Green light for Noosa Campus expansion - CQUniversity pledges growth
Published on 09 August, 2011
CQUniversity has approved $2.5 million worth of expansion of its Noosa Campus, agreeing to double student capacity and operational space while upgrading facilities and broadening the range of courses available.
The University Council green light follows confirmation that the campus in Goodchap Street, Noosaville, is set to have its first full-time dedicated Head of Campus. The appointment of Pro Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean Professor Kevin Tickle is designed to drive growth at the facility.
Professor Tickle welcomed the expansion, saying student numbers could increase from around 600 to more than 1200 over the next four years.
"Today's announcement is excellent news for Noosa. In the short-term our major investment in fit-out construction will be good for the Noosa economy. And in the long-term we will be employing more staff and delivering more locally-trained graduates into the community. Overall we see this as a massive vote of confidence in Noosa," Professor Tickle said.
"My aim is to base future growth in Noosa on our existing programs in Education, Nursing and Music with expansion into Tourism, Law, Business, Arts as well as allied health programs of Occupational Health, Speech Pathology, Social Work and Psychology.
"CQUniversity has extensive experience in supported online education and we plan to deliver flexible education tailored to today's student needs.
"This is an exciting time for CQUniversity and I'm looking forward to the prospect of building a first-class education facility working in partnership with the local Noosa community."
As well as considering new programs for Noosa Campus, CQUniversity is planning increased face-to-face support for the Distance Education program in Nursing, which is based out of Noosa. Increased clinical space would also require increased general laboratory and tutorial space.
Professor Tickle, presently based at Rockhampton, will continue to lead the Faculty of Arts, Business, Informatics and Education (FABIE) and will be taking an increasingly hands-on role at Noosa during a period of transition, before moving full-time to the campus at the start of 2012.
The Executive Dean has performed many other leadership and executive roles at CQUniversity in recent years. As well as re-organising flexible learning across CQUniversity, Professor Tickle has introduced work-integrated learning into faculty programs and performed a significant change management role in merging faculties.
His primary areas of interest are Information Technology, Mathematics and Statistics with expertise in the areas of probability modelling; decision support; water resources and data mining. He was involved in the establishment of the Centre for Intelligent Networks, a CQUniversity research centre, and currently supervises PhD and Masters students.
Professor Tickle has an extensive record of research grants, publications and consultancies. In 2005, he was awarded the Australian Computer Society (Qld) ICT Professional of the Year (Education) award.
Professor Kevin Tickle