A $200 MILLION plan to relocate the University of Tasmania's Northern campus from Newnham to Inveresk was officially announced last week.
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The goal is to reinvigorate Launceston, bring university students closer to the city, and attract up to 8000 extra international and domestic students to the Northern city-based university campus.
A memorandum of understanding to investigate how best to achieve these goals was signed last week between the state government, the university, TasTAFE and the Launceston City Council.
It is hoped that the federal government will contribute funding after the state government commits its share of $60 million in construction funding for the North and North-West.
Under the agreement, the university must hold discussions with the other parties about:
■Moving to the new Inveresk site while also expanding existing university programs including nursing, business and education programs;
■Offering associate degree courses, which will include allied health, agriculture and business;
■Identifying future purposes for the Newnham Campus, and removing its requirement that it be used for educational purposes;
■The delivery of post-school education in collaboration with TasTAFE.
The university must also provide its concept plans for Inveresk before the end of August this year.
University of Tasmania vice chancellor Peter Rathjen said he was confident the idea would gain support from the community and federal government.
"The amounts of money are not huge," Professor Rathjen said.
"We spend billions of dollars on roads, and a lot of money on a lot of things in this country, and education happens to be absolutely critical.
"There are places in Sydney and Melbourne where the federal government is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on new research infrastructure. "We are talking about education infrastructure that might make a difference to about half of the whole state."
City of Launceston general manager Robert Dobrzynski said the discussions were at an early stage.
"The prospect of the Newnham Campus relocating into the Launceston central area has enormous potential benefits for the Launceston CBD.
"However, the complex issues, including levels of government support that can be made available, will require detailed consideration and negotiation."