A MINI-EDUCATION revolution talked up by independent MP Rob Oakeshott could be tried elsewhere in regional Australia.
Mr Oakeshott has championed regional development that places tertiary education at its centre for the mid-north coast of NSW.
The plan involves the local North Coast TAFE, the University of Newcastle, University of New England, Southern Cross University, University of NSW, Charles Sturt University and, just recently, the University of Sydney.
While a greenfields campus may be considered somewhere down the path, the feasibility study, which received $150,000 from the federal government in June, will explore how the universities, TAFE and local schools can collaborate to increase higher education options and pathways in the region.
"It's certainly the kind of thing we should be adopting in regional areas," said Sue Kilpatrick, pro vice-chancellor (rural and regional) at Deakin University.
She said the Port Macquarie-Hastings higher education plan, spearheaded by Mr Oakeshott, was attractive because it aimed to lift student aspiration, link education to employment and forge partnerships between the education sectors.
Although other independents have spoken on education, Mr Oakeshott stands out for his campaign to adapt the Bradley reform agenda to regional development.
"We are trying to have our own mini [education] revolution," he said earlier this year in parliament.
He linked his region's appalling 12 per cent higher education participation rate with high levels of unemployment.
However, Steve Garlick, adjunct professor in urban and regional studies at the University of Newcastle, said Mr Oakeshott's regional adoption of Bradley's national target for 40 per cent graduates was misconceived.
"The Bradley argument is a false argument for an economy like that," he said.
He said a lifestyle and retirement region should pursue a local solution, with TAFE supplying a low-skill service economy, or a global solution, with an international university setting up a highly specialised research centre pitched at northern hemisphere students.
Mr Oakeshott, who was born in Lismore and went to university in Sydney, said in his first speech to parliament that he saw "non-metropolitan disengagement in education as one of the key economic failures for Australia".
In February he lobbied the plan directly to then education minister Julia Gillard.
Despite his enthusiasm for the demand-driven system, Mr Oakeshott has warned that if the reforms make it harder for his disadvantaged region to rise to the challenge, he will fight them "tooth and nail".
Meanwhile, Queensland vice-chancellors have signed a letter to Mr Oakeshott and the other independents warning against proposed Coalition cuts to equity funding.
Andrew Norton, research fellow with the Centre for Independent Studies, said Mr Oakeshott's record suggested he would be "pushing for some form of assistance for institutions and students in his area".
"This may well be tied to support for particular pieces of higher education legislation [such as the bill to usher in the demand-driven system]."
Higher education commentator Gavin Moodie, an adviser on the Port Macquarie-Hastings plan, said the commonwealth should fund agreements with regional cities with populations of 50,000 to 200,000 so they could use their TAFE campuses to expand higher education.
States and partner universities also would be parties.
In 2009, the University of Newcastle had a modest 123 students enrolled at its Port Macquarie centre, which is located on the TAFE campus. UNSW also has a rural clinical school there.
The region loses about 1000 of its best and brightest school-leavers each year to universities across NSW, 77 per cent to just five universities, the vast majority to the University of Newcastle. SCU set up a campus in Port Macquarie in 1996 but it closed in 2002.
