Eurobodalla students celebrate their graduation with jobs as nurses and teachers

Graduates received their new degrees from UOW Deputy Chancellor Warwick Shanks OAM, who described the ceremony as the best part of his job.

"In fact, I regularly tell people it's graduation that gives me the energy to do the other parts of my role."

This year's ceremony marked 25 years since the Batemans Bay campus first opened, growing from a handful of students to a community of 730 graduates.

"We're proud of the fact that UOW offers a top-class education close to home, with nursing, teaching and business degrees leading the way," Mr Shanks said.

Masters of Teaching coordinator and Regional Arts coordinator, Dr Saskia Ebejer believed most of her graduates will go on to find job opportunities in the local area.

"Teaching is more in demand than ever before, and nursing is the same," she said.

"People are thinking about how they can make an impact in their local community, and stay in their own region."

Recent graduate Larissa Noake, for example, studied a Bachelor of Nursing, and intended to continue working in the local area as a melanographer.

"Skin cancer is the third biggest cancer in Australia," Noake explained.

"I'll probably be the only melanographer on the South Coast, which will be cool and much-needed."

Fellow nursing student Lucas Mackenzie also planned to return to the area after a stint in the Mount Isa emergency unit.

"I'm a mixture of excited and terrified," Mackenzie said.

"The idea is to go up and gain experience in the field I'm interested in, and then come back to the area once the hospital is built."

After a short stint in Canberra, Mackenzie decided a smaller regional university would better suit both his personality, and his academic ambitions.

"There's more one-on-one time with the teaching staff, and the support is more individualised," he said.

"And there are few nicer places in the world."

Owen Dredge said the ability for his son to live at home while completing his studies was a major benefit for both the graduate and his family.

"It was good because he was close to home, and he could live with us so we could feed him. He was all safe and happy."

While the regional university offered a more personalised educational experience and heightened job prospects for graduates, Dr Ebejer explained that enrolments at the Eurobodalla campus had somewhat declined since COVID.

"The regional economic downturn has meant that people can't study, they've had to work instead. That's changed the dynamics a lot."

Dr Ebejer, however, believed 2025 would see that trend turn around.

"It looks like for this year, that has changed," she said.

"More people have been saying they want to study and have a career change. "

In her address to the crowd of graduates and their families, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Health for Metro and Regional campuses, Professor Louise Hickman, said the impact of tertiary-educated students reached far beyond the university itself.

"Celebrating their successes, their hard work and their accomplishments is a moment of immense pride for their community - academic and otherwise."