While the City of Greater Bendigo and La Trobe University will officially welcome more than 1450 new students to Bendigo as part of O-Week festivities today, the students’ worth to our city has been estimated to be a whopping $200 million-plus per annum.

In recent years there has been a gradual strengthening in the relationship between the university and the broader community it is such a vital part of, and today’s civic welcome is one of the tangible displays of this deepening bond.

The university is helping educate the next generation of highly skilled professionals in an ever-increasing number of fields, many of them with a regional focus.

This year, more than 4000 local and international students have chosen to study at the Bendigo campus of La Trobe University.

In a city of just more than 100,000 people, this should afford La Trobe University a powerful presence and role in the central Victorian community.

An ever-increasing number of local VCE graduates choosing La Trobe’s Bendigo campus as their first preference is a wonderful vote of confidence in the local institution.

But it’s incumbent upon all of us, and not just the staff and students of the university, to appreciate these circumstances and to work together towards further improving the way La Trobe does business in this city, and the way business works with La Trobe.

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