Deakin’s $94m in projects promising Geelong jobs

By John Van Klaveren
TWO Deakin University projects worth $94 million are set to create up to 200 jobs in Geelong.
Deakin this week announced a $55 million “state-of-the-art” engineering facility and approved its $39 million campus relocation strategy.
Vice Chancellor Professor Jane den Hollander said the engineering facility construction phase alone would generate up to 187 jobs.
Council modelling indicated the project would generate economic activity of around $160 million and with 13 ongoing jobs, she said.
The university’s 1200 Faculty of Business and Law students will relocate from Waurn Ponds to the Waterfront campus, boosting central Geelong.
Prof den Hollander said Deakin was seeking $21 million in federal funding for the Centre for Advanced Design in Engineering Training (CADET).
Deakin would contribute $30 million to the Waurn Ponds project in partnership with Gordon Institute of TAFE.
“The facility will address Australia’s critical skills shortage in engineering,” Prof den Hollander said.
Deakin’s funding submission was short-listed to the final round of an Education Investment Fund last month, she said.
“Deakin is understood to be the only Victorian university to make it through to the second round.”
“CADET will emphasise product design and development through virtual and physical modelling, simulation and prototyping, all skills that are critical to address 21st Century engineering challenges.
“The facility will offer programs for young people right from Year 8 through to PhD level and is expected to be valued by secondary schools as a vital resource for their maths and science programs.
“The new facility has been designed to attract a new cohort of secondary school students to engineering, particularly young women who are under-represented in the profession.”
Prof den Hollander said both CADET and the accommodation relocation strategy would bring “substantial benefits” to the community.