As students arrive for Semester one, the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) has unveiled a multi-million dollar residential colleges refurbishment. Chancellor Mr John Dornbusch officially opened the Steele Rudd College makeover on Friday February 21, celebrating the transformation with staff and students.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Geraldine Mackenzie said that “USQ is committed to providing our students with the best university experience, both in and out of the classroom. Our three residential colleges provide a wide range of services and facilities for on-campus students, and I’m excited to see this new era for Steele Rudd College,” she said. The project completely updated the existing common areas, bedrooms and bathrooms, bringing the original 1980s décor into the 2020s.
The refurbishment included installing self-catered kitchen facilities, complete with new appliances and personal storage lockers for food and cooking utensils; air-conditioning in all the rooms; and redesigned bathrooms. A large part of the refurbishment included converting under-utilised courtyard spaces into new indoor living areas.“A Steele Rudd resident actually came up with the initial design idea,” Professor Mackenzie said. “He lived on college for four years while he studied surveying, and came up with the concept of joining existing blocks together to create large, open-plan dining and kitchen spaces.”
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