University of Newcastle has launched construction of its new $63.8 million Central Coast Campus and started a $19.4 million overhaul of its nursing school at Callaghan.
The Central Coast Campus at Gosford is likely to offer greater choice in business, education and social work degrees and pathway programs when it opens in 2025.
It will have capacity for about 900 students.
The Central Coast has a population of 350,000 but does not have its own university.
University of Newcastle has operated a campus at Ourimbah for 30 years and opened the Central Coast Clinical School at Gosford Hospital in 2021.
The new four-storey campus in Mann Street will be funded with $27.8 million from University of Newcastle and $18 million each from the state and federal governments.
The university also has lodged a development application to refurbish and redevelop one floor of the Health Education Research Building at Callaghan.
The project includes updated facilities for nursing and midwifery students, including simulation labs, teaching spaces and communal student and staff areas.
University of Newcastle vice-chancellor Professor Alex Zelinsky said the "state-of-the-art" redevelopment would "help equip our graduates with the skills to transition into our region's hospitals and medical practices seamlessly".