When you land on the Southern Cross University (SCU) web page, you are greeted with the motto: “Your tomorrow is our purpose”. That, clearly, is not so.
SCU announced this week that it will be discontinuing its Creative Arts Programs, including undergraduate degrees in art and design, digital media and contemporary music. The decision will impact students at SCU’s Lismore campus in regional NSW and elsewhere.
In a statement supplied to ArtsHub, a university spokesperson said: “Southern Cross University regularly reviews its course offerings to ensure they align with current and future student demand, and provide excellent graduate outcomes.
“Unfortunately, demand for Creative Arts courses has steadily declined over recent years, both at Southern Cross University and across the sector. After careful and thoughtful consideration, the University had made the difficult decision to discontinue Creative Arts courses with no new intakes from 2025.
“This includes the Bachelor of Art and Design, the Bachelor of Contemporary Music, and the Bachelor of Digital Media. This decision includes the Coomera Creative Campus at the Gold Coast (the University’s partnership with TAFE Qld) and online.
“This has been an extremely difficult decision as Southern Cross University has a long history of providing creative degrees in the NSW Northern Rivers region,” the SCU spokesperson said.
Vice-Chancellor of the University, Tyrone Carlin told the ABC that the courses being discontinued were no longer viable. “What we’ve seen across Australia as a whole over the past half-decade in particular is a really marked decline in demand for creative arts programs, and that’s been a national trend.”
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This is counter to the findings presented in Service and Creative Skills Australia’s (SaSCA) Workforce Planning Report for the Arts, ‘Shaping Tomorrow‘, which, as the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) notes, highlights the importance of providing regional students with local training and education opportunities to sustain a viable skills pipeline for regional NSW.
NAVA released a statement yesterday (31 October) expressing its deep concern over this move. Executive Director Penelope Benton said, “Southern Cross University’s decision to cut these programs risks eroding the vital skills pipeline in regional NSW, reducing access to quality arts education and stifling the future of regional creative industries.”
Benton added: “These cuts will have far-reaching consequences for both the local and national art sectors, impacting regional NSW’s cultural vibrancy and the future of creative industries in Australia.”
This was a point also made by Arts Northern Rivers director Jane Fuller, who told the ABC, “The impact of not having a suite of courses offered right here in our community, I think, will affect allied businesses, cultural tourism, retail, as well as all the well-known arguments around social cohesion,” she said. “It will really affect the vibrancy of how we see ourselves.”
Carlin said that the decision was in part fuelled by financial considerations. “The cost of a degree like this, set against the cost of a degree in teaching or nursing, is quite radically different and much more expensive,” he said.
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Benton argued that a greater loss is at stake in the face of the SCU’s decision. “Retaining these programs is crucial for preparing artists and creatives to contribute meaningfully to our society and economy. Reducing access to quality creative education will only accelerate skill shortages and weaken Australia’s position as a globally recognised centre for arts and culture.”
She concluded: “NAVA implores Southern Cross University to reconsider this decision and recognise the critical role of art and design education in regional Australia.”
Current students will be able to complete their degrees, but all new enrolments have ceased.
The SCU spokesperson’s statement added: “The University will support the current students through a teach-out period, which is expected to conclude in 2028. Approximately 1% of Southern Cross University’s 19,100 current students are enrolled in impacted courses.
“Staff teaching into these degrees will be required during the teach-out period. Potential redeployment for 10 impacted staff will be considered throughout the teach-out period,” they said.
This article has been updated after publication in order to include a media statement from Southern Cross University.
