WHAT IS GOING ON AT FREO’S NOTRE DAME UNI?
This Saturday, May 4, the yearly Open Day will be held at Fremantle’s Notre Dame University, so a good opportunity for high school students and their parents to find out what our Freo uni has to offer.
It is disappointing that NDA does not connect better with the Fremantle community. I rarely receive information from the uni nowadays and their marketing/media manager has left for a new job in Kwinana. I used to regularly bump into Vice Chancellor Francis Campbell at a local cafe, but have not seen him for at least six months.
A student at Fremantle’s Notre Dame contacted me, and is not very happy. The student, whose name I won’t mention, wrote that they are paying a huge amount of fees for a uni with pretty terrible resources.
There is currently no library, because it is being renovated, and only a dismal amount of cameras for media students. “The wifi at NDA is terrible, and all the desks in the classrooms are wobbly and old. There is no online access to anything” the student said.
“It takes weeks to get our marks back, and even then there is very minimal feedback, and if you have a question the staff are continually referring you back to a website that is never updated with the correct information.”
The student also wrote that it is very frustrating to see NDA neglect old buildings, have no student accommodation on campus, and also not allow the use of unused rooms for community groups. The student said that they tried to use a space recently for an event they are doing in collaboration with the City of Fremantle. “NDA straight up said no, even though the building has a huge significance in the history of the project we are doing.”
The student is asking “Where are all the fees going, all the classes are over populated, so it’s not like they aren’t making money.”
I have for several years pointed out the neglect of the old Courthouse on Marine Terrace, that looks shabby on the outside. It needs maintenance!
When Francis Campbell became Vice Chancellor some years ago, I had a very long talk with him. He told me he wanted to reposition the university, so that Fremantle would become a true university city, instead of a city with a university. That requires the uni to reach out to the community, but they are not doing that very well at all. That is so disappointing, because I love having all the students and staff in Freo, activating the historic West End.
Roel Loopers
FREOVIEW - Fremantle's only daily 
NDA may once have spent on heritage restoration, but there is little evidence that they are still doing so – the state of the former courthouse is a fine example, but there are plenty of others.
I used to be a supporter of NDA, but now see them as a stultifying influence on Fremantle – their presence has killed street level activation in the west end, making it hard for non-hospitality businesses to survive, and leading to a boring, dull street presence.
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I have a custom furniture and cabinet business 46 High Street 200 metres away and have never been asked to quote or make any furniture or cabinets for Notre Dame I have been there for 23 years!
and we have a 400 sqm fully equipped workshop!
so much for using local trades in Fremantle.
clint
Port Jarrah Furniture
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I have been a friend and supporter of Notre Dame University for very many years, and have defended NDA against critics many times in the past, but NDA is no longer reaching out, not even to this blogger, who is their friend.
Roel
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Fact is that NDA has show little interest in supplying student accommodation. Yes, they did great work on the adaptive re-use of the heritage buildings, but they have been neglecting the exterior of the old courthouse. Just walk by it at Marine Terrace and see for yourself.
Roel
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UNDA have spent millions on restoring the heritage buildings and internal fitouts to provide state-of-art student tuition accommodation….surely you are not blaming the uni for the lack of student living accommodation in the West End?
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I think that featuring the complaints of one obviously disgruntled university student on social media – from “wobbly desks” to being referred to a website by a lecturer – is somewhat excessive, especially the way you have used it to support your own criticisms of the university. Perhaps Notre Dame does need to have better PR and the Vice Chancellot needs to be more visible around Freo - not that most of us would recognise him. And perhaps they do need to keep locals, including bloggers, more up-to-date with their activities and future plans. Have you asked them to do this?
(Note. I have no connection with Notre Dame.)
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Well said Glenn. 100% with you on everything. Sold a pup that is only getting more mangy with age.
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Amongst the various sad things in the student’s account, the internal neglect of the many heritage buildings is the saddest for me personally, though I am sure for her/him it is the quality of the tuition that matters most.
The Fremantle and greater WA community was sold a pup. Thirty years on we’re as far away from the grand vision of a university town as ever. What we have is a less interesting west end, a reduced ratepayer base, the external facades of well maintained buildings which are internally gutted and poorly used, and an increasingly opaque and disengaged university bureaucracy.
As far as I know the academic (not administration) staff are hardworking and productive. I can also see it’s nice to have students in town for local businesses for the 60% of the year that classes are on, though even that is reduced since remote learning took off during covidmania. But overall the costs seem to outweigh the benefits.
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