Future Campus is a new, technology-enabled learning innovation hub in the heart of Parramatta to support the nearly 2,000 UNE students living and studying in Western Sydney.
The facility will offer next generation technology for education and, through state-of-the -art equipment, better access to flexible tertiary learning for students.
The campus delivers the latest in teleconferencing and telepresence technology that will enable students to participate in lectures, tutorials and study groups being conducted at the University’s Armidale Campus or other locations around the world, allowing them to actively participate in discussions as if they were actually present in the campus lecture rooms.
Parramatta is fast becoming an area of high economic growth and the new Future Campus, located in two opposite buildings at 211 and 232 Church Street, was made possible through financial support from the Australian Government’s Structural Adjustment Fund.
Professor Jim Barber, Vice-Chancellor of the University of New England championed the new campus.
“We have a long history of pioneering distance education that began in the 1950s with Australia’s first distance learning courses. Now technology has allowed us to remove the “distance” from education and bring face-to-face online learning to people in the areas in which they live,” Professor Barber said.
“With increasing numbers of people looking to study later in life, they need to know there are support facilities available that will allow them to juggle lifestyle commitments such as work and family.
“They also benefit from close personal support from staff, something that UNE is renowned for, and the Future Campus is proof of our commitment to making it easier for people of all walks of life, to access quality tertiary education.”
Parramatta City Council has embraced the new campus.
“I’m excited to welcome the new UNE Future Campus to Parramatta. Our city is fortunate to now have two leading universities, cementing Parramatta’s position as a knowledge centre for Western Sydney,” Parramatta Lord Mayor John Chedid.
“The establishment of the UNE Future Campus is an opportunity for everyone to experience a new generation of distance learning through the use of cutting-edge technology.”
UNE celebrated the opening of the Future Campus with a community street party on the April 19.
