Consultant to aid $83m uni push

The university rebadged the initiative Tamar Health this year, and hired Rhys Edwards’s consulting firm to ‘‘configure that project for the future’’ and ‘‘consult with the community about this initiative’’.

Vice-chancellor Peter Rathjen has expressed a commitment to expand its Inveresk site.

In August last year he said that closures of small and regional university campuses nationally were imminent, and that a UTAS health precinct could future-proof the Northern campus.

Concerned community members have warned that a focus on Inveresk, in the wake of the federal government’s higher education reforms, could see downgrading or closures within the Northern campus.

Launceston City Council general manager Robert Dobrynski said this week that the council was keen to expand the university’s presence at Inveresk, which would tie in well with the council’s City Heart Project.

‘‘We are anxious to work with UTAS and develop a concept that incorporates an inner city campus for the university ... and go to state and federal government collectively to advocate on this matter,’’ he said.

The University of Tasmania discussed its plans last year to develop an allied health and sport precinct of national significance, seeking $40 million from the federal government on top of the university’s own contribution.

The reported plan was to build a 15,000-square-metre infrastructure development at the Newnham campus, to focus on allied health, technology, dementia care and active living, and to attract international students and boost the local health workforce.

As part of the Tamar Health talks, the Launceston Chamber of Commerce, Northern Tasmania  Development and other stakeholders were taken to Hobart and shown how the university had utilised space within the capital city, to build the Menzies Research Centre and Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies.

The $75 million Academy of Creative Industries and Performing Arts is due to be completed in Hobart in 2017.