UTAS has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the state government and the Launceston City Council to investigate how best to move the university’s campus from Newnham.

The state government has also committed to spend part of a $60 million northern infrastructure fund on the project, however the Commonwealth would also need to make a significant contribution.

Premier Will Hodgman said the project had the potential to revitalise Launceston.

‘‘This is a project that will not only stimulate the city of economy, it will create jobs in the process, not only in construction but ongoing as we bring people into further education,’’ he said.

‘‘This is a sensible investment, and it’s about putting our competitive strengths first.’’

Professor Rathjen said the new campus would allow the university to offer new, more affordable, shorter and vocational courses in an effort to attract more Tasmanians to tertiary education.

‘‘We want to grow the number of students who are attending higher education in Tasmania by something like 10,000 a year,’’ he said.

‘‘We believe the ability to provide the ability to communicate to the world from beautiful facilities in a beautiful city will help us to do that.’’

He said he expected to keep both teaching and research functions at the university’s campuses in Launceston, Hobart and Burnie.

Professor Rathjen said he was confident the federal government would commit to funding the project once they saw its benefits.

Tasmanian Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said while he welcomed the principle of relocating the campus, he was concerned about the effects deregulation would have on the university.

‘‘We’ve still got a lot of uncertainty while the government is pushing its deregulation agenda and, until that’s sorted out, we can’t say with any confidence that we can pull something like this off,’’ he said.