Case for Support

A world worth living in

Opportunity for all Resilient communities A sustainable planet Championing First Nations

Opportunity for all

A sustainable planet

for a world w First Nations champion

Our University ethos: Yindyamarra Winhanganha. The wisdom of respectfully knowing how to live well in a world worth living in.

Join us It takes a community of visionaries just like you to change the world.

Can you help us unlock the power of education and research for the bright future we all aspire to?

worth living in Resilient communities

As Australia’s leading regional university, Charles Sturt University stands ready to unleash our region’s extraordinary knowledge, skills and talent to tackle society’s greatest challenges.

Unlocking regional potential: Bridging barriers for a thriving future

Inadequate healthcare services. Land and livelihoods devastated by bushfire and drought. Barriers to education and opportunity, particularly for First Nations peoples. These long-standing systemic challenges remain while the digital revolution rapidly transforms our world.

Education is the most powerful tool we have to shift the future, yet people in regional communities are 40% less likely to have a degree.

Australia’s future prosperity depends on the success of our rural and regional areas.

Together, we can dismantle the barriers holding them back.

Our regional communities hold the key to our future food security, our energy supply, our climate resilience, our workforce, our cultural legacy. Yet they face disproportionate challenges, threatening this extraordinary potential. With your support, we’re determined to lead the change.

For decades, Charles Sturt has been enriching, encouraging and empowering regional communities from within. We have generated opportunities for young people from all backgrounds, tackled complex regional, national and global challenges, and led Australia’s agenda on critical emerging issues. Our graduates and researchers contribute positively to the lives of others every day, embodying the ethos of ‘yindyamarra winhanganha’.

We harness this spirit as we train the next generation of highly skilled changemakers to meet the future needs of our regions, our nation and the world. Together, we will shape a better tomorrow – one in which our regions can access their astonishing potential as a powerhouse for positive transformation.

Driving transformation We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring our purpose to life and make a real difference to the lives of many, in our regions and beyond. We want to ensure our regions thrive and remain the beating heart of our nation, and to meet Australia’s demands for a highly skilled, future-ready workforce.

With your support, we will keep creating life-changing educational opportunities for students who would otherwise miss out and empower them to bring their diverse perspectives to our most pressing challenges. We will connect researchers, industry, government and infrastructure to advance discoveries of genuine regional and global benefit.

Our priorities for the next decade are united under four distinct but interconnected themes:

Opportunity for all Resilient communities A sustainable planet Championing First Nations

Opportunity for all

While almost half of young Australians have a university degree, this falls to just 18% in our regions. For First Nations’ young people, it’s less than 10%. We’re determined to give students in rural and regional communities the same high-quality educational experiences and opportunities as their metropolitan counterparts.

Your support will help us: Offer more scholarships to help disadvantaged students overcome financial barriers.

Create seamless pathways to university for students from diverse backgrounds.

Expand our comprehensive student support, experience, mentoring and internship programs to empower students to overcome challenges and reach their full potential.

Invest in state-of-the-art teaching facilities and accommodation, including creating a teaching hub for new and emerging technologies.

Resilient communities

With your support, we will build more powerful and resilient communities, where people can thrive, be healthy, and be stronger in the face of threats including climate change.

Your support will help us: Invest further in ground-breaking research in areas such as healthcare, AI, and rural digital infrastructure security, driving discoveries and equipping rural and regional areas to thrive in the digital age.

Train the regional workforce to ensure a sustainable supply of skilled professionals in critical fields – teachers, doctors, pharmacists, nurses, police officers – and meet the evolving needs of rural and regional communities.

Support workforce development in regional and metropolitan areas through facilities that encourage innovation and collaboration with local service providers, such as our rural interprofessional health simulation centre.

A sustainable planet

We stand proudly among the world’s top 2% of universities for our work on climate action, with outstanding results in Clean Water and Sanitation and global partnerships towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings.

Your support will help: Foster agricultural innovation, supporting research and practices that drive sustainable farming methods and tackle the challenges posed by food security and climate change.

Further engage in water and environmental research to address water management issues, environmental conservation, and the preservation of natural resources.

Develop the National Centre for Biosecurity, the nation’s most significant centre for research, innovation and training focused on protecting agriculture and industry in Australia and the Asia Pacific region from pests and diseases.

Championing First Nations

Underpinning everything we do is a commitment to engage with, learn from and champion First Nations peoples. We are committed to investing in First Nations peoples’ success in higher education as students, graduates, researchers and staff, driven by our firm belief that the responsibility and opportunity lies with every one of us.

Your support will help: Further development and investment in First Nations scholarships and support pathways into agriculture, science, engineering and mathematics, including through partnership initiatives such as AGcessibility and the CSIRO Indigenous STEM Scholarship program endowment.

Establish the Yindyamarra Trust, led by Stan Grant, to create a national meeting place for thought leadership on issues of justice, faith, equity and belonging.

Advance a comprehensive program of public engagement, leadership and research activities, supported by substantial investment in talent through professorships, fellowships and PhD studentships.

The Charles Sturt University difference: A university of the land and people

“ Our research transforms regional understanding into solutions that shape the country.”

From our origins on experimental agricultural farms in Bathurst and Wagga Wagga in the late nineteenth century, through our evolution to include teaching colleges and colleges of advanced education, Charles Sturt University has enriched our regions and nation. Our success is grounded in the qualities we draw from our regional roots – our sense of community, will for hard work, and resilience when times get tough.

We have turned the challenge of connecting multiple campuses across hundreds of kilometres into an opportunity to better understand and serve our region.

Through it all, we have not lost track of our original charter – to be a university of the land and people, with our focus on the needs of our regional and rural communities.

For our future workforce We train the workforce of the future for regional and rural Australia, producing highly skilled professionals in nursing, primary and secondary school teaching, law enforcement and more.

We train the highest number of teachers in New South Wales, and have invested significantly in courses to meet growing skills shortages in areas including pharmacy, medicine, dentistry and veterinary science.

Employers love Charles Sturt University graduates. Our teaching expertise, combined with high levels of practical experience, means we have had Australia’s highest graduate employment rate for six years in a row.

Over 90% of our graduates are in full-time jobs, and 55% stay to work and live in the regions after graduation, lending their considerable skills and experiences to enrich their communities.

As an anchor institution, we sustain communities by being a trusted employer and fostering valuable networks and relationships that contribute to the region’s growth and prosperity.

Working to address global issues felt deeply in our regions.

For our region, nation and world Our research transforms regional understanding into solutions that shape the country.

In partnership with industry and communities, our teams are, demonstrating how data science and responsible artificial intelligence can better serve regional areas and help break down the barriers of working in an expansive geography; leading advances to reduce the burden of disease in lower socio-economic communities; ensuring a sustainable future for agriculture; and working to address global issues felt deeply in our regions, such as the impact of bushfires.

We bring Australian ideas to life for the world.

That could mean training organisations in Timor Leste and Indonesia to detect and manage disease outbreaks that affect farms and food supplies, such as foot-and-mouth and lumpy skin disease. Strengthening global security by countering violent extremism and virtual money laundering. Giving critical care flight paramedics in Canada the opportunity to further their training through online study. Or deploying a gamechanging technology to save fish, boost river health and protect livelihoods in Laos (pictured).

Join us

Rural and regional communities embody a spirit of resilience, resourcefulness and innovation that sustains our economy, culture, and heritage. With your support today, we will unleash this spirit for the benefit of all.

By supporting Charles Sturt University, you will contribute to creating a world worth living in – a world where equal opportunities exist for all, resilient communities thrive, and the environment is protected for future generations. Together, with your gifts, we can make a meaningful difference for communities in rural and regional Australia and beyond.

Charles Sturt University is a success story of equity and aspiration – for individuals and communities. Our graduates are highly employable.

We open the doors of opportunity for regional students, First Nations students, and students from less well-off backgrounds. And we are succeeding in enriching our region – and the world – through research.

Now, we must do even more, to meet the future skills needs of our regions, nation and world, develop the practical minds who will tackle the challenges of tomorrow, and do all we can to create a world worth living in.

Professor Renée Leon PSM Vice-Chancellor and President, Charles Sturt University

Foundation

+61 2 6933 2067 advancement@csu.edu.au Find out more or donate here:

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