Joint media release | 17 October 2012
The University of Canberra (UC) will establish a branch campus in Melbourne from 2013, 
co-locating with Holmesglen Institute of TAFE. The partnership is the first of its kind in Australia and, according to the partners, “it provides an innovative model for higher education offering new opportunities for students to attain a degree”.
The branch campus, to be situated at Holmesglen’s Chadstone location, will be called University of Canberra Melbourne (UCM).
Eleven University of Canberra courses will be offered in Melbourne from next year, to be delivered alongside existing Holmesglen degrees. Two of these courses will also be delivered at Brisbane’s Metropolitan South Institute of TAFE, which has an established partnership with Holmesglen.
Holmesglen degrees in hospitality management, fashion, screen production, executive administration and marketing management will be rebadged as UC degrees, giving Holmesglen access to commonwealth higher education funding.
It could boost Holmesglen’s domestic and international student numbers by about 1000 and staffing levels by 20, increasing the institute’s list of degrees to 25.
Holmesglen Chief Executive Bruce Mackenzie says the partnership represented a new vision for higher education in Australia – a “Polytechnic University” model that combines industry-focused learning with a strong evidence base and the latest advances in research.
Holmesglen students will have seamless pathways to transition from their existing programs to University of Canberra degrees.
University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Professor Stephen Parker says
….the University of Canberra and Holmesglen are charting a new direction for higher education and adding to the diversity of Australia’s tertiary system. There are some great Polytechnic Universities in North America, Europe and Asia from which we can draw inspiration and I hope we can provide something truly new and useful.
Parker says UC is discussing similar partnerships with other tertiary institutions in what could be “the beginnings of a national network” for UC.
That’s the future of tertiary education: large networks overcoming boundaries between vocational and higher education and between states and territories….Canberra is a relatively small catchment. We have to look to our long-term future and build scale through partnerships.
The Melbourne move would give UC access to equity funds not available locally, with no ACT suburbs classified as low socioeconomic status areas.
See
UC reinvents itself with partnership
Holmesglen link a new start for Canberra