YARRA Ranges Council will today meet with state Minister for Higher Education Peter Hall to discuss the future of the Swinburne University Lilydale campus.
Speaking last week to the Weekly, mayor Graham Warren said the priority of the meeting was to discuss future tenants of the site.
Cr Warren said Swinburne's willingness to negotiate had significantly improved over the past month.
"One of the main issues we'd like to raise with Minister Hall is who is going to run the site [after July 2013]," Cr Warren said last Friday.
"A number of institutions have shown interest in providing a service, but it seems none are keen to take on the costs of the buildings. It needs to become attractive to them. A carrot needs to be dangled in front of them."
Box Hill TAFE, Holmesglen TAFE and Deakin University have all shown interest in the site.
Cr Warren said he had been encouraged by Swinburne's willingness to negotiate future post-secondary education in Lilydale. He and Yarra Ranges chief executive officer Glenn Patterson were now meeting weekly with the university.
"They're as anxious as us about the future," he said. "They're not trying to delay anything, which is heartening."
However, Cr Warren said they were not getting ahead of themselves, and the council's plans for the site still differed from Swinburne's.
"Their plan is to still use more of the site for non-community-related operations," he said.
"Yes, their attitude has been much better, but the proof will come in the next few weeks when more crucial decisions are made."