Calen District State College Principal Brian O'Neill recently shone a light on the potential of CQUniversity's Start Uni Now (SUN* program) during a speech in Adelaide, while accepting the school's Australian Rural Education Award.

Mr O'Neil commented that other universities offer extension programs to secondary schools but they require students to attend lectures on campus or to have a school teacher accredited to deliver the program at the school site.

He noted that, to the best of his knowledge, only CQUniversity provided opportunity to rural, remote and regional students by offering extension courses on line.

Calen is a small school located just north of Mackay. Its partnership with CQUniversity enables Year 9 and 10 students to get involved in a Career Match Trial program, while Year 11 and 12 students can enrol for the SUN program.

Meantime, Calen's primary students will receive a visit from a Mobile Education Team arranged by CQUniversity through the Widening Participation program.

Mr O'Neil's presentation in Adelaide described how Calen students engaged with the 'Mechanics Matter' and 'Radio Rocks' programs, in partnership with Cummins Mackay and Radio 4CRM respectively, can also enrol for related SUN programs through CQUniversity.

* Start Uni Now (SUN) is a CQUniversity initiative that allows students in Year 11 and 12 to study CQUniversity subjects (known as courses) while still in high school. Students can enrol in a range of CQUniversity courses, either on-campus (face-to-face) or by distance education (online), and combine them with their regular high school work. Download the SUN Brochure for details.