Arts & Education in the Regions
Letter emailed to La Trobe University Vice Chancellor John Dewar, 15th November 2020. Dear Professor Dewar, I am sure it will come as no surprise to you that I am angered by your proposal to offer regional students the Bachelor of Arts as a purely online degree. I enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts at Bendigo in 2013 and my experience since has been nothing short of life changing. I cannot emphasis enough how significantly my academic success at La Trobe was influenced by the supportive face-to-face learning environment at Bendigo, such that I am now close to completing my doctorate. I am the first person in my family to attend university and a significant factor in my academic accomplishment is my access to face-to-face learning on a regional campus in my hometown, where I am also the carer for a parent with multiple disabilities. Regional students and staff alike have managed the sudden shift online during the COVID crisis remarkably well, despite the extreme stress of external factors. ...
