Transforming our southern campus

Since 2007 we have been growing our presence in Hobart’s CBD and continue to do so. Earlier this year, we completed a much-needed restoration of the heritage Philip Smith Centre on Hobart’s Domain – the site of the University’s original home – where teaching programs have since commenced inside. Work to transform the Forestry building on Melville Street is also making excellent progress and will become home to students and staff including from the Schools of Business and Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences in time for Semester 1, 2026. Under our future direction, there will be a University presence in central Hobart across three key sites:

• A City Campus that incorporates our existing medical sciences and creative arts teaching, learning and research spaces and provides a new home in the Forestry Building for the Schools of Business and Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences.
• A Historic Campus on the Domain, the University’s original home, which will play host to special offerings like our International School, Outdoor Education Program and aspects of our health offering.
• A Waterfront Campus comprising the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies facilities at Salamanca and Taroona

Presently, 40% of our students are based in the city, and once Forestry is operational, that will grow to approximately 70%. Music and Creative Arts have long been established in the CBD. The Medical School moved from Sandy Bay to the new Medical Sciences Precinct, which was built between 2009 and 2013, and the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) moved into its new CBD building in 2014. Student accommodation has grown since 2015 and the Media School and Business and Economics moved into the city in 2019 and 2021 respectively.

We remain deeply invested in Sandy Bay and a range of courses are being delivered here with teaching and learning activities, along with student services, organised around a central and vibrant campus heart to ensure our students continue having a dynamic and enjoyable university experience. Under our future direction, Sandy Bay will play an important role for higher education as our STEM campus in Hobart. Our planning for the site’s future also considers Hobart City Council’s Mt Nelson and Sandy Bay Neighbourhood Plan.

Developing specialised STEM facilities at our existing site in Sandy Bay provides opportunities to create a precinct that enables other education providers and industry to co-locate and collaborate, along with opportunities for school and community engagement. The positive engagement we’ve had with a range of stakeholders, including our colleagues and students in the College of Sciences and Engineering (CoSE), is also supportive of developing a specialised STEM campus at Sandy Bay. The State Government – which recognises the need for this investment – has expressed a desire for STEM to remain at Sandy Bay, and the recent legislation it introduced requiring the University to seek approval from Tasmania’s Parliament to sell or lease land at the Sandy Bay campus has been a factor in our position. The City of Hobart Council also recently passed a motion to formally advocate for government funding to create a ‘new world class STEM Hub’ at Sandy Bay.

We are seeking to work with the Tasmanian and Australian Governments to develop a plan to fund new STEM facilities below Churchill Avenue. If funding can be secured, this would involve complete retrofits of some existing science buildings, the construction of some new buildings, and enhancement of the natural landscape of the campus. There is a considerable process we will need to work through to inform how this development takes shape in a way that best supports our community and minimises disruption to existing activities happening on site.

Our need for contemporary STEM facilities is critical. As the only university for Tasmania, we have a role to play in ensuring equity of higher education access to everyone in our community, providing our students with a university experience that’s as good as you would find anywhere else and delivering this in contemporary, fit-for-purpose facilities that enable the best learning outcomes.

For several years now, the University has been advocating for a new Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) precinct. Read our STEM precinct business case, which has been approved and listed on Infrastructure Australia’s priority list since 2017. Contemporary STEM facilities in the South are important for our students and staff, and for the future of STEM education in Tasmania, to meet workforce needs, and for our state’s ability to meet the challenges we face here and around the globe.

The new STEM precinct that Tasmania needs will cost in the order of $500 million to deliver the specialist, contemporary facilities to educate and train professionals across these disciplines into the future, and support from all levels of government will be critical. We are seeking a coordinated, collaborative path to fund new STEM facilities in the South, similar to the successful approach we took in the North and North-West that has helped us deliver new campus precincts for the community at Inveresk in Launceston and Burnie’s West Park. To contribute to the development, we will be engaging with the Tasmanian Government about the future of the University’s land above Churchill Avenue, and seeking support from the Tasmanian Parliament to ensure it is unencumbered. As we did in the North and North-West, the University needs to make a contribution to this vital project – our ability to do that is tied to the future of the rest of the Sandy Bay campus.