The bedrock of Charles Sturt University (CSU) is based around the indigenous Wiradjuri phrase, “yindyamarra winhanganha”, translating to "the wisdom of respectfully knowing how to live well in a world worth living in”.

CSU have been ranked #2 and #3 in Australia for business and management, and computer science, respectively (Uni Reviews 2017 University Subject Rankings).  

Ways in which the university support its students academically include: 

• The Academic Skills Development Program (ASDP) 
• Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS)
• Successful Transition Enhanced by Students (STEP) 
• Student leadership program, STRIVE 
• Student Representative Committee (SRC) 
• Discipline Support Leaders (DSL) 

With over 350 courses at students’ disposal and the chance to take many of them online, CSU offers plenty of flexibility. 

Most of CSU’s campuses are based in New South Wales:

• Albury Wodonga - on the border between NSW and Victoria, a sustainable campus with new state-of-the-art laboratories and lecture theatres. 
• Bathurst - 2,500 students enrolled here study communication, nursing, exercising science, and more. Facilities include sports centres and a television studio with editing suite. 
• Dubbo - only a few minutes away from the city centre with a clinical lab and a nursing lab, and even the Interactive Learning Centre, a state of the art computing laboratory. 
• Orange - home to an award-winning health building and excellent labs across faculties. 
• Port Macquarie - seeing recent investment into facilities. 
• Wagga Wagga - a fine sporting campus 640 hectares in size with technical and industry-standard facilities. 

There are also Charles Sturt Study Centres in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney, which you can read more about here.

CSU uses their position as a leading university to fund small to medium-sized companies throughout New South Wales in partnership with the NSW government. This collaboration between government and university has seen three specialist incubators form to encourage innovation from students and strong-minded entrepreneurs in the region. 

• Walan Mayinygu - aimed at indigenous, aborginal people and Torres Strait Islanders looking to start businesses in the area. 
• CenWest Innovate - focuses on bringing SMEs and the university closer together to encourage job growth. 
• AgriTech Incubator - looking to spark innovation and diversity in the business sector, particularly through female entrepreneurship in the agriculture and technology sectors.  

These incubators utilise shared working spaces, workshops with industry leaders, and help with ideation, funding, and more. 

The research output at CSU is operated in tandem with industry, government, local communities and businesses. Recent areas of investigation include Australian international trade, how armed officers impact community safety, diabetes screenings, water ecosystem health, and so much more. 

Students involved in the higher research degrees can make the most of facilities such as the Graham Centre for Agriculture Innovation, Institute for Land, Water and Society, Centre for Public and Contextual Theology. Under the staff profile of 140 members of the professoriate and 15 strategic research professors, students can make tangible changes to the industries, communities, and businesses of Australia and beyond.

Graduate employment is something CSU takes very seriously, proudly displaying that they have the highest graduate employment rate in Australia (Australian University Ratings and Rankings 2019/2020, The Good Universities Guide). Employers recognise the importance of a CSU degree, and such renowned companies like Google, BAE Systems, and Ernst & Young have recruited from the pools of talent that CSU produces. 

Post-study internships that are provided by Study Group Australia Pty Ltd can help graduates gain practical work experience that will help them get their feet firmly on the ladder to success. These 12-week internships begin with in-depth interviews with students to work out what industries they’re interested in, their skill sets, career goals, etc, so that students can gain the most relevant internship they can possibly receive. 

Many of the CSU campuses are based very close to the countryside, offering rural escapes from the pressures of academia. Though the public transport connections may not always be the most reliable, the beautiful surroundings make for brilliant trails and bike rides, and the fitness facilities are numerous and well-run.

Clubs of all kinds exist to facilitate strong inter-student relationships; some are course-based, religion-based, musical, sporting, etc. The sports teams in particular are a great way to combine exercise with social activity, so if rugby, sailing, swimming, golf, fencing, and many other sports excite you, then these clubs are exactly for you. 

Since there are so many campuses that are under the umbrella of CSU, I suggest reading into which campus has the lifestyle that suits you as an individual.  

Charles Sturt University has an impressive national reach and can work around the needs of the individual very well; the many campuses can appeal to what a variety of students are looking for depending on their academic wants, location, personal preferences, and the adaptability of their online study has been successful in the past two years throughout the pandemic. 

Research is only really available to the students who specifically take research higher degrees as opposed to being available to students across the board at other universities, but the graduate employability rates should be considered to prospective students as the university’s efforts in this element of university life have been recognised nationally for years.