The Wagga campus of Charles Sturt University may soon become a hub of health and agriculture subjects, it has been revealed as the university outlines further details in the plans to cut subjects.
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Across all campuses, 20 course offerings 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.
Among the courses to be cut from the Wagga campus will be the Bachelor of Psychology and Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology), which will be provided online or in Bathurst and Port Macquarie only.
"Unfortunately, due to declining student enrollments over the past five years, we are not able to offer these courses at Wagga campus," Acting Vice Chancellor Professor John Germov said.
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Wagga will also lose the Bachelor of Information Technology, which will be offered only in Bathurst or online.
The Bachelor of Business (Management), Bachelor of Business (Honours) and Bachelor of Computing (Honours) will be "consolidated" into fewer course options.
The Bachelor of Science offerings and Bachelor of General Sciences offerings will be migrated for online delivery.
Meanwhile, the Masters of Animal Science will not be offered in Wagga, but the Bachelor degree will remain.
The cuts are expected to make up much of the $49.5 million that the university says has been lost in the wake of the COVID-19 downturn.
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Professor Germov released a statement yesterday saying the Wagga campus would be instrumental in promoting its health offerings.
"We're considering whether we can take international students in the school of animal and veterinary science, dentistry and nursing," the statement said.
It is also looking to promote the Wagga campus's agriculture, wine and horticulture offerings in the future.
Specialised majors in the communications, theatre media and creative industries will continue to be offered in Wagga, Bathurst, Port Macquarie and online.
However, the university said it will be "consolidating" the courses into a "single, new course with majors".
It is unclear how this will affect the faculty, or what the ongoing plans will be for community infrastructure including the Riverina Playhouse.
Though, the statement did reveal that the Bachelor of Theatre Media and Bachelor of Creative Industries will be consolidated into a "single communications and creative industries course with majors".
"We will continue to teach these skills. However, we cannot maintain the current proliferation of courses given the low student numbers over the past five years," Professor Germov said.
A "revitalised" Bachelor of Arts will be launched next year, with streams of on-campus study available in both Bathurst and Wagga for the first year.
But the university has said it will provide a "blended delivery for years two and three" alongside its online offerings.