The following story draws on lived experiences, primarily the author’s own as a university student. We acknowledge that this does not necessarily represent the complete landscape of university life in Melbourne.

Imagine yourself as a freshly-turned-eighteen high school graduate, the world laid out in front of you with endless opportunity. As you consider what can best prepare you to contribute to a changing world, the most appealing, welcoming and exciting choice is to begin your university journey. The weight of selecting the ‘right’ university is of little concern, as all universities place your drive for contributing to a hopeful future at the centre, valuing the skills and ways of knowing and thinking, including imagination and creativity, that are fundamental to this pursuit. The notion now of relocating to a new city to start the university journey only stirs feelings of eagerness and excitement for what’s to come.

Melbourne, the ‘crown jewel’ for the Australian University experience, has always attracted students from elsewhere in Australia and abroad. Imagine growing up in rural New South Wales, where you may only fathom such experiences through tall tales of urban life told to you by predecessors who had migrated south to redefine their futures. This city of vibrant culture, numerous academic institutions, the arts, music, literature and diverse communities, attracts thousands of students annually to the city. It also caught your eye. Growing up surrounded by stretches of untouched landscapes and coastlines, you observe that your hometown, like many small country towns, lacked opportunities for a young person to study or develop new life experiences. Like many young and enthusiastic people eager to forge a new pathway, you grapple with the daunting prospect of having to relocate to experience this whole ‘university lifestyle’ people have boasted to you about your entire adolescence.

Melbourne, this vibrant place, is known globally as a city built for students, with eight universities teaching roughly 300,000-400,000 individuals. It is safe to say the city sparkles with aspiring teachers, doctors, entrepreneurs, and scientists – as well as students training for professions that don’t yet exist.

Now imagine that, placed under Melbourne’s spell, you decide to make the life changing decision to relocate hours south and begin your university experience. The cost-of-living crisis, coupled with a housing shortage, limits your options for where to live, but optimistic you try to remain. Writing out excessive paragraphs to strangers from Facebook groups, you’re left time and time again with “thanks but sorry we have found someone else.” It’s enough to make anyone question their new life decisions. Fortunately, through a friend of a friend you manage to meet another student who is also relocating to begin her studies. Together, you spend countless hours searching real estate websites, but to no avail. With rejection after rejection, due to other applicants simply offering more rental money, you’re left panicked, helpless and houseless. Forty rejections later, you call your dad for backup. Hoping to divert realtors’ eyes away from two broke university students, dad jumps on the lease. Then luck strikes, and a small Victorian-style town house is now yours. Packing the car to the brim and zooming down to Melbourne with a week’s notice, the journey begins. Now, a new set of anxieties develops as the reality of paying rent sets in. The 10% increase for rental assistance in the Australian Government’s ‘Youth Allowance’, does little to compensate for rental prices soaring by 24%, alongside higher prices for food and essentials. You focus on finding a third housemate to make the numbers add up, reading through more applications than expected for a rather unappealing third bedroom. Settling on another student transplanted from rural Victoria, the house is now sorted.

“Now the university experience can really start”, you think to yourself, eager for robust discussions in class, making new friends and nights out in the city. Instead, week one comes to an end and you’ve spoken to only one other student, rushed around to disconnected lectures where information is fired at you, and come home at the end of each day to complete the weekly readings, alone, in your share house bedroom. The vision of university as a nourishing place to develop and uplift future generations is quickly diminished. Days at university begin to feel like the self-checkout at the grocery store, but not only are you servicing yourself, you also look around to find the aisles empty.

Nearing the end of the ‘university experience’, finding meaningful work feels like the deep end of the pool whilst you’re still working on staying afloat in the shallows. Competing with hundreds of other candidates for positions in graduate programs, whether or not these relate to your undergraduate degree, makes you feel as though you’re back at square one. You feel as though you have retained textbook knowledge relating to your degree, but now you must somehow move this theoretical understanding into the practical workforce to defend the time and money spent at university.

Let’s now imagine, this time, that universities shift their gaze from economic revenue to anticipating the needs of future generations, and the way that students’ interests can be intertwined with societal and environmental needs. The goals and objectives of university focus on creating conscious members of society. Creativity, imagination, and collaboration become interwoven within each degree. Two seemingly ‘separate’ schools of thought work together to produce individuals capable of providing solutions to multifaceted problems. Learning structures encourage forward thinking and pre-emptive solutions rather than the current disaster-based responses. And students’ basic needs are cared for – after all, healthy, nourished and properly housed students are better able to learn and perform well academically. Melbourne then, gratefully and gracefully, catches graduating talent and puts it to practice in the city. The city understands students as valued contributors and change-makers in this place.

In Melbourne, the potential for a regenerative approach to education is everywhere. The city already possesses an array of initiatives which aim to facilitate and assist in the overall wellbeing of students and develop them into future leaders. At one end of the spectrum, RMIT University provides food staples through its RMIT Food Bank – as well as access to discounted healthcare services for students. These critical services are often unknown to students on campus, magnifying the communication gap between student and university, but a new food strategy is being developed that is taking a more holistic approach to the university’s role in the food system. Outside of institutional walls, the Just Food Collective is a not-for-profit which is combating the issue of food insecurity across Melbourne. Their project ‘Well Fed: A Student Food Project’ not only supplies nutritious meals for students, but also aims to educate and equip students with cooking knowledge and skills. Just Food is tackling food insecurity and the cost-of-living crisis at the ground level.

Beyond support with the basics for student wellbeing, initiatives are growing that aim to refocus the educational lens in the city. The University of Melbourne’s Wattle Fellowship brings together students from a variety of degree backgrounds to collaborate and produce solutions to the complex issues of today. The program understands the need to bridge the gap between accessibility to and the understanding of sustainability. Fellows are given the space to create and express the issue of sustainability through alternative platforms such as, dance, music and art, opening the scope of those who are engaging with environmental issues. Similarly, RMIT University has committed to research and student programs focused on regeneration, including the development of a Regenerative Futures minor program designed to integrate into any academic discipline; this will commence in 2025.

Moving backwards from the university sector, schools like the Woodleigh Institute foster the development of primary and secondary students into imaginative, compassionate, skilled, and resilient young people, aiming to foster skills which will best allow them to thrive in an ever-changing world. The curriculum is grounded in relational and systems perspectives of learning, to best assist in students to apply their skills and contribute to the thriving of people, place, and planet. Such programs offer a signal of shifts that are possible throughout the entire education system.

In envisioning the future of Melbourne, let’s not only equip students with knowledge to tackle future demands, but also cultivate a culture of creativity and collaboration, unlocking the true potential of education as a transformative force for both individuals and the city as a whole.