Faced with the dramatic decline in Government funding over the past six years, this decision is part of an on-going process of consolidation that the University has put in place to ensure quality and service to its students.

The changes will see the 2002 intake cease in the Online Media Production course in the School of Communication, with resources reallocated to areas of strength. As well, postgraduate study and research in environmental science and the Bachelor of Spatial Information Systems will be consolidated to the University’s Albury and Wagga Wagga campuses which have extensive teaching and research resources in these areas.

CSU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Goulter spoke of the harsh realities in today’s highly competitive higher education market saying “these are the difficult decisions that we have to make, they are regrettable but necessary if we are to ensure the continued strength and viability of this University”.

“The bottom line is that direct funding from the Federal Government now represents less than half CSU’s total funding. This is further combined with the fact that unlike teachers, police and all other public servants, universities do not have staff salary increases funded by government and we have to find the money for staff pay increases,” Professor Goulter said.

“In this time of change our priority is to our students. We have put a number of measures in place to ensure students are not disadvantaged by these decisions and that we meet our ongoing commitment without compromising quality to students to complete their degree studies.”
 
Professor Goulter emphasised that media production would remain an integral part of teaching for Communication students as “today’s media is inextricably linked to this new technology”. He added that student places from the online media degree will remain within the School of Communication, transferring to high demand courses, particularly sports journalism and commercial radio.

“The changes represent a consolidation in course offerings on each campus ensuring CSU retains its national distinctiveness but avoiding the duplication of courses that is stretching University resources.

“The relocation of the spatial information course to Wagga, where facilities for this course have been developed over the past 15 years, will allow us to concentrate on the highly successful computer games course at the Bathurst Campus. We have a number of partnerships being  developed that will see this course collaborate with the IT industry.

“Similarly, moving postgraduate teaching of environmental studies to the University’s Thurgoona Campus at Albury will see students have direct access to an extensive network of CSU and external scientists and research staff on a campus that has been purpose built as a green and environmentally sustainable campus.” 

Professor Goulter reiterated a commitment to CSU staff recognising the pressures and challenges they face in higher education. “The University has embarked on a new organisational management and staff development initiative to build team relationships, improve teaching excellence, enhance research ability and commitment to the region.”