Turbocharging Allied Health and Engineering workforces in Cairns

CQUniversity announced today it will be seeking $27.5 million at the upcoming Federal Election to deliver a new home for Allied Health and Engineering in Cairns.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Nick Klomp said CQUniversity would contribute $10 million of its own funding, if successful, to build an additional wing on the campus and grow student numbers by up to 6000 across all modes of study.

“Through the design process for the new campus, an opportunity presented itself to deliver a truly world-class campus which is vital for the future workforce and skill needs of Far North Queensland,” Professor Klomp said.

“In the four years since the original proposal, we have seen local demand from students grow for more courses, so they can study closer to home and avoid the cost-prohibitive move to another city.

“Physiotherapy is a prime example of this: we introduced the course to the region at the start of last year, and across last year and this year, we have filled the student places.

“This alone has the potential to see an additional 50 to 60 physiotherapists in Far North’s health sector in a few years. 

“This pipeline of local physiotherapists is vital to the future health service needs of our local community – but we know it’s not enough.

“We need more Occupational Therapists, Exercise Physiologists, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Primary Health practitioners, nurses, and, as has been well publicised, radiographers.

“That is why I’m also pleased to announce that, if we are successful in securing this funding at the Federal Election, CQUniversity will start our Bachelor of Medical Imaging in Cairns from next year in partnership with industry.

“The reason we will be able to start before the new campus is constructed is because a funding commitment will deliver the certainty that we will be able to invest in the development of additional space and facilities to deliver this course and meet the long-term demand in the region. It will allow us to deliver more radiographers sooner with room to grow the course as the needs of the community evolve,” said Professor Klomp.

Professor Klomp also explained that the additional investment would benefit local employers and industries by delivering the facilities needed to train a sustainable and highly skilled pipeline of future workers.

“This commitment would allow us to deliver a new wing that will offer more space that would be dedicated to the delivery of courses in the health and engineering disciplines. 

“This would help us to deliver new courses while also catering for more students in existing courses like nursing or paramedic science. For example, our nursing capacity would double from 600 to more than 1,200. 

“We know that workforce shortages are a critical issue for our healthcare sector and we believe that delivering an additional wing to the new campus is an investment in workforce sustainability, to meet the health needs of the community as demand grows in future.

“Increasing space capacity for health disciplines will also allow us to free up more space for other courses like engineering where we are also witnessing critical skills shortages, especially in the regions. 

“CQUniversity delivers around a dozen engineering specialisations and by creating more space we would be able to deliver purpose-built lab spaces for engineering that would provide students with industry relevant learning resources to increase their job readiness.”

Construction on the first stage of the CQUniversity Cairns campus is planned to commence later this year with a view to have the campus delivered in time for a Term 1, 2028 opening and student intake. 

Professor Klomp also said that the University will construct the additional wing in parallel with the existing build plans if it were successful in securing a pre-election funding commitment. 

He added that positive discussions had so far been held with both major parties and that he hoped a bi-partisan commitment could be realised in order to secure the future sustainability of the Far North’s future workforces.