Media releases

Federation University Australia today unveiled a bold new vision for its campuses in Western Victoria, including a plan to gift the Camp Street Campus in Ballarat’s central business district (CBD) to the community for development as a new cultural, arts, entertainment, or business precinct.

The Campus Vision 2022-2025 sets out a clear way forward for Victoria’s premier regional university to grow in a sustainable way focussed on driving economic growth and jobs.

Federation’s campuses in Ballarat will be transformed to become more integrated with local communities and industry, and responsive to their needs.

University operations in the CBD will be consolidated into a Skills and Innovation Precinct at the SMB Campus on Lydiard Street, featuring a new purpose-built Arts Academy, an additional Centre for Business Excellence, a multi-storey car park, heritage building refits and large-scale urban design and streetscape works.         

Teaching activity will be clustered at the revitalised SMB Campus bringing thousands of students into central Ballarat every day, creating a vibrant university town atmosphere, and generating new jobs and economic activity in the CBD. The vision for the SMB precinct represents a once in a generation investment in creating a cutting-edge university campus in the heart of the Ballarat CBD.     

The Camp Street Campus, which currently hosts the Arts Academy, does not meet the demands of modern performance arts programs. Relocating these programs to the revitalised SMB Campus, will allow Federation University to gift 14,000 square metres of prime real estate in the centre of Ballarat to the community.

The site includes the grand Post Office on the corner of Sturt and Lydiard Streets that was built in 1864. It is next to the historic Mining Exchange, Alfred Deakin Place and Art Gallery of Ballarat, making it an ideal space for a new city precinct for the whole community to enjoy.

Federation plans to co-design the new Camp Street precinct in partnership with the City of Ballarat, government, and the community to create the new precinct.

With teaching activities clustered at the revitalised SMB Campus on Lydiard Street, Federation’s 110-hectare Mount Helen Campus will be transformed into a place for hands-on practical learning activities.

This will allow the University to take advantage of the space and provide the opportunity for students to undertake workplace learning with industry partners based at our Mount Helen Technology Park (Tech Park).

The Tech Park will be expanded through private investment, mainly clustered in the healthcare, aged care, government service and information technology sectors.

The Campus Vision for Mount Helen also allows for expansion of the Asia Pacific Renewable Energy Training Centre and the development of a new Future of Automotive Skills Precinct that would provide a new opportunity for industry partnerships, vocational training, and cutting-edge research programs to support the growth of electric and hydrogen vehicles.

Surplus land will be sold with revenue to be reinvested to support university growth and investment in delivering the Campus Vision. The key focus will be to create large numbers of student placement opportunities through the expanded Tech Park

The Campus Vision also details a new approach to providing high quality learning and teaching infrastructure, with the roll out across all sites of new Connected Classroom facilities, and a new high value program of classroom enhancements.

Federation University will be seeking community feedback on the Campus Vision through community consultation sessions in early 2022.

For more information visit: federation.edu.au/strategy/delivery-year-1/campus-vision.

Quotes attributable to Federation University Australia Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Duncan Bentley

“Our Campus Vision is not just about bricks and mortar – it’s about how we teach, our connection to our communities and how we will drive growth in our campus regions for generations to come.”

“Gifting our Camp Street Campus to the people of Ballarat would be a marvellous way to say thank you to the wonderful Ballarat community who have supported Federation University for the past 150 years. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to develop a new precinct in the heart of the city for the whole community to enjoy.”

“Revitalising our SMB campus on Lydiard Street and clustering our teaching activities into this single campus in the Ballarat CBD will allow us to create a true university town experience for students. It will bring more foot traffic through the city, helping local businesses and creating an energy in the city centre.”

“Like all universities in Australia and around the world, the pandemic means that we must adapt to ensure our long-term sustainability so we can be in a strong position to drive economic growth and jobs in our regions.”