Australia's first digital Open Day set to go live

Once again students around the country are gearing up for the university Open Day season, but this year the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) is going one step further and launching Australia's first digital Open Day.

With more than 75 per cent of USQ students studying off campus, the award winning distance education provider is cementing its reputation and taking its Open Days to prospective students!

Hosted by YouTube, the digital Open Day goes live on Monday 18 August 2008 and allows students to collect the same information online as they would during a visit to one of USQ's three campuses. Students who preregister will also receive similar hard copy material and merchandise as the students who attend the Open Days.

Digital Open Day creator, Andrea Brosnan, said the concept was developed in a bid to provide people who couldn't physically attend an Open Day with an opportunity to virtually attend one.

'There are many people who don't actually get the opportunity to attend an Open Day, so we thought developing an Open Day online would give them an opportunity to gather information and meet staff- just as though they were on campus,' Andrea said.

'It gives our prospective students a chance to find out a bit more about our degrees, our academics and our university in general.

'On the 18th, as every other week day of the year, we are available to answer any questions they may have – via email, on the phone and our ‘chat' feature. 

'The digital Open Day also gives students the chance to ‘put a face to a name' and get to know our teaching staff in a different setting.'

Prospect students will receive information about the library, fees, admissions and degrees from staff who work within these areas via video snippets. They will be able to select ‘channels' based on their specific enquiries and access information directly related to their requests.

'We hope that people interested in studying will take the opportunity to jump on line and look around USQ and see what we have on offer.'

For more information please visit www.usq.edu.au or call 1800 811 380.

Media Contact: Connie-Louise Rego, USQ Media, +61 7 4631 2977