Mr Bali’s call came as the Community Public Sector Union and the National Tertiary Education Union both challenged the university over its decision to close the Nirimba campus, accusing it of mismanagement and profiteering.
Mr Bali said: “WSU has a moral responsibility to maintain university education services at the Nirimba campus. This decision further reduces WSU courses available in Blacktown and Hills Shire Council areas resulting in almost 25% of Western Sydney residents not having access to our own regional university.”
“How can they purport to be part of Western Sydney when they have abandoned one in four residents.”
Blacktown City Mayor, Brad Bunting joined the growing backlash to the proposed campus closure.
“I share the community’s concerns about the proposed closure of the Nirimba campus and what it could mean for local students. As Mayor, I’ve written to the university seeking further information and assurances that the needs of Blacktown’s students will remain a priority,” Mayor Bunting said.
WSU has claimed that the campus closure was made in the context of “delivering enhanced experiences“ for students but refused to comment further on what those experiences are.
Community Public Sector Union Acting Branch Secretary Troy Wright said his members are gutted at the news WSU is closing the Nirimba Campus.
“Our members believe it’s a crucial service for the young people of Blacktown and surrounding suburbs. It offers school leavers a pathway to university and with aboriginal outreach, childcare and accommodation it offers wrap-around services invaluable to the Blacktown community,” Mr Wright said.
“Now locals will have to travel West to Werrington or East to Parramatta to take the same classes. It seems incredible when we know Western Sydney is the fastest growing part of the country that WSU is shrinking its footprint in this community.
“We were told in 2022 this campus would not be closing and we are concerned it has been allowed to wither in the meantime as a way of justifying its closure. Courses have been cut and student numbers are declining.
“We are concerned that this campus will just be sold to local developers and the money spent by this university on pet projects like their totally unnecessary name change and re-brand in 2015 which came at a cost of $20M. We really must question the financial governance of the leadership team.”
WSU also recently announced up to 400 jobs will be cut to deal with the projected deficit of $80M for 2026.
Vice Chancellor Williams said in a statement: “Our worsening budget position means that Western will have insufficient revenue to cover our 2026 salary and other costs.”
He attributed the drastic action resulting from changed student study patterns, including taking fewer courses partly due to cost-of-living pressures.
Meanwhile, the Australian Catholic University (ACU) Blacktown Campus has over the past few years grown to approximately 2,000 students with a range of foundation courses, diplomas and degrees in various areas including health, nursing, education, sports science, business and law.
Vince Caughley, National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) NSW Secretary said closing WSU’s Nirimba campus is a tragedy for student access to higher education and the dedicated staff who are facing job losses.
“Western Sydney is rapidly growing and shrinking the educational offering is unfair. The NTEU will ensure all staff receive their full entitlements and get the best chance to keep their jobs.” Mr Caughley said.
Mr Bali said: “It is apparent that WSU has lost its way. It became a property developer as the core business and playing the education game with Western Sydney residents. They had a successful campus in Nirimba, they cut courses, but the area was growing by 12,000 new residents per year.
“WSU said Blacktown residents were prepared to travel to gain a university education. Well, they were somewhat right. Blacktown students are travelling straight past WSU to Sydney Uni or UTS but many others want to stay local and have embraced ACU Blacktown with its support and professional educational offerings.”
