A "TURNING point" for Dubbo was celebrated in a noisy university cafe off Tony McGrane Place on Wednesday morning.
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Charles Sturt University's (CSU) inaugural Foundation Day gave staff and students of its Dubbo campus the chance to wear red, eat cake and reflect on its importance.
Student support officer Narelle White may have summed up the sentiments of the small but enthusiastic crowd.
"When the university came to Dubbo it was a real turning point for education in the city and what it could offer," she said.
Ms White told of "homegrown" students studying at CSU Dubbo before finding work in the city, including her teacher daughter.
Student representative Jessica Smith, 27, was thinking along the same lines.
"It's a really great thing for Dubbo to have a big university that's educating local people to do lots of different things, like nursing, business and teaching," she said.
The Canadian-born Australian citizen followed her partner to Dubbo a few years ago, thinking they would stay six months.
But they liked what they saw, including a university campus where Ms Smith was studying nursing.
"It's been a great advantage to have CSU here in Dubbo," she said.
Last year CSU marked its 25th anniversary, but its history dates back to 1895 with the establishment of the Bathurst Experiment Farm.
Formed progressively through the merger of regional institutions in south-western and western NSW, it was formally incorporated mid-1989 under the Charles Sturt University Act.
Its historical timeline notes the opening of a new campus at Dubbo in western NSW in 1999.
Named after explorer Charles Napier Sturt it boasts nine campuses where Foundation Day will be observed annually.