• Charles Sturt signs Memorandum of Understanding with Marathon Health 
• The MoU will provide the University’s health students with opportunities for work placements and graduate employment 
• The agreement will contribute to producing highly qualified health practitioners for regional Australia  

Charles Sturt University and Marathon Health have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which will ensure the provision of vital allied health workers in regional Australia. 

Representatives from the University and Marathon Health met at Charles Sturt in Albury-Wodonga this week to discuss and sign the MoU, cementing a partnership which has already benefitted many of the University’s students. 

Since 2019, Charles Sturt’s students have completed placements at Marathon Health in speech pathology, occupational therapy, social work, psychology and human services, with nearly 40 per cent of those students being employed by Marathon upon graduation. 

Charles Sturt Vice-Chancellor Professor Renée Leon said the MoU would ensure a reliable pipeline of allied health workers in regional Australia by providing the University’s students with workplace learning and graduate employment opportunities. 

“Charles Sturt University is committed to building a strong regional health workforce through the provision of job-ready graduates,” she said. 

“Our allied health courses – indeed all of our courses – are centred on hands-on, real-world experience which ensures our students are ready to have an impact in the careers as soon as they graduate. 

“We welcome this partnership with Marathon Health and look forward to working together to identify and meet the allied health needs of our regional communities.” 

In the past five years, Charles Sturt University has produced more than 4,000 allied health graduates. There were 846 graduates in more than 40 courses in 2020, including Bachelor of Physiotherapy, Bachelor of Occupational Therapy and Graduate Diploma of Psychology.  

Complementing this profile of Charles Sturt courses, Marathon Health has programs in mental health, chronic disease, occupational health, speech pathology, First Nations health and after-hours GPs. Marathon Health also offers work placement and graduate opportunities for positive behaviour support practitioners. 

Marathon Health CEO Ms Megan Callinan said meeting the needs of the community is at the heart of what Marathon and Charles Sturt do and this partnership was a positive step for regional communities. 

“We have the largest not-for-profit allied health workforce in regional NSW and know first-hand how important it is to continue to build employment opportunities for healthcare professionals in regional areas,” she said. 

“This partnership will support the development of our ‘grow your own’ model of graduate employment, keeping graduates in regional areas.  

“The overlapping footprints of Marathon Health and Charles Sturt University means we can seamlessly provide placement and graduate opportunities for the University’s students.” 

Ms Laura Wrigley from Dubbo studied Occupational Therapy at Charles Sturt in Albury-Wodonga. She completed placement with Marathon Health and is currently employed with the company. 

“I grew up regionally so I know that healthcare can be really hard to access in country communities,” she said. 

“Studying with Charles Sturt University meant I was able to develop my skills and knowledge in a regional area … and now being employed with Marathon Health, I am able to work towards improving health outcomes for regional and rural communities.” 

The partnership is the latest in a string of agreements recently announced between Charles Sturt and industry leaders which will allow the University to grow as Australia’s leading regional university.  

IBM Australia will base its Client Innovation Centre at the University’s Bathurst campus. The partnership with IBM Australia will provide scholarship opportunities for students, grow the University’s cyber security and data science research capabilities and allow for the co-creation of IT courses. 

It was also announced this week that Axiom Connected will co-locate its new Australian headquarters to Charles Sturt in Port Macquarie in January 2022.