Over the past few years Charles Darwin University (CDU) has expanded its tertiary education provision across the Northern Territory, opening campuses and delivering new courses. We have also opened a major new campus in the centre of Darwin.
This growth and the servicing of the loan for the city campus was based on increasing revenue from international student numbers. We thought we were on safe ground as the Northern Territory Government has an aspiration to have 10,000 international students in the NT. The actual number is far below this. The Federal Government has also agreed on a NAIF loan for the city campus based on the university having 8,500 students.
You can imagine our dismay when the Federal Government set a limit which will only allow CDU to grow to about 4,000 international students. This left a massive hole in our budget.
So what strategies are we using to move forward and thrive?
Like just about every other university that has been hit by international student allocation limits, we are making savings. Yes, we are losing a limited number of jobs but nothing like we are seeing down South. We simply can’t do a massive restructure like we have seen at other universities. We are one of Australia’s smallest universities, so our professional areas run very thin and if we cut them anymore, we would not be able to meet regulatory requirements. We can’t close campuses and programs – there is no alternative to CDU in the NT.
We are lobbying the Federal Government to increase our limit for international students. This makes sense for the NT. We have massive labour and skills shortages. Both CDU and the Northern Territory Government want more international students. It makes no sense for the Government to sign off on a loan based on 8,500 students and then limit us to 4,000. I certainly hope sense will prevail and we will be granted our allocation increase.
We are also looking to move towards transnational education. We have an aspiration to have a substantial number of international students based offshore.
To this end, we will be opening a new centre in London in the UK to deliver our degrees. Initially, it will be a modest centre but will grow over the next few years. We are hoping to have the first students enrolled in August. The programs will be delivered by distance learning and masterclasses. Academics will travel from the Northern Territory to deliver the masterclasses. Students will be given the opportunity to come to the NT for short periods to study or for cultural immersion – periods for which they will not need student visas. We will increase the number of courses offered, and we will include some VET programs.
We are looking at exporting education and knowledge to the UK. Onshore international education has become a major export industry for the NT; now, we are looking to do the same with transnational education.
Why London? We have been thinking about transnational for some time and have looked at setting up a centre in Indonesia or India. We also thought about the Middle East. Who knows, we might do this in the future. After a lot of consideration, we settled on London. The UK is a massive market for students; educational standards are good, and I am told that standards of the English language are relatively good. London is the ideal place as it has fantastic transport links.
Why would people from the UK do a CDU degree? We are a well-ranked university. We will be offering the degrees in a very flexible mode. We will also be linking the students with the Northern Territory and Australia. How exciting to be studying at an Australian university? How exciting to be able to travel to Australia to get to know the incredible Northern Territory! I think our brand will be very strong in the UK.
Will it work? I think it will. I really believe that we can make this work and grow the London operation to a point where it can really contribute to the success of the University. Of course, there is a chance that it will fail. But we won’t know unless we try.
What is the alternative? Well, we could do what just about every other university is doing at present. We are seeing universities cutting hundreds of jobs and shrinking their operations. That is not the way for CDU. You can’t cut to greatness, but we can grow to it.
Scott Bowman is the Vice-Chancellor and President of Charles Darwin University.
