Penrith plans to explore its options based on a report to council whereas Blacktown feels left behind.
“[Penrith] Council has strong relationships with Western Sydney University and TAFE NSW and is committed to establishing and building partnerships with others to strengthen the economy, attract investment and create jobs,” said a report to council.
“Locating a new or expanded tertiary education presence in the Penrith City Centre would create educational opportunities, improve access to tertiary education and future jobs and provide an ‘anchor’ institution in the city centre.
“With 47.8 hectares of land in government ownership within the Penrith City Centre, there is significant scope to locate a university campus or other tertiary education facilities close to existing amenities in the city centre.
A campus with 150 staff in teaching and support fields could attract around 1500 students and inject $30M per annum into an economy directly and a further $7.45 million indirectly.
The proposed City Park has been identified as one of a number of potentially suitable locations for a future campus.
A plan is to rezone land bound by Station Street, Henry Street, Allen Place and Woodriff Street so council could develop a park precinct.
As for a campus in the Blacktown CBD, an ambitious promoter of all things Western Sydney, Christopher Brown, chairman, of the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue, has reinforced the aspirations of local politicians.
“The idea of having a major university based in Blacktown CBD, has been championed by current Blacktown Mayor, and recently elected member for Blacktown, Stephen Bali for the past year,” he told some 300 guests at the organisation’s annual Boomtown Infrastructure Summit.
“While CBD campuses have been announced in other major Western Sydney centres … Blacktown, with its downtown precinct in desperate need for rejuvenation – continues to be ignored.
“A downtown Blacktown campus has the capacity to spark an adjacent technology precinct to ensure the region can
leverage its advance manufacturing speciality.”
The WSU’s $220M Parramatta CBD campus, the Peter Shergold Building, won the inaugural Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue’s Project of the Year, Christopher Brown said at the Boomtown summit.
The Parramatta CBD has campuses of Western Sydney University (WSU)) and the University of New England, Liverpool has a campus of the University of Wollongong, the University of NSW with WSU to open one in the CBD in 2018 and WSU plans a campus by 2021 in the Bankstown CBD.
