Higher Education in Regional Australia - Charles Darwin University

Photo: Palmerston Campus, Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory

One of the interesting features of recent decades has been the rapid spread of tertiary education throughout Regional Australia. It used to be the case that metro students had more options for university study. As recently argued in a story on my personal blog, this is no longer necessarily the case.

One of the things that I do find interesting about Australia's regional universities is the way in which varying regional conditions leads to variations between the universities themselves.

While Australia's Northern Territory has an area of 1.346 million square km, 17 per cent of Australia, its population is only 197,590 of whom 24 per cent identify as Aboriginal. The remaining non-Aboriginal population have one of the most varied ethnic mixes in Australia.

In recent years the Territory's economy has grown very rapidly as a consequence of the mining boom, growing tourism and the relocation of major elements of the Australian Defence Forces to the Territory. The resulting building boom has transformed parts of the Territory and Darwin in particular.

The Territory is the closest part of Australia to Asia, with both Indonesia and East Timor a short plane flight away. This closeness has a significant affect on Territory life.

Charles Darwin University reflects this varied mix.

With 19,000 students covering both vocational and higher education subjects and multiple campuses and study centres throughout the Northern Territory, the University is the Territory's largest tertiary institution and also has the highest proportion of indigenous staff and students of any university in Australia. It offers a wide range of undergraduate and post graduate study opportunities.

The University has a strong research focus and is renowned for its research expertise and leadership in tropical and desert knowledge of the Australian and Asia-Pacific region, with particular focus on indigenous knowledge and addressing problems of importance to the peoples of the region.