RDAMR welcomes MRSH

For more than a decade, the Murray River communities have been advocating for a tertiary education presence to address the leakage of local learners to Adelaide and to improve career and economic development within the region. Access to higher education has been a significant barrier to enterprise growth and population retention across the region.

The local government leadership in the region maintains a strong focus of increasing tertiary education services in the area, actively advocating for an increase of training opportunities leading to the creation of the Murray River Regional Study Hub (MRRSH).

In 2018, The Rural City of Murray Bridge (RCMB) was successful in receiving grant funding through the Federal Department of Education & Training to activate the MRRSH in 2019. The strategic plan for the Study Hub is to implement a regional roll out in two stages, the Murray Bridge offering in July 2019 and a Riverland offering in January 2020.

The vision is to create a tertiary education pathway in region, to increase post-secondary schooling uptake. The delivery of tertiary courses and pastoral care in regional locations allows students to remain living in our townships and communities, and provides options for the commencement of tertiary study whilst still at high school.

As part of the planning phase of the Study Hub, the Executive Committee is identifying and progressing the activation of an offering in the Riverland for 2020.  Ascertaining information for possible sites, potential partnerships and other levels of support available in region will allow the committee to progress this initiative.

In addition, the MRRSH will soon be connecting with regional schools to ascertain the aspirations of students for their post-secondary school study plans for 2020. From the information obtained, course offerings can be prepared and information will then be provided to the Schools, their students and parents, and to the broader community of the opportunity to undertake tertiary education in 2020.