A New Name for a new Era

Creating a place that educates, inspires and transforms students to take on the challenges of the 21st Century

Southern Cross College is entering a new era with a new name. The name change coincides with a significant achievement for the College. Recently it was granted the status of independent Higher Education Institution.

Southern Cross College, the national training college of the Australian Chrisitan Churches, has experienced rapid growth as it moved into the 21st Century. Offering a broader range of study areas and opening new campuses in Auckland (New Zealand) and Brisbane, it has quickly become one of Australasia’s largest dual-sector colleges for higher education and vocational training in the Christian tradition.

“It is a response to the times in which we live,” says Principal Stephen Fogarty. “As more and more students attend tertiary education, we respond to the need for a contemporary Christian alternative. We seek to be a place where education and exploring faith go hand-in-hand, and where the Christian faith is translated into a broader concern for the community, social justice, and the environment.”

The College wants to contribute to positive change in society with the Christian faith as the essential foundation for training and education for all vocations, not only inside but also outside the church, Fogarty explains.

Based on the assumption that the academic approach is value free, the trend in higher education in the second half of the 20th Century was not in favour of Christian alternatives. But the realisation is re-emerging that nothing is value free and that underlying value systems have critical outcomes for the way we interact with society and our environment. The College’s aim is to create a place that educates, inspires, and transforms students to take on the challenges of the 21st Century with a deep knowledge and understanding of the values that underline their decisions.

Fogarty’s vision for the future of the College is that of a collaborative network that brings together many Christian scholars in our part of the world. “We need one place where our best thinkers can come together to exchange ideas, do research, and serve the church at large. It may take 20 to 50 years until we have built something that can compete with the impact of non-Christian colleges and universities, but the sooner we start, the sooner we will achieve our goal. we owe this to the generations to come.”

With growing awareness of the College, confusion arose between Southern Cross College and Southern Cross University. After a rigorous process the College Council decided to change the College name. This new name will be announced on Monday 27th April 2009.

The College has provided an opportunity for interested people to register on our Home Page to be one of the first to know the new name. Activities for the launch of the new name are planned for the next few weeks. The current website will also be linked to the new website from Monday 27th April 2009.