By JESSE GRAHAM
AFTER two and a half years of sitting dormant, Lilydale’s former Swinburne campus officially re-opened yesterday, with more than 70 courses offered for students.
On Monday 15 February, the Lilydale campus, now run by Box Hill Institute with William Angliss and Deakin University, officially opened to students.
Education Minister and Monbulk MP James Merlino joined Training and Skills Minister Steve Herbert, BHI CEO Norman Gray and dozens of community members for the opening ceremony.
Mr Gray told the Mail at the end of the day that more than 250 students were enrolled for classes at the campus, and that the class offering would be expended later in the year, to include nursing.
He said that BHI had a goal of getting 1000 students involved in their classes, which includes VETIS (Vocational Education and Training in Schools) courses for high school students.
“Normally, at this stage of the month, we’d only expect to have a quarter of our enrolments for the year,” Mr Gray said.
“That’s what we’d like to have in this first year – anything over 800 is really good, we’d like to have 1000 students or more, if we can get them.”
He said that BHI aimed to eventually run 90 courses from the campus, and that he hoped school-leavers in the Yarra Valley who had not taken part in TAFE or university classes would consider coming to the campus to study once numbers improved.
Mr Gray said that trades training from the campus would have a focus on sustainability, through renewable energy sources, materials and practices – such as an emphasis on water recycling for plumbing courses.
A Biosecurity Centre of Excellence and Industry Research, as well as the first of the state’s new Tech Schools will also be housed on site in the future.
“We’ve been excited about this campus since we came up with the concept, and I’m very happy with where we’re up to now,” Mr Gray said.
“We have a lot of work to do, but being out there today, and seeing the response from the community, we know we’re right on track to build a really integrated community on site and … all of my team is excited.”
Mr Merlino congratulated the work of the community in the re-opening of the campus, which closed as a Swinburne University campus in 2013.
The re-opening of the campus became an election issue in 2014, with Labor promising that the site would offer TAFE and university classes should they be elected.
“This site will bring together child care, school-aged students and tertiary students to create a world-class education experience.”
The BHI building in John Street, closer to town than the larger campus, will continue to be used as an overflow site for classes.
Mr Gray said BHI would make a decision next year as to whether it would keep using the property.
