From these humble beginnings, the University will celebrate 30 years of higher education in Albury-Wodonga by CSU and its predecessor institutions during 2002. The University will officially launch celebrations for the anniversary with an academic procession from the Albury City Campus to the Albury City Council this Friday 15 February at 11.30am.

It was on 14 March 1972, lectures commenced in the hall for students enrolled in courses offered by the University’s predecessor institution, the Riverina College of Advanced Education. [ see Background notes for more history ] 

Two weeks later, renovations were completed at a more permanent study centre at 512 Swift Street, Albury, and was officially opened by the Minister for Defence and Member for Farrer, the Hon. David Fairbairn, on Monday 27 March 1972.

The Border Mail reported on the opening of the Study Centre: “Mr Fairbairn said it was the responsibility of the people of Albury to support the centre and ensure the future of tertiary education in the city. He described the opening of the centre as a milestone in the history of Albury.”

By August 1972, 86 students were enrolled in accounting, economics and teacher education courses at the Study Centre. 

Thirty years on, Charles Sturt University is celebrating its achievements in providing higher education to the Border region, and currently has over 3 000 students, including over 1 300 studying on campus.

“The history of higher education on the Border is intriguing,” says the current Head of CSU’s Albury-Wodonga Campus, Professor David Battersby.

“There were aspirations for the establishment of a university on the Border during the 1940s, when the Mayor of Albury, Alderman Padman, sought to entice the University of Melbourne to set up a College here,” Professor Battersby said.

“Even with the presence of a study centre in Albury during the 1970s, there was much local agitation for a fully fledged university in Albury-Wodonga. This continued through to the late 1980s, when the Murray Campus of the Riverina Murray Institute of Higher Education became a full member of the newly formed Charles Sturt University,” he said.

The study centre in Swift Street was relocated to Townsend Street and Dean Street, and finally to Olive Street where the University’s City Campus is now located. The Murray Conservatorium uses the Dean Street premises.

In 1993, CSU purchased a “green fields” site at Thurgoona, where a modern and environmentally sensitive campus is now being constructed.

The Albury-Wodonga Campus now has over 3 000 students studying a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses spanning education, the arts, business, science, information technology and the health sciences on Thurgoona and Albury City Campuses.

Professor Battersby credits the efforts of CSU’s founding Vice-Chancellor Professor Cliff Blake, for the growth of the Albury-Wodonga Campus.

“For nearly 30 years, Professor Blake was the driving force behind the Albury-Wodonga Campus. Cliff Blake was the foundation principal of the Riverina College of Advanced Education before becoming CSU’s Vice-Chancellor. He retired from CSU last year and is now acting Vice-Chancellor at the University of Adelaide,” Professor Battersby said.

“His vision was for a strong and vibrant university presence on the Border and, in many ways, that dream has been realised,” he said.

Professor Ian Goulter replaced Professor Blake last June as one of the new order of chief executive officers currently sweeping the Australian universities. He will lead the march to the Albury City Council chambers.