Malcolm Ian Logan (3 June 1931 – 17 September 2022) was an Australian geographer and university administrator. He was Vice-Chancellor of
Monash University
Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...
from 1987 to 1996.
Logan grew up in country
New South Wales
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, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
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, attending secondary school in the remote town of Tamworth. He moved to Sydney to complete an honours degree in geography at the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
, which he finished in 1951. After spending some time as a teacher in secondary schools, he returned to Sydney to complete his PhD and take up a position as Professor of Geography and Urban Planning. He then spent time at a range of universities overseas, living in the US and Nigeria. Later in his career, he became involved in both the
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
and the
OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...
as an adviser on urban planning.
In 1971, Sir Louis Matheson, then vice-chancellor of
Monash University
Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...
, invited Logan to take up a professorship the university. Although Logan knew little about Monash at the time, he wanted to return to Australia and chose the university because it seemed "the liveliest and brightest place". Once there, he quickly rose through the administrative ranks, first as pro vice-chancellor and then, in 1987, he was appointed vice-chancellor.
His leadership at Monash marked the most drastic expansion of a university in Australian history. Prompted by the
Dawkins reforms The Dawkins Revolution was a series of Australian higher education reforms instituted by the then Labor Education Minister (1987–91) John Dawkins. The reforms merged higher education providers, granted university status to a variety of institutio ...
, Logan aggressively pursued Monash's takeover of a number of tertiary institutions. He was attracted to the notion of a "multiversity", similar to big state universities in the US such as the
University of California
The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...
and the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...
. Monash went from one campus in Clayton with 20,000 students, to six Victorian campuses with 40,000 students. Through Logan's close personal relationships with members of the Hawke and Keating governments, he was able to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to develop the new campuses.
Logan argued that Australia's future lay in Asia. Consequently, he established a Monash teaching presence in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and Laos. He also oversaw the considerable increase in international students at Monash, particularly from Asia. He established the university's link with the
Sunway Group
Sunway Berhad () () or Sunway Group is a Malaysian conglomerate company. It was formed following a merger between Sunway City Berhad (SunCity) and Sunway Holdings Berhad on 23 August 2011.
Sunway Holdings Incorporated Berhad commenced operati ...
, a relationship which led to the establishment of a Monash Malaysia Campus in 1998. With the increased inflow of international students, Monash's income increased dramatically, such that its annual reports were often discussed in financial newspapers. Reportedly, Logan was fond of citing the fact that Monash's annual budget was greater than the state of
Tasmania
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Logan retired in 1996. In that year's Australia Day Honours List he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), the highest honour which can be awarded to an Australian citizen, "for service to education, business and the arts, particularly through raising international awareness of Australian higher education services, and for promoting cooperation between countries".