CQUniversity welcomes election commitment to training and skills in Central Queensland

CQUniversity has welcomed a commitment of $61 million from the Queensland LNP to complete the full construction of the Rockhampton TAFE Centre of Excellence project.

Since CQUniversity merged with CQ TAFE 10 years ago, the University has been progressively consolidating its VET delivery from the City Campus to the North Rockhampton campus with an objective of establishing a world-class, state-of-the-art training facility to support the skills' needs of current and future workforces. 

CQUniversity’s Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Nick Klomp, explained that the commitment would be welcomed by the entire Central Queensland community due to the enormous benefits a world-class skills training facility would bring to the region. 

“Completing this project will see all VET and Higher Education courses delivered from a single campus on North Rockhampton to supercharge our local workforce and create seamless training pathways for our students,” Professor Klomp said.

“Once complete, this project will deliver hundreds of extra skilled workers – more tradies on workshop floors across industry, more construction workers building desperately-needed houses and more skilled locals to fill much-needed roles in industry and our small business community.

“We are very excited to build on the past 10 years of work by delivering Central Queenslanders with a purpose-built site to train more skilled workers who will play a critical role in the ongoing growth of our region,” Professor Klomp said.

“Additionally, with certainty over our Rockhampton campus footprint, consolidation will also allow CQUniversity to open up surplus land on our North Rockhampton campus for housing development.

“This land will provide space for hundreds of new houses and is located alongside the path of the Rockhampton Ring Road, as well as the start of the Northern Growth Corridor.

“Finally, once CQUniversity has vacated the City Campus site on Canning Street, that land will be returned to the Queensland Government for future use. 

“While that site has served CQUniversity well over the past decade, it has become increasingly underutilised as various VET courses have been brought over to North Rockhampton. 

"Located only 250m from the current Rockhampton Hospital, the site is of strategic importance to the community, and presents an opportunity to explore the expansion of health services for the region.

“I want to thank the LNP for today’s election commitment, which I know will be widely welcomed by our community who need access to world-class education and training facilities, high-quality skilled workforces, and more options for affordable housing.” 

Professor Klomp also added that CQUniversity would continue discussions with the current Queensland ALP State Government toward securing a bipartisan commitment in the lead up to the October 26 election.