Wollongong City Council has approved the $26 million first stage of the Nan Tien Temple's proposed Buddhist university campus at Unanderra.Stage one plans include a 200m pedestrian bridge over the F6, to link the campus and the temple, as well as a museum, gallery, library, cafe, gift shop, teaching areas and administration buildings.The Nan Tien Temple's master plan - for a tertiary education centre that would eventually cater for 3000 students - was approved in 2006, but a separate development application was lodged for stage one of the campus, to be called the Nan Tien Institute.The multimillion-dollar institute would eventually have 3000 postgraduate students at a campus to be built on a former landfill site bought from the council for $1 in 2001.Stage one works also include remediation of the site.Last year the temple scaled back plans to cater for 1500 students in stage one, to just 300.At the time the temple said the conditions of consent, combined with the reduction in numbers, threatened the viability of the project.Among the conditions the temple considered onerous was a requirement for the Buddhist order to install a pathway and lighting linking the campus to Unanderra railway station and the need to run a shuttle bus.The temple and council in February held talks to resolve the issues.Yesterday the council confirmed issues relating to traffic, parking, public access and pedestrian access were among the sticking points, but these had been resolved in the conditions of approval.The Nan Tien Temple is one of 200 temples founded by the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist order in 27 countries.It opened in 1995 and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.The Nan Tien Institute is intended to provide a university education covering topics such as environmental issues, life education and Buddhist ethics in business.