The UNE Taree University Centre is a vibrant student hub with robust connectivity, ample space and cosy study nooks. Students have 24-hour access through their swipe cards and warm, personal support when needed.
It wasn’t always the case. The Centre originated from humble beginnings and it’s mostly due to the hard work and commitment of one person that it is the hub of excellence it is today: Centre Coordinator Yves Byers who will be stepping down at the end of the year after 23 years working for UNE.
Originally from Sydney, Yves moved to Taree when her husband relocated his business to the area in the late nineties and took up the role of Nursing Clinical Placement office with the School of Health. The role was moved to Armidale two years later and Yves put up her hand to set up a student outreach facility in Taree.
“We started out in a single room in the Manning Mall shopping complex with three computers. But over the years the space expanded and the technology improved significantly,” Yves said.
“We initially had a dial-up internet connection that crashed every time more than one student tried to use it. That all changed in 2016 when Australia’s National Research and Education Network (AARNet) connected the Taree Centre with the campus in Armidale via highspeed broadband.
“The installation was quite the project as professional divers worked off concrete pontoons to lay the cables under the Manning River.”
Technology is not the only thing Yves has seen evolve over the years.
“I’ve been here so long that I’m supporting students over generations. The children are coming back to study at UNE because their parents studied here.”
Yves regularly goes the extra mile to support students at the Centre. The tight-knit community has had a terrible time recently with bushfires followed by floods and the ongoing pandemic.
“We were coming up the highway towing a box trailer with some of my mother’s belongings, which included a new fridge and a new washing machine.
“We were driving past mile upon mile upon mile of devastated bush. It was just black sticks with smoke coming up, and I said to my husband we’re going to donate to somebody who’s lost everything in the bush fires.
“I learned about a UNE student, an elderly man who was just taking one couple of subjects at a time, and who had lost everything.
“I contacted him and I asked, could you do with a washing machine and a fridge and he burst into tears. We took it out there and we delivered it to him, where he was living in a shed.
“And then, the bushfires were followed by the horrific floods. Some people that hadn’t already lost their houses to bushfire lost them in the floods.”
The Centre had students coming in during the floods and spending weekends there because they had nowhere else to go. Yves and her team, with backup from Armidale, supported them with food and drink, connectivity and however else they could.
When not having to cope with natural disasters Yves says the busiest time for the Centre is at the beginning of each trimester.
“We work long hours supporting students with their applications, helping them choose their subjects and just answering their questions. As the year progress we support them in finding accommodation for intensive schools, with assignments and just offering personal support where we can.”
Yves credits the high level of personal support offered to Mid Coast students for the high retention rate and general high satisfaction ratings.
Her hard work and dedication have not gone unnoticed. UNE recently awarded Yves a rare UNE Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) in recognition of the outstanding work she has done over the years. The citation highlights the operations and activities Yves had overseen as well as the outstanding support to thousands of students. Yves has also represented UNE in the region, leading community engagement and outreach to build strong relationships with the local education sector, industry and community groups that has resulted in increased opportunity for UNE.
“I was caught completely off guard when I heard about the medal,” Yves said. “But the Mid Coast is a great community and I’m really proud to have spent all these years working here, getting to know the students and enjoying the highs but also experiencing the lows with them. It’s been a fantastic job and I really enjoyed it.”
Yves doesn’t have firm retirement plans as yet but will try and rest after an exhausting year.
“We are going on a mini-road trip through NSW and Victoria in January and I hope to get stuck into some creative writing. I aim to use my UNE Criminology studies to write a crime fiction best seller.”
In addition to reading Yves also enjoys playing Scrabble, jigsaw puzzles, cooking and bushwalking.