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February 24, 2026 — 5:00am
Western Sydney University’s 50,000 students and 2500 staff will have full digital access to The Sydney Morning Herald as part of the masthead’s expansion across the city’s universities.
The deal inked by Nine Publishing will mean that current students and staff across all Western Sydney University campuses will have access to the Herald’s premium digital subscription from Tuesday.
The Campus Access partnership allows users to download the Good Food and news apps, browse Today’s Paper, and stay up to date with the latest independent coverage of news, politics, business, world, food, travel and culture. The University of Sydney and the University of NSW have previously signed on to the Herald’s Campus Access program.
Western Sydney University’s vice chancellor and president George Williams said the partnership would enable students and staff to access reliable, trusted news sources, especially in a world of misinformation.
“If you look at the future of Australia, it will be defined in good part by western Sydney. Telling those stories is vitally important, and what we also know is that, if you want to tell those stories, you need to be embedded in the community,” Williams said.
“You can’t tell from afar. You’ve got to be part of that community.”
The partnership follows the Herald’s expansion in western Sydney with the opening of a Parramatta bureau in March last year, producing investigations into Parramatta council, stories on abandoned apartment buildings and reporting on a spike in Islamophobia after the Bondi shooting event.
Williams said western Sydney naturally requires focused media attention as 10 per cent of Australia’s population lives in the region, which is also slated to receive some of the largest infrastructure projects nationally in the next decade.
“It’s the fastest growing, most youthful, diverse, entrepreneurial, exciting region in the country; you’ve got the new airport going in - the first time in a century in an urban centre in Australia,” Williams said.
It was important for students and staff to be aware of the world around them, Williams said, particularly with the rise of technologies such as AI.
“Being up-to-date, not just on Australian but world affairs, technological, health, and educational changes – they’re vital for students getting a well-rounded education and for their employability,” Williams said.
“It gives them a gateway to understanding Australia – and they will get that through the community connections they forge at university – but a subscription like this provides them with access to a reliable news source to understand and learn more about the country in which they’re living.”
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