Friday, February 13, 2015

Creating opportunities on and off the sporting field

CQUniversity is always looking for new ways to engage with our communities and to showcase what a truly great university we are. In recent years we have found that engaging with local/regional sporting events and teams has been a very successful way to get more involved with our communities. 

Sport and universities have always gone hand-in-hand. Providing sporting facilities and opportunities for students and staff to participate helps to create life on campus, and facilitates the forging of life-long friendships and networks.

Last week we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with CQ Rugby to establish an Academy that aims to prevent the drain of promising young sporting and academic talent to GPS schools and sandstone Universities in the capital cities. The perceived benefits of what’s on offer in the big cities has always been available in spades in our regions, and this Academy is proof.

Players selected for induction into the new Academy will have access to CQUniversity sporting facilities and sports performance labs, where they will be guided by our top sports science researchers.

Along with this they will also be encouraged to further their education by studying at CQUniversity where they will be able to choose from a range of quality vocational and tertiary programs, and can make the most of our immersive work integrated learning opportunities.

Already 60 talented teens from across the CQ Rugby footprint (which coincidentally looks very similar to CQUniversity’s footprint, with branches in the Central Highlands, Western Queensland, Wide Bay and Capricornia) have attended residential training camps in Rockhampton.

The potential of the MOU is huge, not just for CQUni and CQ Rugby but for the many regional communities within Central Queensland. The initiative will help young people to remain in their local communities by giving players the same great opportunities that can be afforded to them in the City. Through this they will be able to gain an academic experience that complements their sporting aspirations and long term career prospects.

It’s great to have CQ Rugby on board, going forward I can see this partnership being just as successful as our CQUniversity Cairns Taipans Basketball Academy. Our engagement with these sports is just another one of the reasons why CQUniversity is emerging as one of Australia’s great Universities.


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