By LACHLAN MOORHEAD AND KATHRYN BERMINGHAM
A FORMER president of the Monash Union of Berwick Students likened the looming closure of the university’s Berwick campus to “tearing a family apart”.
After months of speculation the fears of Monash Berwick students were realised this week with the announcement that the university plans to cease teaching at the campus prior to the end of 2018.
Vice-chancellor Professor Margaret Gardner broke the news to staff at a meeting on Monday 7 March, followed by an email to the student body later that day.
In the email, she told students that Monash would continue to explore options for the future use of the campus with other education providers, but as yet negotiations had been fruitless.
“Victoria University, after lengthy and careful consideration, has decided not to pursue options at Berwick at this time,” she wrote.
Former MUBS president Dani Rothwell, who attended the Berwick campus from 2013-2015, said the news was “incredibly sad”.
“It’s essentially like tearing a family apart in the south-east,” she said.
“It’s sad knowing no-one else will have that experience.”
But Ms Rothwell said she had had the feeling Monash Berwick’s closure was “inevitable”, and was “slightly shocked it hasn’t happened sooner.”
“As a past student, I feel for campus management and staff who can’t say how opposed they are to this decision publicly,” she said.
“They’ve had to juggle job uncertainty and rumours for years and now those who have set up their homes and lives in this area will be expected to work away from home.”
Monash will “progressively cease” classes at the Berwick campus in the lead-up to the end of 2018.
The Berwick academic offerings will continue to be taught by Monash, but will be located at either Clayton, Caulfield or Peninsula.
Students enrolled at the Berwick campus will still graduate with a Monash degree, and staff will be offered transfers to other campuses at equivalent levels and conditions.
As well as the consultation process, Monash will require government approval in order to close the campus.
In a consultation paper provided by Monash University to the Star News, the decision to close is attributed to a low-level of enrolments.
“Monash already attracts many qualified students through the south-east of Melbourne, but in the main they have indicated a preference to study at the larger campuses of Clayton and Caulfield, rather than studying locally at Berwick,” it reads.
The paper states that although entry requirements for Berwick courses were “at the lower end of the Monash range,” enrolments were still not sufficient to create the campus originally envisioned by Monash.
This had led to a high occurrence of the 1800 Berwick-based students being forced to enrol in classes at other campuses, with over 1000 round trips each week taking place in 2016 – a situation described in the proposal as “costing the students precious time and further diminishing the quality of the student experience at Berwick.”
Monash opened the Berwick campus in 1996.
Members of the community who wish to provide feedback should email chancellery@monash.edu prior to 31 March.
