Tech park, uni on Albany cards

Albany could be on the way towards becoming a university town and a Great Southern education hub with an identity and economy based on science and learning.

Local leaders believe a major long-term expansion of Albany’s university options could boost employment and education opportunities for young people while providing a sorely needed economic base for the city.

The City of Albany has been working with the University of Western Australia towards improvements to its Albany campus, including the possibility of expanding to several buildings around central Albany, in an arrangement which could potentially be similar to Fremantle’s Notre Dame University.

These plans are in their infancy and still subject to ongoing discussions.

Albany City Councillor Ray Hammond, who wants to establish Albany as a science and education hub as a long-term goal, said becoming a regionally significant university town was essential to Albany’s economic development.

“I absolutely believe it’s possible and it needs to happen,” he said.

“I personally believe there has been a clear demonstration of the resolve of the City and a lot of people in the current council to the ambition of Albany becoming a university town.”

Cr Hammond said while City staff had been hard at work with UWA on several fronts, the most pressing issue was identifying options for student accommodation.

Parallel to those discussions, Cr Hammond said he was personally investigating the possibility of a “technology park” in Albany.

It would be an area devoted to science and research companies, which he said could potentially partner with UWA.

“The response to the concept of the science and technology park has been overwhelming, and has exceeded all of my expectations,” he said.

UWA Albany Centre director Jennifer O’Neil said the campus had expanded its capabilities significantly in recent years.

Comprising the Albany Centre, the Centre of Excellence in Natural Resource Management and the Rural Clinical School of Western Australia, Ms O’Neil said future works to the Albany campus could include the establishment of a rural health research unit.

Ms O’Neil said UWA ultimately wanted to entice people to live and work in Albany.

“Regions require successful research universities, as do the businesses in them … this is not just pride, it is economically essential,” she said.

Albany Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Russell Clark supported the idea of Albany becoming a university town.

“There is a great drain in 18 to 40 year olds in Albany … so the next logical step is the expansion of tertiary education,” he said.

Albany MP Peter Watson said he fully supported the idea.

He also enthusiastically backed Cr Hammond’s idea of a technology park, which could be propped up by Royalties for Regions.