Top 8 highlights across the CUC Network for 2021

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17 Dec 2021

The CUC mission to empower regional, rural and remote communities by enabling increased accessibility and support to higher education remained the core of the CUC network over the past year. The network has had some major wins during this period. We want to look back over some of our favourite highlights from 2021.

1. CUC Network Wide Impact

The CUC Network is impacting more and more regional, rural and remote communities every year. An early evaluation shows these centres in regional and remote Australia are highly effective in supporting students who have been historically under-represented at university and are at high risk of not completing courses.

Here is a snapshot of the impact of the network.

Although it is great to measure our impact in numbers, nothing means more to us that hearing feedback directly from our students.

2. Centre Grand Openings

The CUC Network has celebrated Grand Openings across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland in 2021. All exciting additions as the Network draws more talent into the fold while expanding beyond New South Wales.

At CUC Bass Coast we had our grand opening on 26 March 2021. The event was attended by several guests, including the federal Member for Monash, Russell Broadbent, and Bass Coast Shire Council Mayor, Cr Brett Tessari, who joined the local CUC Board and community members.

The Macleay Valley grand opening was on April 30 in their Centre Located in Kempsey, NSW. The event was headlined by several guests, including the Member for Cowper, Pat Conaghan MP, the Kempsey Shire Council Mayor, Liz Campbell, and the CUC Board, who joined with community members to celebrate the opening of the Centre.

Maranoa Centre’s grand opening was on 8 June at their Centre located in Roma, Qld. The occasion was celebrated the Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon Michael McCormack MP, the Member for Maranoa, the Hon David Littleproud MP, and Roma community leaders.

3.Key Milestones for New Centres

We also have made some great progress at Centre’s that haven’t yet been officially launched but are at different stages in their establishment across the network. The network is excited to be able to support more regional students. Here are just a few highlights across our new Centres:

Southern Shoalhaven’s Centre Manager, Adam Gowen has been working hard to get the Centre open to students in Ulladulla.
Ovens Murray has very recently been announced three Centres to open in Wangarattta, Corryong and Mansfield.
CUC Balonne has Centre’s in St George & Dirranbandi that have had a soft opening to students in July 2021.
CUC Parkes was visited by the NSW Governor in February 2021 following their opening in 2020.

4. Country Universities Centre New CEO

The Country Universities Centre announced that Monica Davis has been appointed as its Chief Executive Officer. Monica led Student Support and University Partnerships for the CUC since 2018. In this role she has worked with Australia’s leading online and regional universities to develop partnerships and programs for regional students, collaborated on research, as well as established the highly successful Learning Skills Advisors program. Monica has been an incredible CEO for the network with her strong understanding of Regional Australia and the barriers that location can create. Monica will continue to take the CUC forward as a leader in this unique space within Higher Education.

5. Our Students

It has been a great year to celebrate the most important part of the CUC Network – Our Students! We have featured many students and their inspiring stories during 2021. We have been privileged with the opportunity to talk to students about all sorts of achievements including their graduations, completing placements, supporting other students and just inspiring tales of overcoming adversity.

Here are a just a couple of the many featured stories from our Centre:

Celebrating the first CUC Bass Coast registered student to graduate.

You just need to look at Uni from the right angle.

Three reasons to return to study from three people who’ve done it!

6. Celebrating Student Scholarship Success

We have been fortunate to see many students across the network receive scholarships to support them in their studies. There are significant costs associated with going to University which is why it is worth celebrating when students have put in the effort to apply and end up receiving that extra help from a scholarship or bursary. We have been lucky enough to witness a number of students from across the network receive this support.

Just a few examples across the network include:

7. Welcoming LSAs to our team

This year we have had expanded our Learning Skills Advisor team with many fresh faces across our network! These amazing people understand the challenges of studying remotely and are here to share their tips and techniques for academic success. Please welcome our new Learning Skills Advisors, Ella (CUC Macleay Valley LSA), Aidan (CUC Bass Coast LSA), and Amy and Shiron (CUC Western Riverina LSAs). The Learning Skills Program is a free service designed to support students through their studies.

8.CUC Degrees Closer Podcast Launched

During the many lockdowns faced across the county in 2021 our CUC Far West Centre set out to discover new ways to connect with students and the community.

As a result, they have successfully launched a student focused podcast. This has been a first for the network using this medium which offers the opportunity to listen to relatable students that are studying in the Far West. As a network it is an excellent way to showcase the talent and diversity of our students.

Listen to the podcast today by login into Spotify using the link here: Degrees Closer | Podcast on Spotify

Make 2022 an even better year! Join the network and start building your own success story. If you are looking for a change or career, need to talk to someone about getting started with study or if you want to join our local learning community reach out to Andrea our Centre Manager.