campus in Port Macquarie and UNSW has introduced a medical degree.

“The long-term interests of the community and of students who want to study locally is now being met in a variety of ways through new collaboration and multiple providers,” Professor Zelinsky says.

Observers suggest this is less a retreat than releasing resources for the university’s ambitious expansion in its heartland.  There are plans to expand in the Gosford-Ourimbah region, to the north of Sydney, which is under-serviced in higher education. The university has development application in for early work on its Honeysuckle precinct, on the Newcastle CBD fringe –including accommodation for 300 students. Honeysuckle is ultimately intended to have five times the floor space of the NEW building, the university’s flash new central-city centre. And there are three new projects planned for the main Callaghan campus, including a major new STEM building.