The City of Armadale is currently hard at work refitting the recently-vacated old shire offices on Jull Street to house the federally-funded Armadale Suburban University Study Hub (SUSH).
With an internal floorspace of 468m2, and a location right in the heart of Armadale, the new uni study hub is ideally positioned to help change the fortunes of both local students and the oft-maligned CBD.
But the ageing building is throwing up a few surprises – like asbestos – which threatens to delay the city’s aspirations of a Semester 2 opening.
145 Jull Street was first opened in 1967 as a new home for the expanding local government, and acted as the shire’s basecamp until it was superseded by the current chambers and offices on Orchard Avenue in 1985.
For the past couple of decades, the building has been leased to South Metropolitan TAFE (previously Polytechnic West) which delivered training through a Commonwealth funded Adult Migrant Education Program (AMEP), and ran a Jobs and Skills Centre.
Last year, with the imminent departure of the TAFE to its shiny new abode up the road, the City of Armadale made a play for one of the 14 SUSHs the feds were offering to place in outer-metro areas with low tertiary education attendance.
In November, there was jubilation as Armadale was named as one of three chosen WA locations, alongside Mandurah and Ellenbrook.
But with the gift of funding came expectations of a mid-2025 opening.
The City of Armadale is straying well-beyond the core city governance remit of ‘rates, roads and rubbish’ to be the first local government in the country to both deliver and run a Suburban University Study Hub.
Most other SUSHs are being taken on by universities, existing community service providers, or in the case of Ellenbrook and Mandurah, in partnership with local Regional Development Australia committees.
But the City of Armadale is confident in its ability to run a ‘successful’ hub that’s more than just a glorified co-working space.
The proof is in the pudding, officers say, with the city’s other major community facilities – like the Champion Centre and the multi-award-winning Armadale Fitness and Aquatic Centre – often held up as shining examples to the rest of the country.
And they’ve hit the pavement running.
Last week, the City of Armadale spearheaded a SUSH roundtable at the University of Western Australia which allowed representatives from local universities and key figures in the state’s first three SUSHs to come together and start to draw a picture of what this brand-new model of tertiary education support could look like.
Participants brainstormed about ways they could collaborate and ways they could cut down on ‘service duplication’.
They also workshopped how to get students through the doors and get them engaged.
And, perhaps most importantly, they determined that one of the biggest collective needs is a way to measure the impact of the SUSHs on student success and retention rates.
There’s still a long way to travel over the next three months for the City of Armadale, with lots of operational questions still up in the air: How will the hub cater to a diverse array of students with an equally diverse array of needs studying a multitude of different courses from a raft of different institutions?
And, perhaps more simply, will the hub operate 24/7 like the Mandurah SUSH intends to, or will there be limits on opening hours, which could perhaps limit the types of students likely to make use of it?
One thing for certain is that the new hub already has a passionate advocate in local member and Minister for Tertiary Education Tony Buti who gave an emotive speech at the roundtable about his own personal challenges in accessing university from Armadale.
“The new Suburban University Study Hub in Armadale is set to be a transformative development for the community, providing enhanced access to tertiary education,” he said.
“For many individuals in our local community, traveling to the main university campus can be a significant challenge, particularly for those balancing work, parenting, or other personal commitments.
“I remember my own experience when I first enrolled at UWA: my lectures started at 8am, which meant I had to leave home at 5am, navigating a long journey by train and bus just to arrive on time.
“While the traditional university experience is invaluable, it’s not always an option for everyone. This new initiative ensures that socio-economic, geographical, and personal circumstances won’t stand in the way of pursuing higher education, offering more people the opportunity to achieve their academic aspirations.
“Education should be accessible to all, regardless of background or situation.
“As someone who was the first in my family to continue education past Year 10 and attend university, I can personally attest to the life-changing opportunities that education can provide.
“It opened doors for me both academically and professionally—experiences that were far from the norm in my family.
“The Suburban University Study Hub will bring education closer to home, making it easier for residents in our area to access the benefits of higher learning.”
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