A Border university hopes to ease a shortage of regional nurses with a major investment to double course capacity. Construction will start in November at La Trobe University's Albury-Wodonga campus on new nursing simulation labs, built to hospital standards to give students a realistic experience before they enter the workforce. La Trobe Albury-Wodonga nursing lecturer Rebecca Brennan said there had been a huge increase in numbers for the course on the Border, off the back of funding from the Victorian government, with the planned upgrades to see it meet demand. "This will give us an opportunity to really allow students to engage in more contemporary learning experiences, in simulation and skill development," she said. "By doubling our capacity, we can have a huge increase in the numbers of students that can come and learn with us and be ready for the workplace demands. "We've got state of the art mannequins, offering more functionality in terms of students being able to practise clinical skills, and also simulation spaces, allowing students to really practise engaging with consumers in the learning spaces." La Trobe University vice-chancellor John Dewar said it was part of a $170 million investment in nursing and allied health across regional campuses in Albury-Wodonga, Bendigo, Shepparton and Mildura. "We're doing this for two reasons. Firstly, Victoria needs more trained health professionals because there are terrible workforce shortages as things stand and we need to try and help fill those gaps," he said. "The second is that nursing and allied health degrees are where La Trobe has the strongest demand, but the most limited capacity to meet that demand. What we're trying to do here is to increase our ability to take more students so that we can meet the demand that there is in the community. "We know that about 80 per cent of the graduates who study at this campus will stay and work locally. They're less likely to go off to the cities and leave the regions if they've studied at a regional university. "That's why what we're doing is so important." Mrs Brennan said the project would be completed across two stages to allow the nursing course to continue without interruption in 2024. The existing building is to be partially demolished to construct a new eight-bed simulation lab, followed by the refurbishment of the current lab, which also houses eight beds. It is expected the building will be open for learning in July 2024, with the completion of both stages by January 2025. To read more stories, download The Border Mail news app in the Apple Store or Google Play. Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: