Eastern College Australia is a non-denominational Christian Private Higher Education and Vocational Education provider in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Eastern exists to equip individuals through provision of accredited teaching, training and research that contribute to the transformation of church (local and global), society and marketplace through the lives of its graduates. The college offers a wide range of courses, including

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

Arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...

, and

Theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

degrees. The principal is Rev Tim Meyers, and vice principal Dr Angelo Cettolin.

History

Eastern College Australia, formerly named Tabor Victoria, was established in 1988 as a campus of

Tabor College Australia Tabor College is an Australian Christian tertiary college offering a range of liberal arts courses from certificate to post-graduate studies in the areas of counselling, education, ministry, performing arts, mission, youth studies and humanitie ...

. Their current name was adopted in 2015. Dr Cheryl McCallum served as principal until December 2017. Cheryl worked at the college for almost 20 years in various capacities including lecturer and Principal. She also worked for TEAR Australia, Urban Neighbours of Hope, and as the National Director for the Australian Evangelical Alliance. Cheryl has served on a number of Boards and Reference groups including TEAR Australia National Board, Australian Evangelical Alliance National Board, The Bible Society in Australia (Victoria) Board, Christian Woman Magazine Reference Board, Micah Challenge Reference Group and the Sophia Think-tank. Eastern College shared a campus with

Stirling Theological College Stirling Theological College is a former Australian Christian theological college located in Mulgrave, a south eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. History The college was established in 1907 in Carlton, Victoria, by H. G. Harward as the Coll ...

from January 2011 until December 2017. Both colleges offered separate educational awards and while students and staff freely mixed and formal study programs taught separately.

Schools

Eastern College Australia has three schools. The School of Arts and Social Sciences, School of Education and School of Theology.

School of Arts and Social Sciences

The goal of the School of Arts and Social Sciences is to provide a broad, flexible education. It includes opportunities for students to develop broad philosophical and theoretical frameworks. It helps provide a base on which to develop task-specific skills and outcomes. Employers benefit from graduates who have a broad educational experience, strong values, clear personal commitments, and who are socially aware and responsible. Eastern College Australia has continued to develop its Counselling courses in response to community needs and changes in the counselling profession. Eastern started to offer counselling courses in 1987, with the most recent addition of a Graduate Diploma in Arts, specialising in counselling.

School of Education

Eastern believes schools are places of change and development for children and young people. Christian teachers make significant impact on the lives of their students showing them something of the love and power of God, as well as helping them understand themselves, develop knowledge and skills and the capacities to live abundant and fruitful lives. Eastern College Australia provides a Bachelor of Education - Primary or Secondary. As these courses are integrated with each other (Along with the Bachelor of Arts), students can transfer easily from one course to the other in the first two years of study. This provides great flexibility as they recognise that students' early goals can modify as their studies progress.

School of Christian Studies

Eastern's Christian Studies courses provide in-depth understanding for handling Scripture and deepening spiritual life. All courses introduce students to studies of Scripture and Christian truth, an overview of history and ethics in the light of their history and social context and much more Graduate-level degrees include: Master of Practical Theology and Master of Transformational Development.

Resource Centre

The Resource Centre at Eastern College Australia contains over 85,000 items including: reference materials, books and audio-visual materials. In addition Eastern's Resource Centre contains over 55,000 journal issues. The library services faculty and students of Eastern College Australia and Melbourne School of Theology as well as members of the public who take out an individual membership.

References

External links

* {{authority control Seminaries and theological colleges in Australia Education in Melbourne Educational institutions established in 1988 1988 establishments in Australia