Regional students and businesses in the region are set to benefit further from the Coalition Government’s investment of $1 billion in regional higher education over the past four years.

The $1 billion investment includes this week’s announcement of an additional $400 million for regional and rural higher education in the Morrison Liberal National Government’s Job-ready Graduates package.

One measure to assist rural and remote students, those who must travel more than 90 minutes from their home to engage in fulltime study, is the provision of a one-off $,5000 grant.

Our Government will also provide $145 million to grow the number of university places for domestic students at regional campuses and $49 million to boost the research capacity of regional universities.

Regionally-based universities play a critical role in our local communities because they provide opportunities for those students to study in the regions where they live. Those students also tend to stay on in the regions after they graduate.

The Job-ready Graduates measures for regional Australia include:

• One-off $5,000 grant to eligible students from an outer regional, remote and very remote community who have to move more than 90 minutes away from their home to engage in full-time study (Certificate IV qualification or higher) in the year immediately following Year 12

• $159 million for Tertiary Access Payments to help students from outer regional and remote communities relocate to engage in high-level tertiary studies.

• $145 million to fuel faster growth in Commonwealth Grant Scheme (CGS) funding for regional campuses.

• $49 million to enhance the research capacity of regional universities.

• $21 million to expand and strengthen the Regional University Centres program, adding to the 25 centres funded to date.

• $17 million to support an additional 1,700 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to go to university by 2024.

• $7 million for regional partnerships projects focussed on outreach and aspiration as part of reform of equity funding to better support regional and remote students.

• $6 million to establish a Regional Education Commissioner with associated projects and support to oversee and coordinate the Government’s regional education efforts.