Victoria University (VU) and Maribyrnong City Council have embarked on a 10-year plan to turn the inner-west Melbourne suburb of Footscray into a hub of innovation and creativity.

Their ambition is to turn the slowly-gentrifying suburb, once nicknamed "Footscary" after its past issues with drug crime and public drunkenness, into a university town in the style of Italy's Bologna or Germany's Tubingen.

Victoria University vice chancellor Professor Peter Dawkins described the Footscray University Town project as "one of the most exciting things happening in Melbourne at the moment".

"The thing about these university towns is that you don't know where the town starts and the university ends," he told 774 ABC Melbourne's Red Symons.

Victoria University has opened its VU MetroWest student centre in Footscray's multicultural Nicholson Street. ( 774 ABC Melbourne: Simon Leo Brown )

The university has a major campus either side of Footscray's CBD but the vice chancellor wants VU to blend seamlessly with the rest of the suburb.

"The idea is to mingle the town and university in a very integrated way that creates dynamism and change," he said.

VU has already taken its first steps into Footscray's multicultural town centre.

Among the African, Asian and Middle Eastern eateries of Nicholson Street the university has opened VU MetroWest, a new student centre featuring a bookshop, cafe, exhibition space and working spaces.

The centre runs regular monthly events including art exhibitions, a "crafternoon" and a popular and hard-fought table tennis tournament.

The university also conducts research and teaching at Footscray's Western Hospital and the Western Bulldog's Whitten Oval, as well as maintaining links with the Footscray Community Arts Centre.

"We're looking at [supplying] WiFi across the whole city, which will connect the university with the town so that you can be at the university whether you're in a cafe or on the campus," said Professor Dawkins.

Around 20,000 students already live in Footscray, perhaps due to it being more affordable than most other suburbs within 10 kilometres of Melbourne's CBD.

"Student accommodation will be a very important part of this and it's growing up all around Footscray in various forms at various prices," Professor Dawkins said.

"It's not only Victoria University students that can live in Footscray, it's students from other universities, which will all help to create this vibrant, intellectual, creative city."

He said Footscray was already changing and his university wanted to be a part of that change.

"The west is the fastest growing region [in Melbourne] and Footscray is the gateway to the west," Professor Dawkins said.

"It's a very vibrant, very creative town [with] lots of creative industries growing up and we are helping to change the face of Footscray to being this innovative place."

Professor Dawkins and Maribyrnong Mayor Nam Quach are hosting a panel discussion entitled Contributing to a Smart and Creative Melbourne at VU MetroWest on Monday at 6:30pm.

The panel will include architect Rob McGauran and Austin Ley from Melbourne City Council's Smart City Office.