Grant Robertson: University move to Queenstown 'partnership to add value'

University of Otago Vice Chancellor Grant Robertson has told Crux today that a proposed expansion to Queenstown will not be "like an old school university relationship" and the plan includes sorting out accommodation needs by partnering with developers.

Speaking in Queenstown Mr Robertson said he was confident that the university could bring Queenstown developers on board to build university accommodation as the proposition involved bringing a long term student population to the Southern Lakes, as well as other university staff.

"The way we're looking at that is very much in the partnership mode. There are others whose expertise is in the development of property. There are others who have access to land and so some of those discussions are underway."

Asked if the university move would produce a kind of tourism campus, Mr Robertson said that he thought that would not be the case.

"This partnership will be good for the region and we hope everyone will come with us on that. Some of the conversations we will have here will continue to be in the tourism space. I mean, we've had a long relationship with the Queenstown Resort College.

"It's very clear to me that overall the community wants to keep moving forward and recognises the need for diversity. I'm definitely not coming in here saying tourism's dead. It's not, tourism will be a lucrative earner, I suspect, for Queenstown forever, but perhaps in a slightly different way than it has been up to now. That's the bit where we can come in and say, well, we want to partner in adding value.

"So no, I'm not gonna get into an old school, new school Queenstown debate. I love everybody in this community (laughs).

"What we want to do is build a curriculum with the technology sector here that will actually help it grow here and also attract those international global tech players who want to come to Queenstown and we would provide them with research, support and teaching. It'll evolve in that way.

"We see ourselves as effectively the tertiary partner to grow the Queenstown Lakes district area as a technology and innovation hub, which I think is really exciting."

Mr Robertson made it clear that Cromwell and Wānaka are also part of the university's forward thinking.

He also admitted the university's recent financial challenges made it attractive to expand to an area where there was significant economic and population growth.

"It is important that I say that we're talking about the whole Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago district because if you fast forward 40 years or 50 years, and that's the time span that universities work with, we are thinking this is a region that will grow and look even more different.

"We have to talk, think about Wānaka, we have to think about Cromwell. My old six form geography might tell me that there's potential further down the track for conurbation, where the communities actually physically reach each other."

Mr Robertson is clearly excited about the potential for cultural change and the chance for the University of Otago's expansion to act as a catalyst that not only brings the communities of inland and coastal Otago together, but produces something new and unique into the mix as well.

And of course it will help that he plans to make sure that the Queenstown plan involves building new accommodation and avoiding becoming an extra cost for Queenstown Lakes ratepayers.

Main image: University of Otago Vice Chancellor Grant Robertson in Queenstown, Wednesday, October 2, 2024.