Unimelb

The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb north of Melbourne's central business district, with several other campuses located across Victoria.

Incorporated in the 19th century by the colony of Victoria, the University of Melbourne is one of Australia's six sandstone universities and a member of the Group of Eight, Universitas 21, Washington University's McDonnell International Scholars Academy, and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities. Since 1872, many residential colleges have become affiliated with the university, providing accommodation for students and faculty, and academic, sporting and cultural programs. There are ten colleges located on the main campus and in nearby suburbs.

The university comprises ten separate academic units and is associated with numerous institutes and research centres, including the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research and the Grattan Institute. The university has fifteen graduate schools, including the Melbourne Business School, the Melbourne Law School and the Melbourne Medical School.

''Times Higher Education'' ranked the University of Melbourne first in Australia and 34th globally in 2023, while the Academic Ranking of World Universities places it 35th in the world. In the ''QS World University Rankings 2022'', the university ranks 8th for graduate employability and 2nd in Australia, behind the University of Sydney. Four Australian prime ministers and five governors-general have graduated from the University of Melbourne. Eight Nobel Laureates have taught, studied and researched at the University of Melbourne, the most of any Australian university.

The university's coat of arms is a blue shield on which a depiction of "Victory" in white colour holds her laurel wreath over the stars of the Southern Cross. The motto, ''Postera crescam laude'' ("Later I shall grow by praise" or, more freely, "We shall grow in the esteem of future generations"), is written on a scroll beneath the shield. The Latin is from a line in Horace's ''Odes'': ''ego postera crescam laude recens''.

History

Foundations of the university

The University of Melbourne was established following a proposal by Hugh Childers, the Auditor-General and Finance Minister, in his first Budget Speech on 4November 1852, who set aside a sum of £10,000 for the establishment of a university. The university was established by Act of Incorporation on 22 January 1853, with power to confer degrees in arts, medicine, laws and music. The act provided for an annual endowment of £9,000, while a special grant of £20,000 was made for buildings that year. The foundation stone was laid on 3July 1854, and on the same day the foundation stone for the State Library Classes commenced in 1855 with three professors and sixteen students; of this body of students only four graduated. The original buildings were officially opened by the Lieutenant Governor of the Colony of Victoria, Sir Charles Hotham, on 3October 1855.

A law school was established in 1857 at the Parkville campus, following which a Faculty of Engineering and School of Medicine were established in 1861 and 1862 respectively. The university's residential colleges were first opened on the northern aspect of the campus in 1872, divided between the four main Christian denominations.

The first chancellor, Redmond Barry (later Sir Redmond), held the position until his death in 1880. The inauguration of the university was made possible by the wealth resulting from Victoria's gold rush. The institution was designed to be a "civilising influence" at a time of rapid settlement and commercial growth. In 1881, the admission of women was a seen as victory over the more conservative ruling council. Julia 'Bella' Guerin graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1883, and became the first woman to graduate from an Australian University.

1900s–1970s

Early in the 1900s, the university expanded its offerings to more utilitarian courses. In 1901 the number of students enrolled at the University of Melbourne exceeded 500 students for the first time. The university established the Diploma of Education in 1903, following negotiations with the Victorian Education Department.

Despite the economic depression of the 1890s and the discovery of a significant fraud by a university registrar in 1901, the university continued to expand during this period. This growth included the construction of several buildings between 1900 and 1906. Such growth was facilitated largely through an increased government funding allocation, and the coinciding university led funding campaign. To accompany the training dentists received by the Melbourne Dental Hospital, a School of Dentistry was established to teach the scientific basis of dentistry at the university. Agriculture was established in 1911 following the appointment of the State Director of Agriculture as the first professor. During this period the university became a notable site for research, emerging as a leader in Australia. Following World War II the demand for higher education increased rapidly, and as a result became a transformative period for the university.

In 1940, the first issue of ''Historical Studies: Australia and New Zealand'', now ''Australian Historical Studies'', was published by the Department of History.

1980s – 2000s: Consolidation and expansion

Expansion of the university increased significantly during the 1980s and 1990s, as the university amalgamated with a number of tertiary colleges. In 1988 the Melbourne Teachers' College was brought into the Faculty of Education, and the amalgamation lead to the formation of a distinctly new Faculty of Education. The College of Advanced Education was incorporated into the university in 1989. During this period, more students than ever had before attended the university. The university had expanded its student population to beyond 35,000 students. Such amalgamations continued into the 1990s, with the Victorian College of the Arts affiliation with the University of Melbourne in 1992. This grew the number of campuses for the University of Melbourne, which would now include a new St Kilda Road location.

In 2001, the Melbourne School of Population Health was established, the first of its kind in Australia, and continued the growth of the university. Work at the centre involved contributions from many disciplines, ranging from the social sciences to epidemiology. Health fields such as Indigenous, women's, mental, sexual, and rural health have all been researched at the centre.

In 2008, Vice Chancellor Glyn Davis introduced a major restructure of the university's curriculum. The new structure, named the Melbourne Model, replaced traditional undergraduate specialist degrees with a two-degree undergraduate/graduate structure. Over 100 undergraduate degrees were replaced with six generalist degrees, with students taking a general bachelor's degree before specialising in either a professional or research graduate course. The introduction of the model, influenced by North American academia and the Bologna process, was controversial among students and staff. Various groups, including trade and student unions,"Cuts take toll on 'overworked' Melbourne Uni staff"
, ''The Age'', 11 April 2008. Accessed 3 May 2008.

academics,
and some students criticised the introduction of the new structure, citing job and subject cuts, and a risk of "dumbing down" content. A group of students produced a satirical musical about the model's adoption. A dean from Monash University rejected the model and argued it led to a reduction in student applications to the University of Melbourne. The University of Western Australia is the only other Australian university to adopt the structure. Davis also introduced reforms to university governance, making faculty deans more responsible for producing a financial surplus.

2010s – present: Restructure and casualisation

Between 2013 and 2015 Davis introduced a wide-reaching restructure of the university's administration, labelled the Business Improvement Program, which led to the sacking of 500 administrative staff and some administrative responsibilities being transferred to academic staff. At the same time in the ten years to 2018 the university embarked on a large capital works program, spending $2 billion on new buildings across the university's campuses. The Melbourne School of Land and Environment was disestablished on 1January 2015. Its agriculture and food systems department moved alongside veterinary science to form the Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, while other areas of study, including horticulture, forestry, geography and resource management, moved to the Faculty of Science in two new departments. In 2019, allegations of a toxic workplace culture within the Faculty of Arts were aired, with a number of senior staff leaving their positions. At the same time, there was controversy over the high salaries earned by the Vice Chancellor, with Davis earning $1.5 million in 2019, the most of any university head in Australia.

Like other Australian Universities, an extraordinary growth in international students took place at the University of Melbourne and meant the university became increasingly reliant on revenue from its overseas student cohort.

In 2020, on-campus teaching was limited to selected clinical placements as a result of social distancing restrictions required by the Victorian State Government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of teaching was moved to online delivery during the first semester. Like many other institutions and workplaces, university faculty members elected to use Zoom Video Communications to conduct live tutorials online.

In 2020 the university announced it was axing 450 staff in the institution's largest ever layoff of academic staff, despite a planned expenditure of $4.2 billion for capital works over the decade from 2020. Similarly, in semester two of 2021, the majority of teaching was once again moved to online delivery due to the outbreak of the Delta variant of COVID-19 and ensuing lockdowns in Victoria. In response the university announced further job losses, despite the university running an $8m surplus in 2020. Eleven subjects were cut as part of the savings measures including a number of specialist scientific subjects, a move criticised by Nobel Laureate Peter Doherty and others. The halting of international student arrivals as part of the Australian pandemic response was projected to cause a major loss in revenue for the university.

In 2019 and 2020 the University was also involved in wage theft and underpayment controversies towards its large teaching workforce of casual staff, and began repaying casual tutors for unpaid marking. The university was accused of owing Faculty of Arts teaching staff an estimated $6 million. In 2021 the Vice-Chancellor issued an apology for systematically underpaying staff, saying there was “a systemic failure of respect from this institution" towards casual staff that resulted in underpaying 1,000 staff members and requiring the university to pay back $9.5 million. The university came under sustained criticism over the poor employment and financial conditions of its highly casualised academic workforce. Over the 2010s the university increasingly casualised its workforce, with reports that between 47 and 72 per cent of its 11,000 employees were on casual contracts by 2020.

In 2021 the State Government granted planning approval for a new campus for the university at the urban renewal precinct Fisherman's Bend. The $2 billion campus, set to open in 2025, will focus on engineering and forms part of a large capital works program by the university, which includes the demolition of Union House and the construction of a new student precinct on the south-east corner of the Parkville campus.

In June 2021, a new speech policy was implemented to protect and safeguard transgender individuals within the university.

Campuses

The university has three other campuses in metropolitan Melbourne at Burnley, Southbank, and Werribee. The Burnley campus is where horticultural courses are taught. Performing arts, visual arts, film and television, and music courses are taught at the Southbank campus. Veterinary science is taught at the Werribee campus.

In regional Victoria, the Creswick and Dookie campuses are used for forestry and agriculture courses respectively. They previously housed several hundred residential students, but are now largely used for short courses and research. The Shepparton campus is home to the Rural Health Academic Centre for the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences.

The university is a part-owner of the Melbourne Business School, based at Parkville campus, which ranked 46th in the 2012 ''Financial Times'' global rankings.

Parkville

The Parkville campus is the primary campus of the university. Originally established in a large area north of Grattan Street in Parkville, the campus has expanded well beyond its boundaries, with many of its newly acquired buildings located in the nearby suburb of Carlton. The university is undertaking an "ambitious infrastructure program" to reshape campuses. The campus was founded in 1853, and is located just north of Melbourne's central business district. Parkville campus has cafes, gyms, 12 libraries, specialty stores, a small supermarket, and a seasonal farmers market. The campus is located within a broader renowned knowledge precinct, which encompasses eight hospitals, and many other leading research institutes.

Several of the earliest campus buildings, such as the Old Quadrangle and Baldwin Spencer buildings, feature period architecture. The old quad underwent extensive restoration in 2019 to return to original design, including a dedicated temporary exhibition space in the Treasury Gallery. The new Wilson Hall replaced the original building which was destroyed by fire.

Recipients of the University of Melbourne Award (see below) are acknowledged by bronze commemorative plaques along Professors Walk on this campus.

The Parkville campus was used extensively to shoot interior and exterior scenes in the MIFF-funded ''The Death and Life of Otto Bloom'' starring ''Twilight'' actor Xavier Samuel and Golden Globe nominee Rachel Ward.

The Union and Guild Theatres are located within the Union House on the Parkville campus.

Southbank

The Southbank campus is home to the Victorian College of the Arts and the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, and is situated within Melbourne's creative arts precinct. Theatre and dance stages, film and television studios, visual arts studios, and concert halls are all located at the university's purpose-built creative arts home.

A$200 million major capital works project at the campus was completed in 2019. The project includes the construction of a new state-of-the-art conservatorium for music and the conversion of historically important buildings for use as education and research facilities.

In 2011, the Victorian State Government allocated $24 million to support arts education at the VCA. This was due in part to it coming together with the Conservatorium to form the then Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts and the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.

Burnley

The Burnley Campus is located within the suburb of Burnley in Melbourne, around 5 km east of the Melbourne CBD. The campus is dedicated to both ornamental and environmental horticulture, and is surrounded by nine hectares of heritage-listed gardens. The campus began operating as a learning precinct in horticultural education in 1891. At the campus, students are offered short courses, associate degrees, post-graduate studies, and research. Specifically, training for urban landscape management, landscape design and production, park management, turf management, nursery and cut flower production, and arboriculture are all specialisations of the campus.

Creswick

The Creswick campus is located within the township of Creswick, 120 km north-west of Melbourne. It is situated on 15 hectares of land, in is also connected native and plantation forests. Accommodation is available at the campus to members of the University of Melbourne's student cohorts and teaching staff when engaged at Creswick. Creswick campus has been offering forest science education since 1910, and is Australia's only dedicated forest ecosystem science campus, which focuses on forest industry, conservation, and molecular biology research. Scientists based at the campus include hydrologists, soil scientists, plant geneticists, geomorphologists, fire scientists, ecologists, engineers, and mathematicians.

Dookie

The Dookie campus has been the university's rural home to agriculture and agricultural teaching and learning since its inception in 1886. It is based between Shepparton and Benalla, about 220 km north east of Melbourne. Dookie campus is situated on 2440 hectares of land that houses student and staff accommodation, an orchard, winery, merino sheep, robotic dairy, and a natural bush reserve. Agriculture students are able to access the city campus in addition to a semester at the Dookie campus. Subjects in agriculture, science, commerce, and environments are available at the campus.

Shepparton

The Shepparton Medical Centre campus is located in Shepparton, nearly 200 km north of Melbourne. The campus is part of the Melbourne Medical School, and the Shepparton base is home to the Shepparton Rural Clinical School. It provides fully furnished, subsidized, self-catered student on site at the Clinical School. The University of Melbourne Shepparton Medical Centre was the first purpose built teaching clinic in Australia, and services Shepparton and surrounds with comprehensive primary healthcare.

Werribee

The Werribee campus is located about 30 km south west of the city, and is home to research and teaching for the Melbourne Veterinary School. Recently the campus undertook an AU$63 million redevelopment to enhance facilities for pet treatment and the training of future veterinarians at the University of Melbourne. Victoria's only accredited veterinary course is based at The University of Melbourne, at both the Werribee and Parkville campuses. Kendall Hall offers self-catered accommodation for 76 residents in single bedrooms with shared facilities at the University of Melbourne Werribee campus.

Former campuses

The university had a number of former campuses, including Glenormiston (now Glenormiston College), Longerenong (now Longerenong College), McMillan (based in Leongatha and Warragul) and the Werribee-based Gilbert Chandler Campus.

Organisation and administration

Governance

Governance of the university is grounded in an act of parliament, the University of Melbourne Act 2009. The peak governing body is the "Council" the key responsibilities of which include appointing the vice-chancellor and principal, approving the strategic direction and annual budget, establishing operational policies and procedures and overseeing academic and commercial activities as well as risk management. The chair of the council is the "chancellor". The "academic board" oversees learning, teaching and research activities and provides advice to the council on these matters. The "committee of convocation" represents graduates and its members are elected in proportion to the number of graduates in each faculty.

The University of Melbourne's operations are governed through a hierarchy of delegations framework. A 13-member council is the university's governing body. It establishes the university's council, determines its core functions, and allows the university to enact subordinate legislation through statutes and regulations. Under legislative elements associated with the council, university policies exist as a formal statement of principle to regulate university operations. Under university policies, university processes exist to support workplace agreements, policy, and relevant legislation by noting day-to-day operation tasks and activities to be performed by staff.

The academic board is held responsible to the council for quality assurance in activities such as the maintenance of high standards in teaching, research and learning. The University of Melbourne Executive is the university's principal management committee. The university consists of academic and administrative structures. University leadership encompasses the chancellor, vice-chancellor and senior executives, who are responsible for the strategic vision of the university.

Endowment

The University of Melbourne has an endowment of approximately $1.335 billion, the largest of any Australian tertiary institution.

The university's endowments recovered after hardship following the 2008 Great Recession, which shrank its investments by 22%. This required restructuring of the university, including cutting 220 full-time positions.Battered Melbourne Uni slashes 220 jobs
, ''The Age'', 29 July 2009 A further round of cuts, driven by lingering concerns about finances and declining Federal contributions to the tertiary sector, took place under the 'Business Improvement Program' from 2014 to 2016 and resulted in the cutting of 500 jobs.

Under former vice-chancellor Glyn Davis, the university publicly launched a fundraising campaign titled ''Believe'' in 2013. The campaign raised $500 million by 2016 and sought to raise a further $1 billion by 2021.

Faculties and present deans

The University of Melbourne is divided into 10 faculties, which encompass all major departments of both research and teaching.

*Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning: Julie Willis.
*Faculty of Arts: Russell Goulbourne.
*Faculty of Business and Economics: Paul Kofman and Ian Harper (co-deans).
*Melbourne Graduate School of Education: Jim Watterston.
* Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology: Mark Cassidy.
* Faculty of Fine Arts and Music: Marie Sierra.
* Melbourne Law School: Pip Nicholson.
* Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences: Jane Gunn.
*Faculty of Science: Moira O'Bryan.
* Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences: John Fazakerley.

Academic profile

Admissions

The university has 11 academic units, some of which incorporate a graduate school. The overall attrition and retention rates at the university are the lowest and highest respectively in Australia.Does this model have legs?
, ''The Age'', 15 August 2009. The university has one of the highest admission requirements in the country, with the median ATAR of its undergraduates being 94.05 (2009). 50% of the Premier's VCE Top All-Round High Achievers enrolled at the University of Melbourne.

For domestic applications, an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) is generally required for bachelor's degrees. For undergraduate degrees in 2019, guaranteed entry scores into degrees were: Agriculture 70, Arts 85, Biomedicine 96, Commerce 94, Design 85, Science 85, Oral Health 85 (indicative only), Fine Arts and Music were not applicable.

Domestic applicants who have a disadvantaged financial background, are from rural or isolated areas, are from underrepresented schools, experienced difficult circumstances, have a disability or medical condition, are from a non-English speaking background, identify as an Indigenous Australian, or are applying through a non-school leaver entry pathway may be eligible for the Access Melbourne program. The program offered guaranteed entry in 2023 for students with ATARs of: Agriculture 72, Arts 88, Biomedicine 95, Commerce 93, Design 88, and Science 88. Minimum International Baccalaureate Diploma scores for undergraduate guaranteed entry in 2019 were: Agriculture 25, Arts 31, Biomedicine 38, Commerce 36, design 31, Science 31, Oral Health 31 (indicative only), Fine arts and Music were not applicable.

International students compose 44% of the university's student body.

Teaching structure

The University of Melbourne differs from other Australian universities in its course structure, as it offers nine generalised three-year degrees instead of more traditional specialised undergraduate degrees. This system, described as the "Melbourne Model", was implemented in 2008 Vice-Chancellor Glyn Davis in 2008. change from the former curriculum, which offered many single and joint degrees, was described by the university as the "Melbourne Model". The university also offers postgraduate courses (including professional-entry master's degrees) that follow undergraduate courses with greater specialization.

Several professional degrees are available only for graduate entry. These degrees are at a masters level according to the Australian Qualification Framework, but are named "masters" or "doctorate" following the practice in North America. The university's faculties often have a corresponding graduate school to offer these degrees.

Rankings

''Times Higher Education'' ranked Melbourne 33rd globally (1st nationally) in the 2021-2022 iteration of its annual ''World University Rankings''. In the ''QS World University Rankings 2023'', the University of Melbourne was ranked 33rd globally (2nd in Australia). In 2022, it ranked 33rd among the universities around the world by ''SCImago Institutions Rankings