Plan to lure fourth uni

GOLD Coast Council CEO Dale Dickson has revealed early work is under way to attract a fourth university to the Gold Coast to further stabilise the economy.

The keen drummer and former footy player also says it is time local tourism and events bodies restructured to better capitalise on the city’s blossoming events calendar and venues.

Mr Dickson has been CEO of the City of Gold Coast for 13 years, overseeing the introduction of the light rail, a convention and exhibition centre, two national sports stadiums, the Broadwater Parklands and more. In an interview for the Gold

Coast Bulletin’s Monday Think Tank column, Mr Dickson said attracting a world-class uni-

versity would add to the benefits realised from Griffith, Bond and Southern Cross.

“I’d ideally love another university in our city, in recognition of the enormous econ- omic and social contribution of our current universities,” he said.

“It is impossible to imagine the Gold Coast without the three universities that we have, we’d be far more vulnerable to economic downturns, we’d be less well-known around the world for high-quality research.

“It would be wonderful to have another university, one that has international standing — will it be easy to pull off? No it won’t be.

“There is some very preliminary work (happening already) and there is a lot to be done in terms of due diligence and ultimately an investment by the city to make something like that happen, if it ever does.”

Mr Dickson said it was also timely for the city to review the way city events were managed.

“It’s entirely healthy at regular intervals to see what other cities around the world are doing and be as smart as we can,” he said.

“People can have an allegiance to a current way of thinking and doing things (but) ultimately, there are enough clever, motivated people who want the best for the city and have the ability to come together and discuss these things and make the decisions.”