Baker, SallyBlunden, HazelHoenig, JordanaRing, KinneXavier, Anna2025-05-232025-05-230883-0355ORCID:/0000-0001-9143-5816/work/184101545http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85219070431&partnerID=8YFLogxKhttps://hdl.handle.net/1885/733752112The underrepresentation of regional, rural, and remote (RRR) students in Australian higher education has been an enduring and consistent concern for governments and universities. Despite decades of policy and funding efforts, RRR student enrolments and completion levels remain stubbornly low. However, the Regional University Study Hub (RUSH) program, which includes Country Universities Centre (CUCs), have shifted the ‘business as usual’ model to enable students to study locally with support. The CUCs as part of the RUSH program provide high quality facilities in country Australia with computer and high-speed internet access, learning spaces and individualised learning and other support from on-site staff. This has disrupted dominant narratives around how RRR students can engage with higher education. These include the idea that residents need to leave regional areas to engage with higher education (‘go to grow’), that universities are best placed to determine how to engage RRR communities, and that online learning is second-best and isolating. Drawing on data from a mixed methods study we examine how CUCs leverage community assets to facilitate connections to support localised participation in higher education, engage with their local communities, and impact the liveability of RRR communities.\u2606 We received funding from the NSW Government Department of Education to conduct the evaluation on which this article draws One CUC ran its own version, called \u2018Uni Future\u2019 (not linked to the University of Wollongong program). The CUC Manager and Learning Skills Advisor devised this as an after-school program, \u201Cso we weren't burdening kids by taking them out of class. We always fed them\u2026 And then each week, we had different students talking to them who were studying at university or with a tertiary provider\u201D. The program focused on what university would be like, on different early entry programs, and provided practical assistance with university entrance applications. Other CUCs accessed funding from The University of Canberra's Aspire program to provide school holiday programs to Goulburn and Snowy-Monaro CUCs. These programs supported parents who are studying by offering activities during the school holidays for their children. Activities included a careers element where children dressed up in the clothes or uniform of professions. \u201CThey're fun sort of\u2026 aspirational building sorts of things, like, they build space rockets\u201D (CUC staff member). A CUC board member explained the rationale:13en© 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.CommunityCountry Universities CentresDisrupting dominant narrativesHigher educationRegional University Study HubsRegional, rural and remote students202510.1016/j.ijer.2025.10256085219070431