Charles Sturt University - countering the drift to the metro cities

Regional Australia can find problems in attracting professional people even where good opportunities exist. The reasons for this lie in Australia's demographic structure.

Not only do our metro centres contain a significant proportion of the Australian population, they also attract a proportion of regional students to undertake professional training at metro students. Many of these subsequently stay in the metro area. The problem is most acute in our inland areas given the love that many Australians have for the coast.

I therefore read with interest a story from Charles Sturt University (CSU) providing further data confirming that regional education is by far the best way of meeting the professional needs of inland Australia.

With multiple regional campuses as well as a large distance education arm, CSU is one of Regional Australia's leading universities and has a high reputation among its students for the quality of education provided.

The latest research from CSU's Western Research Institute (WRI) shows that between 2003 and 2005 60 percent of CSU’s on campus graduates took up their first employment in regional Australia.

Seventy three per cent of CSU on campus graduates who came from regional locations, took up their first employment in regional areas. These results were in line with the earlier study by WRI which covered CSU graduates from 1995 to 2002.

This latest study also shows that 20 per cent of CSU graduates originally from metropolitan areas take up initial employment in regional areas, a gain of two percentage points on an earlier study. This area is important because it counters to some degree the impact of regional students studying at metro universities.

Overall, there has been a significant increase in regional students being initially employed in regional area, increasing by 1.3 per cent per year from 1995. Professions that particularly showed an increase of regional graduates over this time were involved in commerce, health and science.

Agricultural and environmental professions had the highest levels of initial employment in regional Australia, with 88 per cent of regional students employed in regional areas, followed by 82 per cent in the area of education, particularly teachers. The creative arts area was lowest with 57 per cent initially employed in regional areas.

“The WRI report confirms that the University’s strategy of providing comprehensive education for professions vital for the growth of inland Australia is helping satisfy a real demand,” said CSU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Goulter.

The results of the 2006 survey are drawn from various sources, including offical surveys of University graduates conducted by Graduate Careers Australia and information collected for the Federal Department of Education, Science and Training.

The research did not include the huge group of CSU graduates who studied by distance education, as the vast majority of these hold down full time jobs while they study.