NMC has just wrapped up our feasibility study for a proposed Tertiary Education Hub with Murrindindi Shire Council. This has been a substantive and rewarding engagement, and we are grateful for the partnership with Council and confident in the impact this work will unlock for the Murrindindi community.

What set this feasibility study apart was the depth of its scope, moving well past desk research to engage directly with local employers, model financial scenarios, forecast population demand, and examine the cohort of likely learners on their own terms. We identified where workforce gaps are most acute across the region, modelled what a sustainable hub costs to build and run across a range of funding and revenue assumptions, and undertook a population scan and forecasting exercise to understand how demand is likely to grow. The hub typology recommended was designed to address regional workforce demand and to reflect the ways that Murrindindi’s population actually learns, including the practical, employment-focused culture that shapes how and when people in the region are able to study.

The engagement has produced a comprehensive suite of deliverables that Council can act on immediately. The strategic options analysis, financial sustainability plan, and growth roadmap give Council the evidence base and implementation pathway required to move from proposition to action. The advocacy brief distils the full analysis into a concise, compelling document that a minister can read and act on, giving Council a sharp and credible tool to take into government conversations and secure the investment Murrindindi has been building toward.

A feasibility study for a tertiary education hub is only as useful as the clarity it produces. The most important question it must answer is not whether a hub is needed, but whether the proposed model is viable: financially, operationally, and in terms of genuine community uptake. Getting that wrong means building infrastructure that does not get used, attracting partners who do not stay, and making a funding case that does not hold up to scrutiny. Getting it right means the hub opens with a clear student pipeline, a sustainable revenue base, governance that can withstand pressure, and a community that was designed into the model from the beginning. That is the standard NMC holds feasibility work to, and it is the standard this engagement was delivered to.