• Charles Sturt welcomes Marathon Health to campus in Albury-Wodonga
• More than 40 Marathon Health staff will co-locate to Charles Sturt in a refurbished office space
• The partnership will build a strong allied health workforce in regional Australia through workplace learning and graduate employment opportunities for students

Charles Sturt University has welcomed Marathon Health to its Albury-Wodonga campus as more than 40 staff co-locate to the University.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Charles Sturt and Marathon Health in November 2021. The partnership facilitates the provision of allied health workers in regional Australia by providing University students with workplace learning and graduate employment opportunities.

Marathon Health is now co-located at Charles Sturt in Albury-Wodonga in a refurbished office space that includes allied health professionals, the national After Hours Crisis Referral Service team and a Student Workforce Pathway Coordinator.

Charles Sturt students have been completing workplace learning in speech pathology, occupational therapy, social work, psychology and human services at Marathon Health since 2019. Almost 40 per cent of those students are employed by Marathon Health after graduation.

Charles Sturt Vice-Chancellor Professor Renée Leon said the partnership emphasises the commitment of the University and Marathon Health to building a strong regional health workforce through the provision of job-ready graduates.

“In welcoming Marathon Health to Charles Sturt University in Albury-Wodonga we are creating wonderful workplace learning and employment opportunities for our students,” Professor Leon said.

“Charles Sturt is number one among Australian universities for graduates who get jobs, with 86 per cent of undergraduates getting full-time employment within six months of graduating. This partnership will contribute to Charles Sturt’s ongoing strong outcomes for graduate employment.”

In the past six years, Charles Sturt has produced more than 4,000 allied health graduates. Currently, there is close to 3,500 students enrolled in allied health courses at the University.

Student enrolments include 1,522 in social work, 1,216 in psychology, 310 in occupational therapy, 216 in speech pathology and 98 in food science and nutrition.  

The opening of the offices and clinical space on Monday 14 November was attended by Professor Leon, Marathon Health CEO Ms Megan Callinan, Marathon Health COO Ms Justine Summers, AlburyCity Mayor Ms Kylie King and Member for Albury Mr Justin Clancy.

Marathon Health CEO Ms Megan Callinan said together, the University and Marathon Health are creating a pipeline of allied health professionals for the benefit of regional communities.

“Being able to build our fit-for-purpose office space for Marathon Health’s clinical services at Charles Sturt in Albury-Wodonga is an exciting next step in the MoU between our two organisations,” Ms Callinan said.

“As part of our commitment to delivering high-quality healthcare no matter where people live, we are focused on building and retaining an experienced, multi-disciplinary health workforce for regional NSW in partnership with the university.

“A visible presence on the campus means students can easily see and experience first-hand the benefits of working regionally.”

Member for Albury and Parliamentary Secretary for Health Mr Justin Clancy said this partnership will contribute to the state government’s promise to provide jobs for 3,800 more health staff over the next four years in regional and rural areas.

“The NSW Government has made it an absolute priority to ensure that no matter where people live in our state, they have access to the health services that they need and deserve,” he said.

“As part of this year’s NSW Budget, our regional and rural communities are set to benefit from the largest boost to their health workforce in the State’s history.

“I want to acknowledge Charles Sturt University and Marathon Health’s efforts over many years to support this pipeline of health workers for regional NSW in collaboration with the NSW Government.

“This growing partnership with the opening of the Marathon Health Clinic at Charles Sturt in Albury-Wodonga only strengthens this further.”

AlburyCity Mayor Kylie King praised Charles Sturt University for supporting our local health network and giving students the opportunity to build on their learning.

“This exciting initiative will assist in building our health workforce, giving our community access to these important services,” she said.

“It will also give the young people of our region the opportunity to learn from the professionals on site at the university, and we can only hope that they will bring those skills to our local health network after they graduate.”