La Trobe signs MOU with fellow rural health educators

LA Trobe University has co-signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with Melbourne, Monash, and Deakin universities’ University Departments of Rural Health (UDRH).

Each university’s UDRH is funded by the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care and acts to facilitate education, research and rural health workforce development across the state of Victoria.

Since entering into their first Memorandum of Understanding in 2019, the four institutions have been successful in lobbying the Government to expand grants for student placements in aged care and small towns in Victoria, which were previously excluded from funding.

The new memorandum recognises the value of continued cooperation between the universities to improve student experiences and community outcomes.

La Trobe UDRH director and dean of La Trobe’s Rural Health School Professor Jane Mills said the new agreement would build on workforce capacity in the regions and develop projects supporting psychology, nursing, allied health, social work and mental health disciplines across rural Victoria.

“La Trobe’s involvement in research with other UDRHs has focused on enhancing the experience of mature-aged nursing and allied health students on rural campuses, and how rural health services can build a strong culture of research and research capacity building,” Professor Mills said.

“We’ll continue to advocate for better long-term health outcomes in regional and rural communities.”

Director of Rural Health at Deakin University Professor Vincent Versace said he believes the move signals opportunities for future growth and collaboration.

“This renewed partnership signifies our commitment to serving regional and rural Victoria comprehensively and efficiently,” he said.

“The partnership between our universities presents a unique opportunity to combine our expertise and learn from each other’s experiences to create more innovative approaches to the training and development of our future rural nursing and allied health workforce,” Monash Rural Health head of school Professor Shane Bullock added.