WERRIBEE could have missed out by a week on State Government funding for a new science education centre.
The Labor Party has promised $12 million to build specialist science and maths centres of excellence in Geelong, Ballarat and Melbourne’s north.
Local leaders in government, business and education have been working on establishing a similar centre in Werribee for about a year, focusing on forensic science and chemistry.
Wyndham City councillor Bob Fairclough, said Werribee was probably overlooked because it was a week behind in submitting a business plan about its proposed $8 million centre, currently known as the Victorian Science and Technology Discovery Centre. “If we had our business plan in about running costs and funding, we may have been in there,” said Cr Fairclough, project committee chairman and a retired professor of molecular science at Victoria University.
He said he expected to apply for the funding next year.
Cr Fairclough and his committee are expecting to raise about $4 million of the centre’s costs through sponsorships and businesses, and the rest, through the State Government.
The centre – possibly to be associated with a local secondary school – would be aimed at teaching school students from across Victoria and work closely with universities and business.
Three other specialist education centres are now established in Victoria: a space centre at Strathmore Secondary College; an eco-science school in Bacchus Marsh; and a gene technology centre at University High School.
