Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / CDU's Vice Chancellor Scott Bowman provides an update on the $250 million city campus

Transcript

CDU's Vice Chancellor Scott Bowman provides an update on the $250 million city campus · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Pleased to say that. Joining me on the line right
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: now is Charles Dwin University's vice chancellor, Scott Bowman. Good
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: morning to you, Scott. Have I got him there? Let's
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: try that again. Good morning to you, Scott.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Hello, good morning, i'd lost you.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Oh sorry, mate, I'm struggling with the phone line this morning.
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  Speaker 1: But I have got you now now, Scott. I understand
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: that things are certainly forging ahead at the moment when
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: it comes to the city campus in the CBD. How's
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: it coming along?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, look, it's going so well. We've got now round
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  Speaker 2: about fifty percent of the structure up the concrete. You
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: can't see a lot of it. A lot of it's
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: underground and all the foundation works, but we're now well
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: out the ground going up now I think to the
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: third floor. So it's started to look good. I'm always
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: pleased now when some pays to ask me what are
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: you doing with that hole in the ground, and I
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: can say, what hole in the ground?
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: So how far off? I mean, I know that these
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: things take quite some time to obviously, you know, complete,
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  Speaker 1: but how far off are we from that university sort
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: of being operational and people being able to go there
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: and study.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, so you're going to see it now go very quickly,
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  Speaker 2: so by probably just after Christmas we top out the building,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: so we'll be right as high as we're going to
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  Speaker 2: go with the building. And then next year it will
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  Speaker 2: be fitting it out internally and externally and making it
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: this incredible, iconic educational facility and then we will open
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  Speaker 2: the doors for term one twenty twenty four.
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  Speaker 1: Term one yep, excellent, And Scott, I know that you
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  Speaker 1: know the reality of this is is it's about obviously
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: having a facility that is going to be fantastic, top
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  Speaker 1: notch for the Northern Territory, but also you know, activating
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  Speaker 1: our CBD and try to get as many students into
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  Speaker 1: the territory from other locations as well.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, first and foremost, it's a fantastic facility for Darwin.
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  Speaker 2: That's what cid gills are about, re energizing cities, getting
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  Speaker 2: life back in there. And you know, predominantly it's for
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  Speaker 2: Northern Territory people, but then we are looking to try
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  Speaker 2: and attract people from around the country and a lot
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  Speaker 2: more international students. So, believe it or not, our applications
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: for international are up about two hundred percent on what
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: they were last year words getting out there. We're about
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  Speaker 2: to open an office in India that will be opened
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  Speaker 2: by Christmas to really look to attract students from the
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: subcontinent and those students will come in and play a
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: massive part in the economics of the city while they're students,
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  Speaker 2: but those that choose to stay on are going to
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: be important to us going into the future as well.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Now, if I remember correctly, I thought that there was
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: also an expression of interest process when it came to
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  Speaker 1: accommodation as well for that for the CBD campus. Was
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: that the case and how did that go?
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  Speaker 2: Look that process we're still running through that. We've had
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  Speaker 2: two or three interested parties saying that they were interested
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  Speaker 2: in working with us. Whether that's going to come up
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  Speaker 2: or not, I'll be honest, I'm not sure we will
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: work through that process, but I am sure there's going
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  Speaker 2: to be lots of people come into that market. Once
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  Speaker 2: you get a lot of students in the city looking
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: for accommodation, then I'm pretty sure that we're going to
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: meet the needs of those people. But that process is
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  Speaker 2: still ongoing, coming towards the end now, and we'll see
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: where that lands.
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  Speaker 1: And I know the government issued a pressure release I
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: think it was yesterday actually about a student subsidies. Selena
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Ruba is doing that statement yesterday or that pressure lease yesterday.
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  Speaker 1: How are efforts going in terms of attracting international students?
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  Speaker 1: I know you touched on it just before and it
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  Speaker 1: sounds as though it's pretty popular. But how is that
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  Speaker 1: all sort of progressing?
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  Speaker 2: Look, it's going really well, and it's we're in the
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  Speaker 2: territory is a really hot place. So the universe, we're
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  Speaker 2: literally a hot place, which does attract a lot of people.
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  Speaker 2: But people are talking about Darwin and the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: So we monitor all of the social media sites that
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  Speaker 2: prospective international students go and talk to each other from
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  Speaker 2: around the world, where the agents go and talk, and
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  Speaker 2: it's unbelievable just how prominent Darwin is. So this is
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  Speaker 2: starting to be seen as a really favored place to
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  Speaker 2: come and study. And I think there's three reasons for that.
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  Speaker 2: One is that the word out is that if you
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: come here and study. While you're studying, you can get
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  Speaker 2: a good job and you'll be paid very good rates.
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  Speaker 2: So you know, twenty five dollars an hour for a
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  Speaker 2: casual job, you know, for somewhere like Nepal. That is
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  Speaker 2: an incredible salary to be wags to be earned. The
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  Speaker 2: second thing is that if you come and study in
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  Speaker 2: the territory, you do your two year course and then
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  Speaker 2: you can stay here on a transition visa for four years,
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  Speaker 2: so you've got work rights four years after your study.
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  Speaker 2: Everywhere else in Australia or a lot of other places,
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  Speaker 2: and in Australia Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane you only get two years.
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  Speaker 2: But the real Paul KD is the word is out there.
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  Speaker 2: If you come here and study, you get a job
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  Speaker 2: in what you study. So if you you know, you
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  Speaker 2: see a lot of our graduates, international graduates working for KPNG,
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  Speaker 2: for the NTG, for the University for the mind. They
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  Speaker 2: go into what they call white college jobs. Yeah, so
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: the word is go to Sydney, study and then be
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  Speaker 2: an uber driver. Nothing wrong with being an uber driver,
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  Speaker 2: but if you've just done two years of business or
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  Speaker 2: i T it's probably not what you want. Come to
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  Speaker 2: Downwin and you're going to get a professional job.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and Scott one of the areas that we are
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  Speaker 1: certainly hoping that that is the case for We want
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  Speaker 1: to try and grow our own we want to have
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  Speaker 1: as many people in this area as possible. Is the
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  Speaker 1: sector of medical and health. We know that Charles Dalwen
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  Speaker 1: University has indeed signed an mo o U, as I
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: understand it, a memorandum of understanding with Western Sydney University.
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  Speaker 2: Is that correct? Yep, that's right. So they're going to
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  Speaker 2: come in and be our curriculum partner. So while we're
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: going through this, we will need someone to shepherd us
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  Speaker 2: to having our own medical school. They have said that
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  Speaker 2: they're willing for us to use their curriculum and use
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  Speaker 2: their Australian Medical Council credit. They're already doing this with
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: another regional so they're doing it with Charles Sturt University
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  Speaker 2: in Orange, so you know, they've got a lot of
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  Speaker 2: experience in doing this. They are kind of you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's Western Sydney, but they service the population very similar
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  Speaker 2: to the one we do. And then the other draw
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  Speaker 2: cord card to Western was their vice chancellor who many
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: people would know, Barney Glover, who was I think you know,
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  Speaker 2: one of the great vice chancellors of Charles Darwin University,
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  Speaker 2: who still has a deep love of the Northern territory
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  Speaker 2: and really wants to do something for the territory. So
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  Speaker 2: I think we've got a really good partner there.
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  Speaker 1: And so is it about us, I mean, is this
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  Speaker 1: partnership about us getting more doctors having more doctors?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? It sure is. So that partnership is they work
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  Speaker 2: with us, they get us to put our course together.
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  Speaker 2: We're looking for forty places, so we get forty places
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  Speaker 2: to put people from the Northern Territory into an undergraduate
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: medical program. And you know it's a five year program,
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: so in five years we will have forty students graduating
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  Speaker 2: from that program. We are still in partnership with Flinders
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: with the postgraduate course now graduates twenty four people. So
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: if you have those two programs together, you know, the
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  Speaker 2: Flinders program, announ's up sixty four. Well, the territory actually
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: needs sixty two in terms every year, so we actually
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  Speaker 2: can cover the needs of the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 1: All right, So hopeful, I mean, I guess at the
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  Speaker 1: end of the day, all that we want is to
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  Speaker 1: make sure that we are growing our own but particularly
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  Speaker 1: in that health sector. Over the last few years, we've
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  Speaker 1: seen that we do have a real shortage in different ways.
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  Speaker 1: And if there is a situation where we can be
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  Speaker 1: growing our own and keeping them here. It can only
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  Speaker 1: be a good thing, I would suspect.
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  Speaker 2: Look, it's it's win win when we take people here
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  Speaker 2: from the Northern Territory that want to do medicine, They
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  Speaker 2: want to stay in the Northern Territory. They love the
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  Speaker 2: Northern Territory and what it can give. We can have
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  Speaker 2: a program that is geared up to the needs of
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  Speaker 2: the territory. A practice in medicine in the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 2: isn't like practice in medicine anywhere else in Australia. So
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  Speaker 2: we can have a program that is geared up to
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory's needs and we create these incredible doctors
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  Speaker 2: that are well equipped to work here and really want
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  Speaker 2: to be here.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Scott, before I let you go this morning, I
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  Speaker 1: know that there is a new program which is underway
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  Speaker 1: at Charles dwen University. It's a Pathways to Politics program
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  Speaker 1: in an effort to try to encourage women into politics.
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  Speaker 1: Why did you know, why has this this program come about?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? Look, I was talking to our fantastic administrator and
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  Speaker 2: she's been approached about this, been told that really the
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  Speaker 2: territory was just about the last state or territory that
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  Speaker 2: didn't have a program for this. She's obviously very interested
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  Speaker 2: in this. And you know, how we encourage more women
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  Speaker 2: to get into politics and this isn't you know? It
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  Speaker 2: can be people from the left and from the right.
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  Speaker 2: We're not talking about being aligned to any party, but
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  Speaker 2: just getting women and I guess we're talking predominantly young
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  Speaker 2: women to think about how they can get a voice
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  Speaker 2: into parliament, how they what pathway would they have to go.
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  Speaker 2: So it's bringing together people that have been interest in
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  Speaker 2: politics and think they can be of service, probably with
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  Speaker 2: a lot of female politicians, both federal and state, and
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  Speaker 2: get talking about the issues.
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  Speaker 1: And it's a first for the INTERI, isn't it. I
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  Speaker 1: mean you've just mentioned that it is a first for
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  Speaker 1: the INTIWD. Like, how did you sort of go securing
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: the program or making sure that it could happen.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: Oh, look, we spoke to the people that run it.
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  Speaker 2: And there's some other universes involved with this, like Melbourne
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  Speaker 2: University they run a program and a few others. We
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  Speaker 2: spoke to people from those universities. We spoke to the
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  Speaker 2: people that organize it, and I guess we were you know,
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: looking over them to see whether they were a good
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: fit for us. They were looking at us, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: they really want a program up here, so you know
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  Speaker 2: it's going to be great. We're going to be out
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  Speaker 2: looking for people to put their names for that want
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  Speaker 2: to get involved with this. So Katie, if your next
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  Speaker 2: job is chief Minister, no way.
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  Speaker 1: Not for all the tea in China, Scott, no way.
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  Speaker 1: But look, I would certainly encourage young people to, you know,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: to get involved if they've got an interest in politics.
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  Speaker 1: I studied politics at university, and I think it's a
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: really important thing for people to know more about. I
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: think that, you know, I studied it because I was
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: I didn't know which way to vote, I didn't know
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: you know, what it all meant as we're heading to
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: the polls years and years ago, and I thought, well,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: what better way to find out more about it than
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: to actually study. So I actually think it's a really
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  Speaker 1: important thing to do.
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  Speaker 2: Now. Look me too, I've got a master's in politics
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  Speaker 2: and government, and you know, I've done so much technical
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: training because I'm a radiographer by a background, and on
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: all sorts of mrs scan in ultrasound, and it had
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: been very technical, and I went and studied politics, and
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: I'm sure it was like someone taking blinkers off in
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: this world that was out there. It was, you know,
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: an educative reader kind of moment for me.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, oh, I think it's I reckon. This sounds like
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: a really good course and a great way to hopefully,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: you know, sort of to get people involved in politics
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: that maybe works or whether it could be an option
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: for them. So Scott, I appreciate your time this morning.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having a chat with us.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: Great talking with UKD and have a fantastic day you two.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Thank you