The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kn ...

located in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's six sandstone universities. The university comprises eight academic faculties and university schools, through which it offers bachelor, master and doctoral degrees. The university consistently ranks highly both nationally and internationally.

QS World University Rankings ''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for th ...

ranked the university top 40 in the world. The university is also ranked first in Australia and fourth in the world for QS graduate employability. It is one of the first universities in the world to admit students solely on academic merit, and opened their doors to women on the same basis as men. Five

Nobel Nobel often refers to: *Nobel Prize, awarded annually since 1901, from the bequest of Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel Nobel may also refer to: Companies *AkzoNobel, the result of the merger between Akzo and Nobel Industries in 1994 *Branobel, or ...

and two Crafoord laureates have been affiliated with the university as graduates and faculty. The university has educated eight Australian prime ministers, including incumbent

Anthony Albanese Anthony Norman Albanese ( or ; born 2 March 1963) is an Australian politician serving as the 31st and current prime minister of Australia since 2022. He has been leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since 2019 and the member of parlia ...

; two

governors-general of Australia The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.premiers of New South Wales, including incumbent

Dominic Perrottet Dominic Francis Perrottet ( ; born 21 September 1982) is an Australian politician who is currently serving as the 46th premier of New South Wales and leader of the New South Wales division of the Liberal Party of Australia. He assumed office ...

; 20 justices of the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established following passage of the '' Judiciary Act 1903''. ...

, including four chief justices. The university has produced 110

Rhodes Scholars The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

and 19

Gates Scholars The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation established the Gates Cambridge Scholarships in 2000 with a $210 million donation to support outstanding graduate students' study at the University of Cambridge. The scholarship is one of the most competitiv ...

. The University of Sydney is a member of the Group of Eight, CEMS, the Association of Pacific Rim Universities and the

Association of Commonwealth Universities The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) was established in 1913, and has over 500 member institutions in over 50 countries across the Commonwealth. The ACU is the world's oldest international network of universities. Its mission is t ...

History

1850–1950

Sydney-university-regiment-duke-of-york-visit-1927

In 1848, William Wentworth, a

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

graduate, and Sir Charles Nicholson, a graduate of medicine from the University of Edinburgh Medical School, proposed a plan to expand the existing Sydney College into a larger university in the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in t ...

. Wentworth argued that a state secular university was imperative for the growth of a society aspiring towards self-government, and that it would provide the opportunity for "the child of every class, to become great and useful in the destinies of his country". It took two attempts on Wentworth's behalf before the plan was finally adopted. The university was established via the passage of the ''University of Sydney Act 1850'' (NSW) on 24 September 1850, and was assented on 1 October 1850 by governor Sir Charles Fitzroy. Two years later, the university was inaugurated on 11 October 1852 in the Big Schoolroom of what is now Sydney Grammar School. The first principal was John Woolley, the first professor of chemistry and experimental physics was John Smith. Sir

William Charles Windeyer Sir William Charles Windeyer (29 September 1834 – 11 September 1897) was an Australian politician and judge. As a New South Wales politician he was responsible for the creation of Belmore Park (north of the new Central railway constructed in ...

was the first graduate. On 27 February 1858, the university received a

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, b ...

from

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

, giving degrees conferred by the university rank and recognition equal to those given by universities in the United Kingdom.http://sydney.edu.au/policies/showdoc.aspx?recnum=PDOC2011/51&RendNum=0 By 1859, the university had moved to its current site in the Sydney suburb of Camperdown. In 1858, the passage of the ''Electoral Act'' provided for the university to become a constituency for the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

as soon as there were 100 graduates of the university holding higher degrees eligible for candidacy. This seat in the New South Wales legislature was first filled in 1876, but was abolished in 1880, one year after its second member, Sir

Edmund Barton Sir Edmund "Toby" Barton, (18 January 18497 January 1920) was an Australian politician and judge who served as the first prime minister of Australia from 1901 to 1903, holding office as the leader of the Protectionist Party. He resigned to b ...

, who later became the first

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the federal government of Australia and is also accountable to federal parliament under the princip ...

, was elected to the Legislative Assembly. In 1885 the first women to receive BA degrees from the university were

Mary Elizabeth Brown Mary Elizabeth Brown (1862 – 1 May 1952) was one of the first women graduates of the University of Sydney (1885). Early life Mary Elizabeth Brown was born in Samoa in 1862. Her father, the Reverend Doctor George Brown, was a Methodist missiona ...

and Isola Florence Thompson, while Thompson became the first woman to graduate with an MA in 1887. Most of the estate of John Henry Challis was bequeathed to the university, which received a sum of £200,000 in 1889. This was thanks in part due to Sir

William Montagu Manning Sir William Montagu Manning (20 June 1811 – 27 February 1895) was an English-born Australian politician, judge and University of Sydney chancellor. Early life Manning was born in June 1811 at Alphington, near Exeter, Devon, the second son o ...

(chancellor 1878–95) who argued against the claims by British tax commissioners. The following year, seven professorships were created in anatomy, zoology, engineering, history, law, logic and mental philosophy, and modern literature. In 1924, the university awarded its first Doctor of Science in Engineering degree to John Bradfield. His thesis was titled "The City and Suburban Electric Railways and the Sydney Harbour Bridge". Bradfield went on to be the lead engineer for the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The university's professor of philosophy from 1927 to 1958, John Anderson, was a significant figure referred to as "Sydney's best known academic".Franklin, James 2003, 'Corrupting the Youth: A history of philosophy in Australia', Macleay Press A native of Scotland, Anderson's controversial views as a self-proclaimed

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

and advocate of

free thought Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other met ...

in all subjects raised the ire of many, even to the point of being censured by the state legislature in 1943.

1950–2000

The PhD research degree was first discussed in 1944, and began in 1947. The university awarded the first PhD in 1951 to William H. Wittrick from the Faculty of Engineering on 28 April 1951 and the next two were awarded to Eleanora C. Gyarfas and George F. Humphrey from the Faculty of Science on 2 May 1951. The

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

University College was founded as part of the University of Sydney in 1938 and in 1954 was separated to become the

University of New England University of New England may refer to: * University of New England (Australia), in New South Wales, with about 18,000 students * University of New England (United States), in Biddeford, Maine, with about 3,000 students See also *New England Colle ...

. During the late 1960s, the University of Sydney was at the centre of rows to introduce courses on

Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

and

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

at the major Australian universities. At one stage, newspaper reporters descended on the university to cover brawls, demonstrations, secret memos and a walk-out by David Armstrong, a philosopher who held the Challis Chair of Philosophy from 1959 to 1991, after students at one of his lectures openly demanded a course on feminism. The philosophy department split over the issue into the Traditional and Modern Philosophy Department, headed by Armstrong and following a more traditional approach to philosophy, and the General Philosophy Department, which follows the French continental approach. The Builders Labourers Federation placed a ban on the university after two women tutors were not allowed to teach a course but the issue was quickly resolved internally. Under the terms of the ''Higher Education (Amalgamation) Act 1989'' (NSW), the following bodies were incorporated into the university in 1990: * Sydney branch of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music * Cumberland College of Health Sciences *

Sydney College of the Arts The Sydney College of the Arts (SCA) is a contemporary art school that was a faculty of the University of Sydney from 1990 until 2017, when it became a school of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Until the end of 2019, the campus was loca ...

of the Institute of the Arts * Sydney Institute of Education of the

Sydney College of Advanced Education The Sydney College of Advanced Education was a tertiary education institution in Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia. It existed from 1982 to 1989.Sydney Teachers College). * Institute of Nursing Studies of the Sydney College of Advanced Education * Guild Centre of the Sydney College of Advanced Education. The Orange Agricultural College (OAC) was originally transferred to the

under the act, but then transferred to the University of Sydney in 1994, as part of the reforms to the University of New England undertaken by the ''University of New England Act 1993'' and the ''Southern Cross University Act 1993''. In January 2005, the University of Sydney transferred the OAC to Charles Sturt University.

2000–present

Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney

In February 2007, the university agreed to acquire a portion of the land granted to St John's College (a residential college of the university) to develop the Sydney Institute of Health and Medical Research, now the Charles Perkins Centre, named in honour of the first

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

man to graduate from the university, Charles Perkins. In 2010, the university received a

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

painting from the private collection of an anonymous donor. The painting, ''

Jeune Fille Endormie ''Jeune Fille Endormie'' is a 1935 oil on canvas painting by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso depicting his model and lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter, as she slept. It was sold at Christie's auction house in London in 2011 for nearly £13.5 mill ...

'', which had not been publicly seen since 1939, depicts the artist's lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter and was donated on the strict understanding that it would be sold and the proceeds directed to medical research. In June 2011, the painting was auctioned at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is owned by Groupe Artémi ...

in London and sold for £13.5 million ($20.6 million AUD). The proceeds of the sale funded the establishment of many endowed professorial chairs at the Charles Perkins Centre, where a room dedicated to the painting, now exists. At the start of 2010, the university controversially adopted a new logo. It retains the same university arms, however it takes on a more modern look. There have been stylistic changes, the main one being the coat of arm's mantling, the shape of the escutcheon (shield), the removal of the motto scroll, and also others more subtle within the arms itself, such as the mane and fur of the lion, the number of lines in the open book and the colouration. The original Coat of Arms from 1857 continues to be used for ceremonial and other formal purposes, such as on testamurs. Concerns about public funding for higher education were reflected again in 2014 following the federal government's proposal to deregulate student fees. The university held a wide-ranging consultation process, which included a "town hall meeting" at the university's Great Hall on 25 August 2014, where an audience of students, staff and alumni expressed deep concern about the government's plans and called on university leadership to lobby against the proposals. Throughout 2014,

Michael Spence Andrew Michael Spence (born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American economist and Nobel laureate. Spence is the William R. Berkley Professor in Economics and Business at the Stern School of Business at New York University, and the Philip H. Kni ...

took a leading position among Australian vice-chancellors in repeatedly calling for any change to funding to not undermine equitable access to university while arguing for fee deregulation to raise course costs for the majority of higher education students. In order to further enhance its competitiveness locally and internationally, the university introduced plans to consolidate existing degrees to reduce the overall number of programs in 2016.

Controversies

In 2001, the University of Sydney chancellor, Dame Leonie Kramer, was forced to resign by the university's governing body. In 2003, Nick Greiner, a former

Premier of New South Wales The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislatur ...

, resigned from his position as chair of the university's Graduate School of Management because of academic protests against his simultaneous chairmanship of

British American Tobacco British American Tobacco plc (BAT) is a British multinational company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, tobacco and other nicotine products. The company, established in 1902, is headquartered in London, England. As of 2019, it is the lar ...

(Australia). Subsequently, his wife, Kathryn Greiner, resigned in protest from the two positions she held at the university as chair of the Sydney Peace Foundation and a member of the executive council of the Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific. In 2005, the

Public Service Association of New South Wales The Public Service Association of NSW (PSA) is a union which covers employees in the government, university and related public sector in New South Wales. The union is registered under New South Wales state legislation and is affiliated with the ...

and the

Community and Public Sector Union CPSU, the Community and Public Sector Union (more commonly known as the CPSU) is a national trade union in Australia. The union came into existence on 1 July 1994 with the amalgamation of the Public Sector, Professional, Scientific, Research, ...

were in dispute with the university over a proposal to privatise security at the main campus (and the

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic counties of England, historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th c ...

campus). Action initiated by Spence to improve the financial sustainability of the university has alienated some students and staff.Max Chalmers (10 March 2014).
The man, the myth, the manager
". Retrieved 10 March 2014. In 2012, Spence led efforts to cut the university's expenditure to address the financial impact of a slowdown in international student enrolments across Australia. This included redundancies of a number of university staff and faculty, though some at the university argued that the institution should cut back on building programs instead. Critics argue the push for savings has been driven by managerial incompetence and indifference, fuelling industrial action during a round of enterprise bargaining in 2013 that also reflected widespread concerns about public funding for higher education. An internal staff survey in 2012/13, which found widespread dissatisfaction with how the university is being managed. Asked to rate their level of agreement with a series of statements about the university, 19 per cent of those surveyed believed "change and innovation" were handled well by the university. In the survey, 75 per cent of university staff indicated senior executives were not listening to them, while only 22 per cent said change was handled well and 33 per cent said senior executives were good role models. In the first week of semester, some staff passed a motion of no confidence in Spence because of concerns he was pushing staff to improve the budget while he received a performance bonus of $155,000 that took his total pay to $1 million, in the top 0.1 per cent of income earners in Australia. '' Fairfax'' reports Spence and other Uni bosses have salary packages worth ten times more than staff salaries and double that of the Prime Minister. During Spence's term, the university community was divided over allowing students from an elite private school, Scots College, to enter university via a "pathway of privilege" by means of enrolling in a Diploma of Tertiary Preparation rather than meeting HSC entry requirements. The university charged students $12,000 to take the course and have since successfully admitted a number of students to degree courses. An exposé by Fairfax which turned out to be based on a misunderstanding as to VET and UAC matriculation standards, the scheme has been criticised by Phillip Heath, the national chairman of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia. An investigation by Fairfax in 2015 revealed widespread cheating at universities across NSW, including the University of Sydney. The university established a taskforce on academic misconduct in April 2015 to maintain its leadership position in preventing incidences of cheating and academic misconduct. A 2016 investigation by the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owne ...

exposed corporate deals between the Veterinary Faculty and large pet food companies had resulted in the withholding of harmful cat food product tested to protect corporate sponsors. The Institute of Public Affairs’ third (2018) annual audit of free speech on Australian campuses has named the University of Sydney, the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

and

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairn ...

as the most hostile to free speech based on measures that “aggregate (the) number of problematic policies and actions”. An appendix, provided by the Institute of Public Affairs, listed 51 alleged incidents at 20 universities in which freedom of expression was said to have come under attack. The University of Sydney accounted for the largest share (19 out of 51 or 37%) of those alleged incidents. A national code to protect freedom of speech at universities has been endorsed by the federal government. It is intended to counter the risk of overreach by university administrators and aims to restrain rules that stifle opinions that some might consider unwelcome, offensive or even insulting. In the 2019 Student Experience Survey, the University of Sydney recorded the second lowest student satisfaction rating out of all Australian universities, and the second lowest student satisfaction rating out of all New South Wales universities, with an overall satisfaction rating of 74.2; this was lower than the national average rating of 78.4. In 2022, second-year University of Sydney law student Freya Leach lodged a formal complaint, alleging she had been mocked for her conservative political beliefs in an assessment question issued by the University of Sydney Law School. After the story was leaked to multiple news outlets including ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', the university issued a public apology for the incident and any distress caused to students. The assessment was later retracted due to breaches of academic integrity.

Campus

Main campus

The main campus has been ranked in the top 10 of the world's most beautiful universities by the British ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'' and the American ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'', among others such as

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

and is spread across the inner-city suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington. The Great Hall, Sydney Uni

Originally housed in what is now Sydney Grammar School, in 1855 the government granted land in Grose Farm to the university, three kilometres from the city, which is now the main Camperdown campus. In 1854, the architect

Edmund Blacket Edmund Thomas Blacket (25 August 1817 – 9 February 1883) was an Australian architect, best known for his designs for the University of Sydney, St. Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney and St. Saviour's Cathedral, Goulburn. Arriving in Sydney from Eng ...

accepted a senate invitation for the first buildings to be designed. In 1858 the

Great Hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the gr ...

was finished, and in 1859 the Main Building was built. He composed the original Neo-Gothic sandstone Quadrangle and Great Tower buildings, which were completed in 1862. The rapid expansion of the university in the mid-20th century resulted in the acquisition of land in Darlington across City Road. The Camperdown/Darlington campus houses the university's administrative headquarters, and the Faculties of Arts, Science, Education and Social Work, Pharmacy, Veterinary Science, Economics and Business, Architecture, and Engineering. It is also the home base of the large

Sydney Medical School The University of Sydney School of Medicine, also known as Sydney Medical School (SMS) is the graduate medical school of the University of Sydney. Established in 1856, it is the first medical school in Australia. In 2018, Sydney Medical School ...

, which has numerous affiliated teaching hospitals across the state. The main campus is also the focus of the university's student life, with the student-run

University of Sydney Union The University of Sydney Union (USU), established in 1874, is the student-run services and amenities provider at the University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia. The USU's key services include the provision of food and beverages, retail outlets ...

(once referred to as "the Union", but now known as "the USU") in possession of three buildings – Wentworth, Manning and Holme Buildings. These buildings house a large proportion of the university's catering outlets, and provide space for recreational rooms, bars and function centres. One of the largest activities organised by the Union is Welcome Week (formerly Orientation Week or 'O-week'), a three-day festival at the start of the academic year. Welcome Week centres on stalls set up by clubs and societies on the Front Lawns. The main campus is home to a variety of statues, artworks, and monuments. These include the Gilgamesh Statue and the Confucius Statue. Some other architects associated with the university were

Walter Liberty Vernon Colonel Walter Liberty Vernon (11 August 184617 January 1914) was an English architect who migrated to Australia and pursued his career as an architect in Sydney, New South Wales. In his role as the New South Wales Government Architect he ...

Walter Burley Griffin Walter Burley Griffin (November 24, 1876February 11, 1937) was an American architect and landscape architect. He is known for designing Canberra, Australia's capital city and the New South Wales towns of Griffith and Leeton. He has been cr ...

, Leslie Wilkinson, and the

New South Wales Government Architect The New South Wales Government Architect, an appointed officer of the Government of New South Wales, serves as the General Manager of the Government Architect's Office (GAO), a multi-disciplinary consultancy operating on commercial principles ...

. The building was designed in accordance with the university's masterplanning by the architect and founding dean of the university's architecture faculty Leslie Wilkinson, who himself was inspired by a previously unused masterplan developed for the campus by Walter Burley Griffin in 1915. USYD MacLaurin Hall A14D SEP2019

The 2002 conservation plan of the university stated that the Main Building and Quadrangle, Anderson Stuart Building, Gate Lodges, St Paul's College, St John's College and St Andrew's College "comprise what is arguably the most important group of

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

and Tudor Revival style architecture in Australia, and the landscape and grounds features associated with these buildings, including Victoria Park, contribute to and support the existence and appreciation of their architectural qualities and aesthetic significance." In 2015, The NSW Department of Planning and Environment endorsed The University of Sydney's $1.4 billion Campus Improvement Plan which involved a number of new important structures and renovations. Physics Road, University of Sydney

As of 2016, the university is undertaking a large capital works program with the aim of revitalising the campus and providing more office, teaching and student space. The program will see the amalgamation of the smaller science and technical libraries into a larger library, and the construction of a central administration and student services building along City Road. A new building for the School of Information Technologies opened in late 2006 and has been located on a site adjacent to the

Seymour Centre The Seymour Centre is a multi-purpose performing arts centre within the University of Sydney in the Australian city of Sydney. It is located on the corner of City Rd and Cleveland St in Chippendale, just south-west of the city centre. The b ...

. The busy Eastern Avenue thoroughfare has been transformed into a pedestrian plaza and a new footbridge has been built over City Road. The new home for the Sydney Law School, located alongside Fisher Library on the site of the old

Edgeworth David Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth David (28 January 1858 – 28 August 1934) was a Welsh Australian geologist and Antarctic explorer. A household name in his lifetime, David's most significant achievements were discovering the major Hunter V ...

and Stephen Roberts buildings, has been completed. The university opened a new building called "Abercrombie Building" for business school students in early 2016. The NSW state government has reduced transport links to the old campus and the closest Redfern railway station leaving main access to buses on the neighbouring Parramatta Road and City Road, prioritising the growth at other Sydney universities. From 2007, the university has used space in the former

Eveleigh Eveleigh is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Eveleigh is located about 3 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney. ...

railway yards, just to the south of

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underw ...

, for examination purposes. In 2018, New South Wales Minister for Heritage,

Gabrielle Upton Gabrielle Cecelia Upton (born 16 December 1964), an Australian politician, is the member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing the seat of Vaucluse for the Liberal Party since 2011. Upton is currently serving as the Parlia ...

agreed to put the University of Sydney and some adjacent sites on the state heritage register, creating a conservation area that would include the Camperdown campus, and the nearby Victoria Park. The beginning of 2021 saw the closure of the Cumberland campus, with a number of health disciplines moving to the Camperdown campus in the state-of-the-art, purpose built Susan Wakil Health Building.

Satellite campuses

Sydney Dental Hospital Sydney Dental Hospital (SDH) is in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, in Surry Hills, between Chalmers Street and Elizabeth Street opposite the entrance to Central railway station. SDH provides both specialist treatment and general dental ...

located in Surry Hills and the Westmead Centre for Oral Health is attached to Westmead Hospital. * The Sydney Conservatorium of Music: Formerly the NSW State Conservatorium of Music, the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (SCM) is located in the Sydney CBD on the edge of Sydney's Royal Botanic Garden, a short distance from the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

. It became a faculty of the university in the 1990s and incorporates the main campus Department of Music, which was the subject of the documentary '' Facing the Music''. * Camden campus: Located in one of the most rapidly growing peri-urban areas in the country, Sydney's southwest. The Camden campus houses lecture theatres, research institutes, veterinary clinics and research farms for bioscience, environmental science, agriculture and veterinary science. * Sydney CBD campus: The University of Sydney Business School CBD campus is located on Castlereagh Street in the heart of Sydney's CBD close to Town Hall station. The university also uses a number of other facilities for its teaching activities. *

has eight clinical schools at its affiliated hospitals, responsible for clinical education at the hospitals. * Sydney Pharmacy School is one of the smaller at the university, and is positioned with its own building, the sandstone Pharmacy and Bank Building, with associated laboratories and academic staff wings below and around * One Tree Island is an island situated within the World Heritage Site

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, A ...

Marine Park about 20 km east-southeast of Heron Island and about 90 km east-northeast of

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-cons ...

on the

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

coast, and hosts a tropical marine research station of the School of Geosciences. * The IA Watson Grains Research Centre located at

Narrabri Narrabri ( ) is a locality and seat of Narrabri Shire local government area in the North West Slopes, New South Wales, Australia on the Namoi River, northwest of Sydney. It sits on the junction of the Kamilaroi Highway and the Newell Highway. ...

in north-central

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

is a research station of the Faculty of Agriculture and Environment. * The Molonglo Observatory is located in Hoskinstown, near

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. * Maningrida is a base camp for scientific expeditions in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

. * Arthursleigh is an agricultural estate located near Goulburn. An art studio is located in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, France, while the Australian Archaeology Centre is located in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

, Greece. *

Taylors College Taylors College is a provider of university preparation programs in Australia and New Zealand. Established in Melbourne, Australia in 1920, Taylors College is a private school that provides secondary school education (Year 10 - Year 12) and sp ...

at Waterloo in Sydney is operated by the university for its Foundation Program, catering to international students wishing to enter the university. File:Rozelle.hospital.jpg,

File:Bank Building, University of Sydney.jpg, Sydney Pharmacy School File:Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Conservatorium Road, Sydney, New South Wales (2011-03-09).jpg, Sydney Conservatorium of Music File:Anderson Stuart Building Sydney Uni.JPG,

File:Molonglotele.jpg, Molonglo Observatory

Library

The University of Sydney Library consists of 11 individual libraries located across the university's various campuses. The Fisher and Health sciences libraries offer disability support services. According to the library's publications, it is the largest academic library in the southern hemisphere; university statistics show that in 2007 the collection consisted of just under 5 million physical volumes and a further 300,000

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. A ...

s, for a total of approximately 5.3 million items. It is also the only university in Australia to be a state legal deposit library according to the Copyright Act 1968 which stipulates that a copy of every printed material published in NSW be sent to the University Library. The Rare Books Library possesses several extremely rare items, including one of the two extant copies of the '' Gospel of Barnabas'' and a first edition of Sir

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, Theology, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosophy, natural philosopher"), widely ...

's ''

Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. S ...

''.

Centre for Continuing Education

The Centre for Continuing Education is an

adult education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ral ...

provider within the university. Extension lectures at the university were inaugurated in 1886, 36 years after the university's founding, making it Australia's longest running university

continuing education Continuing education (similar to further education in the United Kingdom and Ireland) is an all-encompassing term within a broad list of post-secondary learning activities and programs. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada. ...

program.

Museums and galleries

Interior of the Chau Chak Wing Museum April 2021

The

Chau Chak Wing Museum The Chau Chak Wing Museum is a museum at the University of Sydney, Australia. It was formed by the amalgamation of the Nicholson Museum, the Macleay Museum The Macleay Museum at The University of Sydney, was a natural history museum located on ...

showcases the university's art, natural history and antiquities collections. Located opposite the quadrangle buildings, the museum opened to the public in November 2020. It houses the Nicholson Collection of antiquities, the Macleay Collections of natural history, ethnography, science and photography, and the University Art Collection. The museum is named after Chau Chak Wing, a Chinese-Australian businessman and philanthropist. In 2021, the Chau Chak Wing Museum won the Museums and Galleries National Award (MAGNA) and two Museums Australasia Multimedia and Publication Design Awards (MAPDA).

Collections

* The Nicholson Collection of archaeology is the largest collection of antiquities in Australia. The Nicholson Museum was founded in 1860 by the donation of Sir Charles Nicholson (Sydney University's second chancellor 1854–1862). It is also the country's oldest university museum and features ancient artefacts from Egypt, the Middle East, Greece,

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

and

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

, collected by the university over many years and added to by recent archaeological expeditions. The museum was located in the historic Main Quadrangle at the university. The Nicholson Museum closed to the public in 2020, ahead of the opening of the Chau Chak Wing Museum. * The Macleay Collection is named after

Alexander Macleay Alexander Macleay (also spelt McLeay) MLC FLS FRS (24 June 1767 – 18 July 1848) was a leading member of the Linnean Society, a fellow of the Royal Society and member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. Life Macleay was born on Ros ...

, whose collection of insects begun in the late 18th century was the basis upon which the

Macleay Museum The Macleay Museum at The University of Sydney, was a natural history museum located on the University's campus, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Museum was amalgamanted into Chau Chak Wing Museum, which opened in 2020. The Macleay M ...

was founded in 1887. It is the oldest collection of natural history in Australia and has developed into a major collection of natural history specimens, ethnographic artefacts, scientific instruments and historic photographs. The Macleay Museum closed to the public in 2016 ahead of the opening of the Chau Chak Wing Museum. * The University Art Collection was founded in the 1860s and contains more than 7,000 pieces, constantly growing through donation, bequests and acquisition. The University Art Gallery opened in 1959. The gallery hosted numerous exhibitions until 1972, when it was taken over for office space. The gallery closed to the public in 2016 ahead of the opening of the Chau Chak Wing Museum.

Other collections and galleries

* The Rare Books Library is a part of the Fisher Library and holds 185,000 books and manuscripts which are rare, valuable or fragile, including 80 medieval manuscripts, works by

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

, Halley and

Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulat ...

as well as an extensive collection of

Australiana Australiana includes the items, people, places, flora, fauna and events of Australian origins. Anything pertaining to Australian culture, society, geography and ecology can fall under the term Australiana, especially if it is endemic to Austra ...

. The copy of the Gospel of Barnabas and a first edition of

by Sir

are held here. Regular exhibitions of rare books are held in the exhibition room. * Verge Gallery is run by the

and showcases contemporary art by emerging artists.

Halls of residence and residential colleges

The university has a number of halls of residence (based on research-lead living-learning principles) and residential colleges, each with its own distinctive style and facilities. All offer a wide range of cultural, social, sporting and leadership activities along with targeted academic support in a supportive communal environment. The Halls of Residence are owned and operated by the University Accommodation Service. Starting in 2013, the university committed to creating the Halls of Residence (an additional 4,000-6,000 residential places) at an affordable price to enhance the educational experience of living on campus and to offer more students a rich academic environment in which to live. * The Queen Mary Building * Abercrombie Student Accommodation * Regiment Hall The University Student Accommodation Service were awarded the Asia-Pacific Student Housing Operation of the Year & Excellence in Facility Development and Management in 2016. The Student Accommodation Service and the Mana Yura Student Support Service were the first in Australia to implement an Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander Torres Strait Islanders () are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia ...

On-Campus Residence Halls Scholarship Guarantee. Additionally, the university owns and operates International House. Affiliated with the university are six religiously denominated colleges. Unlike some residential colleges in British or American universities, the colleges are not affiliated with any specific discipline of study. * International House * St John's College * St Andrew's College * St Paul's College * Sancta Sophia College * Wesley College * The Women's College * Mandelbaum House There is a university-affiliated

housing cooperative A housing cooperative, or housing co-op, is a legal entity, usually a cooperative or a corporation, which owns real estate, consisting of one or more residential buildings; it is one type of housing tenure. Housing cooperatives are a distin ...

Stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

. A quarter of the university's female students residing in university colleges have been found to face sexual harassment. Between 2011 and 2016, there were 52 officially reported cases of sexual abuse and harassment on campus released by the university, resulting in 1 expulsion, 1 suspension and 4 reprimands. This is less than the 2017

Australian Human Rights Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but oper ...

report on sexual assault and harassment which found reported figures substantially higher than this. 71% of students surveyed in 2017 reported not knowing how to make a report relating to sexual assault or harassment. Imogen Grant from the SRC said students who had experienced sexual assault had come forward believing that "navigating the university bureaucracy exacerbates trauma and often seems futile". Previously a 2015 survey of 2,000 students found that 57 per cent of respondents did not know where to seek help or how to report sexual misconduct at USYD, and only 1.4% of all serious sexual incidents are reported. After the release of the 2017 report the vice-chancellor said the university was committed to implementing "all of the recommendations contained in the report". Graphic videos emerged in 2018 of male students bragging of their sexual feats over the female students, particularly first-years.

Gallery

Organisation

The university comprises eight faculties and schools: * Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences * University of Sydney Business School * Faculty of Engineering * Faculty of Medicine and Health *

Faculty of Science Faculty may refer to: * Faculty (academic staff), the academic staff of a university (North American usage) * Faculty (division), a division within a university (usage outside of the United States) * Faculty (instrument), an instrument or warrant ...

* Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning * Sydney Conservatorium of Music * Sydney Law School The five largest faculties and schools by 2020 student enrollments were (in descending order): Arts and Social Sciences; Medicine and Health;

Business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." Having a business name does not separ ...

;

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence ...

;

Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

. Together they constituted nearly 88% of the university's students and each had a student enrolment over 8,000 (at least 13% of total students).

Academic profile

Rankings

The 2022

ranked the University of Sydney at 38th in the world, second nationally and top-ranked university in New South Wales. In addition, it is ranked 27th in the world by academic reputation. By subject, QS ranked the university in the top 50 across all five broad subject areas. * 15th in Arts and Humanities * 39th in Engineering and Technology * 15th in Life Sciences and Medicine * 43rd in Natural Sciences * 14th in Social Sciences and Management Additionally, the University of Sydney is ranked second in sports-related subjects, tenth in anatomy & physiology, 11th in veterinary science, 12th in education, 14th in law and legal studies, 15th in nursing, 16th in architecture, 18th in accounting and finance, 18th in English language and literature, 18th in medicine and 18th in pharmacy and pharmacology. The 2020 QS Graduate Employability Rankings ranked the University of Sydney graduates fourth most employable in the world and first in Australia and the Asia Pacific region. The 2021

Times Higher Education World University Rankings The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'' (often referred to as the THE Rankings) is an annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' (THE) magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarel ...

ranked the University of Sydney 51st in the world and second in Australia. By subject area, the university is ranked: * 58th in Arts and Humanities * 37th in Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health * 76th in Engineering and Technology * 47th in Life Sciences * 97th in Physical Sciences * 68th in Social Sciences * 83rd in Business and Economics * 101-125th in Computer Science * 33rd in Law * 24th in Education * 65th in Psychology Additionally, the 2020 Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings ranked the University of Sydney 51-60th most reputable in the world and 35th in the world in the Global University Employability Ranking 2020. According to the 2020 Impact Rankings by

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

, the university is ranked second in the world. The 2021 '' U.S. News & World Report''s Best Global Universities Rankings placed the University of Sydney 27th in the world and second in Australia. In the 2022

Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...

published by the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy, the University of Sydney is ranked 60th and in the top 0.6% of the top 1000 universities in the world. The University of Sydney is ranked first in Australia and 29th overall in the 2017 ''CWTS Leiden Rankings'' for research impact. In 2019, the University of Sydney is ranked 33rd among the universities around the world by ''

SCImago Institutions Rankings The SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) since 2009 has published its international ranking of worldwide research institutions, the SIR World Report. The SIR World Report is the work of the SCImago Research Group,Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities by National Taiwan University, the University of Sydney is ranked 26th in the world, second in Australia. The University of Sydney is ranked first in Australia and 20th in the world according to the 2021-2022 University Ranking by Academic Performance. The University of Sydney Business School has cemented its place among the world's leading providers of business education with accreditations from AACSB,

AMBA Amba or AMBA may refer to: Title * Amba Hor, alternative name for Abhor and Mehraela, Christian martyrs * Amba Sada, also known as Psote, Christian bishop and martyr in Upper Egypt Given name * Amba, the traditional first name given to the fir ...

and EQUIS - leading authorities on postgraduate management studies, thereby achieving the top 1 percent " triple crown" status. The London-based ''Financial Times'' has ranked the University of Sydney Business School's flagship Master of Management as Australia's number one program of its kind for the eighth consecutive year since 2013. The Master of Management (MMgt) program was also ranked in the world's top 5 for "career progress" made by its graduates in 2019. In terms of alumni wealth, the number of wealthy Sydney alumni was ranked fifth outside the United States, behind Oxford,

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

, Cambridge and the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...

according to the

American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Calif ...

. Business magazine ''Spear's'' placed the University of Sydney 44th in the world and second in Australia in its table of "World's top 100 universities for producing millionaires".

Endowments and research grants

The university has received a number of significant bequests and legacies over its history. The following are current professorships (chairs), funds, fellowships and scholarships which are funded by bequests and legacies and named after benefactors: *

Douglas Burrows Douglas Squire Irving Burrows CBE (Civil) MBE (Military) (7 August 1915 – 10 December 1982) was an Australian stock broker, businessman and philanthropist who from 1970 until his death was President of the Board Royal Alexandra Hospital for Ch ...

Chair of Paediatrics and Child Health * John Challis Bequest for chairs in Law, International Law, Jurisprudence, Anatomy, Biology, Civil Engineering, English Literature, History and philosophy (see Challis Professorship) * Carlyle Greenwell Research Fund in Anthropology and Archaeology *

Edwin Cuthbert Hall Edwin Cuthbert Hall (1874–1953) was an Australian physician and philanthropist who through a bequest funded the Edwin Cuthbert Hall Chair of Middle Eastern Archaeology within the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sydney. In 1973, ...

Chair of Middle Eastern Archaeology * Mitchell Notaras Fellowship in Colorectal Surgery * Robert W Storr Chair for Hepatic Medicine * The

Peter Nicol Russell Sir Peter Nicol Russell (4 July 1816 – 10 July 1905), commonly referred to as P. N. Russell, was an Australian foundry owner, manufacturing engineer, and benefactor of the University of Sydney. Russell worked at iron foundries owned by his fa ...

Undergraduate Scholarship

Coat of arms

The Grant of Arms was made by the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the British Sover ...

in 1857. The grant reads: :''Argent on a Cross Azure an open book proper, clasps Gold, between four Stars of eight points Or, on a chief Gules a Lion passant Guardant also Or, together with this motto "Sidere mens eadem mutato" to be borne and used forever hereafter by the said University of Sydney on their Common Seal, Shields or otherwise according to the Law of Arms.'' The use of eight-pointed stars was unusual for arms at the time, although they had been used unofficially as emblems for New South Wales since the 1820s and on the arms of the Church of England Diocese of Australia in 1836. According to the university, the Latin motto ''Sidere mens eadem mutato'' can be translated to "the stars change, the mind remains the same." Francis Merewether, Vice-Chancellor and later Chancellor, in 1857 proposed "Coelum non animum mutant" from Horace (Ep.1.11.27) but after objections changed it to a metrical version including "Sidus" (Star), a neat reference to the

Southern Cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for ...

and perhaps the Sydney family link with Sir

Philip Sidney Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

's "Astrophel (Star-Lover) & Stella (Star)". Author and university alumnus

Clive James Clive James (born Vivian Leopold James; 7 October 1939 – 24 November 2019) was an Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019.

Student organisations

* Student Representatives: Politically and academically, undergraduate students are represented by the

University of Sydney Students' Representative Council The University of Sydney Students' Representative Council (SRC) is the representative body for undergraduate students at the University of Sydney. In addition to a student-elected council and student advocacy portfolios, the SRC coordinates a fr ...

(SRC) and postgraduate students by the

Sydney University Postgraduate Representative Association The Sydney University Postgraduate Representative Association (SUPRA) is the peak body of elected representatives who campaign on behalf of the Research and Coursework Students at The University of Sydney, alongside the University of Sydney Stud ...

(SUPRA). * University of Sydney Union: The

(USU) is the oldest and largest university union in Australia. USU provides a range of activities, programs, services and facilities geared at giving students the university experience. This involves delivering clubs and societies program, a varied entertainment program, student opportunities, a range of catering and retail services plus buildings and recreational spaces for students, staff and visitors. The SRC and Union are both governed by student representatives, who are elected by students each year. Elections for the USU board of directors occur in first semester; elections for the SRC president, and for members of the Students' Representative Council itself, occur in second semester, along with a separate election for the editorial board of the student newspaper ''

Honi Soit ''Honi Soit'' is the student newspaper of the University of Sydney. First published in 1929, the newspaper is produced by an elected editorial team and a select group of reporters sourced from the university's populace. The name is an abbrev ...

'', which is published by the SRC.

Charles Perkins Oration and Prize

Since 2000, the Dr Charles Perkins Oration has been held by the university, in honour of its first Aboriginal graduate, Charlie Perkins. The orations have been delivered by prominent First Nations people, including Linda Burney, Pat Anderson, Daniel Browning, Mick Gooda and

Ken Wyatt Kenneth George Wyatt (born 4 August 1952) is a former Australian politician who was a member of the House of Representatives from 2010 to 2022, representing the Division of Hasluck for the Liberal Party. He is the first Indigenous Australian e ...

. The Oration includes the Charles Perkins Memorial Prize, which recognises the achievements of the top three Indigenous students at the university, based on the highest academic results in their field. In 2021, the awards event could not be held in the great hall, owing to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 January ...

, but Perkins' daughter, filmmaker Rachel Perkins, announced the recipients, and introduced

Tony McAvoy Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

, Australia's first Indigenous

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

, to deliver the oration.

Notable alumni

University of Sydney alumni have made significant contributions to both Australia and the world for the past years. Notable alumni of Sydney include eight prime ministers, the most of any university, three chief justices of the High Court, four federal opposition leaders, two governors-general, nine federal attorneys-general, 13 premiers of New South Wales including incumbent Premier

and 20 justices of the High Court—more than any other law school in Australia. The faculty has also produced 24

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

s and several

. Internationally, alumni of Sydney Law School include the third president of the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

and a president of the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordan ...

(in each case, the only Australians to date to hold such positions). The University of Sydney is associated with five

Nobel laureates The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make ou ...

: in chemistry John Cornforth (alumnus; the only Nobel Laureate born in

) and Robert Robinson (organic chemist), Robert Robinson (staff); in economics, John Harsanyi (alumnus); and in physiology or medicine, John Eccles (neurophysiologist), John Eccles and Bernard Katz (both staff). University of Sydney School of Physics (landscape)

University of Sydney School of Physics (landscape)

The School of Physics has played an important role in the development of radio astronomy in particular: Ruby Payne-Scott conducted the first interferometric observations in radio astronomy with the Sea interferometry, sea-cliff interferometer at Dover Heights, New South Wales, Dover Heights; alumnus Ronald N. Bracewell, Ron Bracewell proposed the nulling interferometer to image extrasolar planets, made contributions to the theory of the Fourier Transform and X-ray tomography, and proposed the idea of the Bracewell probe in SETI; and alumnus Bernard Mills led the construction of the Mills Cross Telescope and Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope in the Australian Capital Territory, ACT. School of Physics alumnus and Crafoord Prize, Crafoord Laureate Edwin Ernest Salpeter, Edwin Salpeter discovered the form of the initial mass function of stars, the importance of Isotopes of beryllium, beryllium-8 in triple-alpha process, stellar nuclear fusion, and independently with Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich, Yakov Zel'dovich proposed the black hole accretion disk model of active galactic nuclei. The Apollo 14 Mission Scientist Philip K. Chapman and the first Australian-born astronaut to fly in space Paul Scully-Power are both alumni of the university. Chaos theory pioneer and Crafoord Prize, Crafoord Laureate Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, Robert May is an alumnus of and former professor at the School of Physics, best known for his exploration of the logistic map Bifurcation theory, bifurcations. In the performing arts, notable alumni include soprano Joan Sutherland; Shakespearean actor John Bell (Australian actor), John Bell actor, producer and director Dolph Lundgren;and Bahraini–Sri Lankan actress Jacqueline Fernandez. In international politics, notable alumni include former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav and premier of British Columbia, John Horgan. In community activism, notable alumni include Aboriginal Australian, Aboriginal activist Charlie Perkins; feminists Eva Cox and Germaine Greer.

Tourism

The University of Sydney has seen a considerable increase in number of visitors, specifically, a 4,000 visitor increase between 2017 and 2019. A contributing factor to this surge in traffic is linked to Chinese tourists visiting the university due to travel agencies advertising the University of Sydney Quadrangle, Quadrangle as the film set for the ''Harry Potter (film series), Harry Potter'' series.

References

Citations

Sources

* Williams, Bruce. ''Liberal education and useful knowledge: a brief history of the University of Sydney, 1850–2000'', Chancellor's Committee, University of Sydney, 2002.

External links

University of Sydney website

University of Sydney Union

University of Sydney athletics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sydney, University Of University of Sydney, 1850 establishments in Australia Educational institutions established in 1850 Gothic Revival architecture in Sydney, University of Sydney Universities in Sydney Group of Eight (Australian universities) Universities established in the 19th century Edmund Blacket buildings in Sydney Sandstone buildings in Australia Camperdown, New South Wales Green bans