School’s in for the smart new Geelong

As Geelong’s economy changes, its education providers are ensuring their courses keep pace.

The last Dalgety woolstores in Geelong sat unloved on the Corio Bay waterfront until the mid-1990s when they were revitalised to become the city campus of Deakin University. A symbol of Geelong’s illustrious wool heritage, the old brick woolstores had come to represent ‘old’ Geelong.

But when Deakin opened its Waterfront campus on the site in 1996, it sparked the revival of the northern part of Geelong’s central business district and signified the arrival of ‘new’ Geelong – a city still synonymous with manufacturing, but for the modern age.

As the region’s economy changes, its educational providers – TAFEs and universities – continue to meet with industry groups to make sure the courses they are offering match industry’s needs.

This has been the approach since the Gordon Institute of TAFE opened in 1887 as a mechanics institute and night school for tradespeople in response to the demands of the industrial age. The Gordon’s chief executive, Grant Sutherland, says it is vital his institution works closely with employers, peak bodies and industry to identify the skills required to keep the local economy buoyant.

“The regional economy is in transition,” Mr Sutherland says. “A key part of our role is to make sure people can be part of that redevelopment from an education and training point of view.”

Anne-Marie Ryan, executive officer of the Smart Geelong Region Lifelong Learning and Employment Network, says Geelong is well serviced with a range of training organisations across the education spectrum.

She says a priority for community leaders is encouraging better links between education providers and industry. “We’ve unashamedly said that … if we have an aspiration [to be] a growing, smart economy, then education and training must do its work with economic development. You can no longer separate those things.”

Deakin University’s vicechancellor, Professor Sally Walker, also subscribes to this view. “We try to make all our courses relevant and responsive to the needs and aspirations of students … and also try to make courses relevant for the job market, so if students want to leave at the end of the undergraduate course they can go out and get a job.”

Deakin has two campuses in Geelong: the Waterfront campus and its original campus at Waurn Ponds, which opened in 1977. The Waterfront campus is Deakin’s only campus where Design (Architecture) or Construction Management can be studied. Other courses only available at Deakin in Geelong are engineering, occupational therapy and social work. Health and medical science education is gaining prominence in Geelong as earlier this year Victoria’s third medical school opened at the Waurn Ponds campus.

The university’s deputy vicechancellor of research, Professor David Stokes, says the medical school will invigorate the region. “What a medical school brings is investment, it brings confidence to the region,” he says. “This region now is training its own doctors and specialists for the future. It’s also getting 60 to 70 extra academic research staff who are going to look at various aspects of medicine; who will work on infectious diseases and cancer.”

Professor Walker says that since Deakin began it has worked closely with industry on research. “We have a number of industry representatives who not only work with us but are co-located with us.” This is most evident at the Geelong Technology Precinct (GTP), on Deakin’s Waurn Ponds campus. The GTP is evolving into Australia’s version of Silicon Valley, a process that started three years ago.

“What we want is co-location and collaboration and that’s the Silicon Valley concept,” Professor Walker says. “The GTP is a twohectare building and we conduct cutting-edge research there with industry partners.”

In April, global consulting and IT services company Satyam announced it would set up a software development and learning centre at the GTP. It is expected to create 2000 new jobs for the region and, by co-locating with Deakin, Satyam will have ready access to the university’s research expertise.

The City of Greater Geelong’s chief executive, Ms Kay Rundle, says Satyam’s impending arrival will be likely to attract other information technology businesses to the region. This in turn will create more research and employment opportunities.

“We have good health services and good and affordable housing in Geelong. We have theatre here and Westfield has just completed a $150 million upgrade,” she says. “It’s a fabulous place to live, work and study and has top-rate educational institutions.”

The quality and innovation of the region’s education providers doesn’t stop at the university and TAFE. Earlier this year, two local primary schools, Bellaire Primary School and Torquay Primary School, received high commendations in the Excellence in School Improvement category at the National Awards for Quality Schooling (story, page 12).

They have engaged with their students and their communities, and this is what makes Geelong such an appealing destination for students and their families.

Professor Walker says one of the advantages of studying in Geelong is becoming part of a community. “It’s very welcoming, it’s easier to get accommodation and the quality of living here is just phenomenal – with the sea and the beach it’s a very nice lifestyle.”