Monash University Gippsland Campus
Changes were immediate. The existing schools at the Gippsland campus were integrated
into the existing faculty structure. With this came the name change in 1993
to Monash University Gippsland Campus – often abbreviated to Monash Gippsland
. Reflecting the aims of Monash University and with the schools now part of
the larger faculties, greater emphasis was placed on postgraduate teaching and
staff research. Honours courses were developed and the Gippsland Campus offered
PhD scholarships. Keen research students, often locally based, took advantage
of these. Heyfield resident Kath Williams enrolled in a PhD in psychology in
1993. As a mother with two small boys, attending a Melbourne campus on an almost
daily basis to complete her doctorate would have been an impossibility.
Monash Gippsland also embraced ‘internationalisation’. As part of Monash University’s
aim to be a global provider of education, the Gippsland campus now has international
students studying at Churchill and provides courses for off-shore teaching.
Distance education has been expanded to provide courses for internationally
based off-campus students who now use a variety of modes from paper-based study
guides to on-line teaching to study for Monash degrees.
Despite the changes that come from amalgamating with Australia’s largest university,
Monash Gippsland is still committed to its regional identity and aims to be
a university ’of and for Gippsland’. It continues to develop courses
that have specific relevance for students and industries in the region, to focus
much of its research on Gippsland issues and to be involved with the community
at many levels. With the recent appointment of a Pro Vice-Chancellor to direct
the campus, the Gippsland identity and interaction with the region are assured.
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