In the space of only 12 months, CQUniversity's campuses in Rockhampton, Mackay, Bundaberg and Gladstone have contributed more than $450 million worth of gross regional product* and household income to their regions, along with the equivalent of 2130 jobs.

And that's despite the survey year (2011) falling during a relatively quiet time for campus construction. In the years either side of the survey year, tens of millions more was spent constructing Mackay's student residences, library, medical imaging laboratories, chiropractic facilities, and nursing and midwifery laboratories, and Rockhampton's innovation and research precinct, health clinic, library refurbishments, and engineering precinct refurbishment.

"It's a strong result and it would have been a fantastic result had the survey included our construction projects in Mackay and Rockhampton in the years either side of the survey year," Vice-Chancellor Professor Scott Bowman commented.

"It really shows our regional universities are economic powerhouses providing energy and momentum to their local economies."

The figures come from a survey commissioned by the Regional Universities Network to gauge the economic contribution of its six member universities to their local regions.

Even though the survey excluded CQUniversity's contribution to encouraging people living in the region to undertake higher education, making its estimates extremely conservative:

 -          Rockhampton Campus was found to have contributed $229.5 million in gross regional product, $138.3 million in household income, and the equivalent of 1700 full-time jobs.

 -          Mackay Campus was found to have contributed $27.7 million in gross regional product, $14.6 million in household income, and the equivalent of 172 full-time jobs.

 -          Gladstone Campus was found to have contributed $15.9 million in gross regional product, $9.6 million in household income, and the equivalent of 108 full-time jobs.

 -          Bundaberg Campus was found to have contributed $19 million in gross regional product, $11.6 million in household income, and the equivalent of 150 full-time jobs.

CQUniversity has also had a significant impact in boosting the proportion of the regional populations with a university qualification, which also boosted average incomes. Between the 2006 and 2011 Census periods, Rockhampton's proportion with a university qualification climbed from 14.1% to 14,4%, Mackay's climbed from 11.3% to 11.8%, Gladstone's climbed from 11.4% to 12.2% and Bundaberg's from 9.4% to 11%. Average incomes for those with a bachelor degree ranged between 1.3 times higher and 1.6 times higher (than the average income for the overall workforce).

The Regional Universities Network members are CQUniversity, Southern Cross University, University of Ballarat, University of New England, University of Southern Queensland and University of the Sunshine Coast.

The survey found that, overall, the RUN universities contributed $2.1 billion in gross domestic product, $1.2 billion in household income, and the equivalent of more than 14,000 full-time jobs to the Australian economy.

* Gross regional product is the sum of the industry value added for all industry sectors plus value added from final demand (household and government consumption expenditure, capital formation, exports and changes in inventories).