From The Chair
Geoff Perry
Chair of the Robb College Foundation
At our inaugural Rural Focus Symposium in 2016, I was taken by the address given by Andy McConville, one of our very successful Robb Alumnists who, at that time was a senior executive, based in Switzerland with Syngenta, the largest, multi-national agricultural chemical company in the World.
His statistics on what is required to double food-production by 2050 to feed the World and the impact and opportunities this creates for Australia was staggering.
His passion was compelling and his belief in the ability of science combined with human ability and communication skills obvious as he appealed strongly to the students to look to a career in agriculture and not be swayed as the challenge and the rewards would be exciting.
We need more passionate professionals.
This is why I believe, if you are going to donate to a cause or charity, then donating to help fund the education of Robb College students, for their future to a qualified career, is an investment in professional care and “problem solving”.
The World belongs to the intelligent who are daring.
Many Robb College students, like Andy, go on to become intelligent, passionate but caring problem solvers and that is what we need more of in the world. People whose vocations lead them to apply their knowledge and skills to serve humanity and their communities. Robb College helps develop a culture of “doers-who-care”.
There is a need for Residential Scholarships
Many students doing their degrees on-line wish they could change to doing them full-time on campus. They are struggling to complete them externally and find it stressful with competing time commitments to their employers and family. The withdrawal and failure rate is double that of doing your degree on campus. Residential degrees can be completed more quickly, at half the cost and a “Robber” benefits from the College system of personal academic support. They also join a network of Alumni who can provide career and work-experience. They can make friends for life which all helps them to realise their potential. However residential fees cannot be put on HECS.
We are building our residential scholarships into a structured “pathway” to cover each year of a student’s academic career and lift the academic culture.
Since 2016 we have worked to preserve our older awards and combined them with new ones to establish a unique scholarship and prize platform. From 2016 to 2023 we have raised our funds to over $1.0m in Trust which has helped us lift the number of our awards. However the task is not complete and we need to seriously continue to lift our funds in Trust with UNEF to build and sustain perpetual scholarships and research grants that keep pace with inflation and attract students to Robb. We wish to add-value to our students studying on campus and assist them with the costs of tertiary education, further lift the academic-culture of the College and fund other benefits for all its students.
We need “career-ready” leaders and are building a support system around all students residing in Robb.
We are working with the Head of Robb, the SCR, JCR and Alumni along with Employers to help build a program of leadership training, work experience, career networks, extra-curricular development and academic mentoring along with our program of prizes and scholarships to help prepare our students for their careers.
Robb College is thriving and is a strong “brand” in the marketplace.
While the development of the Robb Building was held up, the student-body kept Robb alive. The demand by students to be a part of Robb is strong. They are active with community fund-raising, organising industry events, lifting their sporting and academic achievements and the College continues to remain strong.
Employers and industry see Robb as a “go-to” source for quality employees and there is a growing demand for recruits, particularly in agriculture.
Robb students go on to serve their communities whether as a grazier, farmer, agronomist, scientist, economist, accountant, lawyer, educator, doctor, nurse, financier or business manager and go on to head-up local firms, farms or multi-national corporations.
The last 10 years have been a turbulent time for UNE and Robb College.
Over six years from 2014 to 2020 the Robb students were moved between 3 buildings on campus. From 2020-2024 the UNE moved through a period of cut-backs and the Colleges were impacted by 2 years of Covid.
During this time the Robb College Foundation steadily built its corpus of funds in Trust from $80k to now over $1.0m and has significantly lifted funding for the students in College. In 2024, as part of the 70th anniversary celebrations, the VC Dr Chris Moran announced a revised objective of marketing and re-investing in the residential campus and Colleges.
UNE announces new development plan to re-build and market the residential campus.
To support the VC’s plan the RCFA will work to maintain lifting our perpetual income from scholarship funds to help to keep student numbers high and continue to build Robb as a valuable, residential College within UNE.
Robb College will continue to build its value as a residence for rural and remote students, linking with employers and industry and providing students a strong network of support for their careers plus friendships that last forever.
Launching new Robb Leader-Scholarship Appeal.
To continue developing the pathway towards these goals the Robb Foundation Board have launched an appeal to double our scholarship funds to $2.0m by 2030. I commend this program to you and invite you to make a donation and investment in the future for Robb College students to become “Career-Ready Leaders”.
The return on investment is one of improving our local, national and international economies and communities.
Please go to the Appeal page for further details.
Thank you.
Geoff Perry.