The future of the Riverina Playhouse has once again been called into question following more detailed plans on Charles Sturt University's proposed courses cull.
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Across all campuses, 20 course offerings that currently have no enrollments, and 28 entire courses will be cut altogether, while 61 courses will be either consolidated onto a single campus or will have their delivery mode altered.
An additional seven courses, the university said, will be "revitalised" over the coming years to attract stronger student numbers.
Acting Vice-Chancellor John Germov released a statement on Tuesday evening outlining the introduction of a "single, new course with majors" to replace some of the more specialised communications, theatre media and creative industries courses.
Professor Germov said the decision has been based on "low student numbers over the past five years", but faculty staff say that metric is flawed.
"We have had dwindling numbers of students, but there will always be demand for what we do, and we are expecting a huge boost of numbers next year," said Dr Dominique Sweeney, dramatic arts lecturer.
"We were, unfortunately, expecting this, but it has still been disheartening to hear it."
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While the affected staff members have been informed of the proposed changes, Dr Sweeney said the dialogue has been distinctly "lacking specifics".
"We haven't been given a lot of details at the moment so we really don't know what our courses are going to look like now," he said.
Some subjects in the course loading will continue to be offered on the Wagga, Bathurst and Port Macquarie campuses.
There will also be a renewed focus on promoting online learning. But the logistics of delivering theatre courses online has perplexed some.
"If anything is going to face-to-face at the university, it's going to be theatre," said Tony Trench, former general manager of the Playhouse.
"If the course is not going to involve practical lessons in acting, well that's a big concern.
"Acting is a face-to-face profession, so anything that is online would have to be theory."
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Without a thriving theatre scene at the university, Mr Trench questions the future of the Playhouse's operations.
"One of the things I'm really concerned about is the building itself, it needs to be used primarily for performance," he said.
"I understand it does get used for lectures, but it needs to be used by actors as much a possible.
"If the uni no longer has a purpose for it, then it needs to be opened up to community groups and in my opinion, the uni has not made it especially available to use."
Both Mr Trench and Dr Sweeney lamented the recent loss of creative arts ventures in Wagga, describing the university's announcement as yet "another nail in the coffin" for the industry.
"Theatre won't dry up here, but it will be harder to find. We have already lost live venues - The Home Tavern and the Wollundry Rooms. It would be a real shame to lose the Playhouse too," Mr Trench said.
Among the subjects and courses to be prominently impacted by Charles Sturt University's announcement this week will be those in the business and psychology fields.
The Bachelor of Psychology and Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) will be provided online or in Bathurst and Port Macquarie only.
Former CSU psychology student and city councillor Dan Hayes labelled it "extremely disappointing".
"Online is an option that works for lots of people, but someone in Sydney who is studying psychology at Charles Sturt online is unlikely to move to Wagga when they have finished their degree," Mr Hayes said.
"The university's role in the community is not only in providing education. It also plays an essential role in feeding professionals into our workforce."
Two of the current bachelor of sciences courses will also be migrated online. Meanwhile, several business faculty offerings will be consolidated into one degree.
On the other hand, the Bachelor of Arts discipline is set for a complete make-over, with subject majors and other options added to the degree. In some cases, options for higher research will be removed.
"The Bachelor of Arts will still have the same number of humanities majors, but there will also be another six options," said Bachelor of Arts course co-ordinator Dr Jared van Duinen.
"So we're actually growing the degree in line with what other universities have been able to offer."
Beginning next year, students in their first year of a Bachelor of Arts will be given the option to study on-campus in Wagga and Bathurst.
But students in second and third years will be provided with "blended delivery", which involves a mix of on-campus and online learning.
"This actually streamlines what we've been doing for a number of years," Dr van Duinen said.
"In the past, students have complained about how we'd offer a subject on-campus but then if the classes weren't big enough, about two weeks before the semester starts we'd be forced to cancel it and move it online.
"I think this will avoid a lot of that happening and simplify things a bit."