Victoria College was a
College of Advanced Education The College of Advanced Education (CAE) was a class of Australian tertiary education institution that existed from 1967 until the early 1990s. They ranked below universities, but above Colleges of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) which offer t ...
(CAE) 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. It was created as a result of the merger on 23 December 1981 of the
State College of Victoria colleges at Burwood, Rusden and Toorak with the
Prahran College of Advanced Education. In doing so, it became the largest
College of Advanced Education The College of Advanced Education (CAE) was a class of Australian tertiary education institution that existed from 1967 until the early 1990s. They ranked below universities, but above Colleges of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) which offer t ...
in eastern
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 ...
.
It ceased to be at midnight 1 January 1992. Most of it became part of
Deakin University
Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia.
Its main campuses are in Melbourne's Burwood suburb, Geelong Waurn Ponds, ...
, while one campus joined
Swinburne Institute of Technology and its Fine Art courses went to the
Victorian College of the Arts
The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus of the ...
.
At its foundation, it was primarily a teachers college. At its end, it had a diverse range of courses in a broad range of subjects.
History
All the founding institutions had a single campus with the exception of Rusden which had two campuses: one in Clayton (known as "Rusden"), the other in Armadale.
In the beginning, it was expected by the State Government that the Prahran campus would close, with its facilities going to the TAFE college and its courses to other Victoria campuses. However, this did not occur, in part because of that campus's extensive specialist facilities.
At its founding in 1981, 75% of the college's students were enrolled in teaching courses. It diversified during its ten years, taking on many language, business and nursing course students. In 1988, only 65% of students were studying teaching. In 1991, the figure was 42%.
In 1983, the Armadale campus closed.
In 1990, the college purchased the Allambie children's home from the State Government. It was adjacent to the Burwood campus.
Research in 1990 found that the college's students mainly lived in eastern and southern Melbourne, and on the
Mornington Peninsula
The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located south of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to the mainland in the north. Geogra ...
. Students residing in the outer east found it particularly popular. It was suggested that this was due to their relative disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.
The end
In 1988, the Dawkins higher education reforms by the Commonwealth Government meant that just seven years after its establishment, Victoria College was to become part of a university. Which university was a matter for major debate between 1988 and 1991.
One of the rules was that all institutions on the same site were to merge. This meant that in almost all proposals, Rusden would become part of
Monash University
Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...
. However, the most supported of the early floated plans was a merger of all the other campuses with
Swinburne Institute of Technology. A sticking point was that Swinburne required the Victoria campuses to almost completely stop teaching humanities, and focus on science and technology courses. Victoria College refused this condition in May 1989, and the deal fell apart.
After this proposal waned, a complete merger with Monash was strongly mooted and supported by the university. A Commonwealth task force in April 1989 supported this move, but with the Prahran campus transferring to TAFE and the Toorak campus closing. In 1990, State Education Minister
Joan Kirner
Joan Elizabeth Kirner (née Hood; 20 June 1938 – 1 June 2015) was an Australian politician who was the 42nd Premier of Victoria, serving from 1990 to 1992. A Labor Party member of the Parliament of Victoria from 1982 to 1994, she was a mem ...
expressed that a Monash merger was what the State and Commonwealth had always wanted. However, by 1990, Monash appeared lukewarm about a merger.
At this point, the option of Deakin arose. Deakin, with its two campuses at Geelong and Warrnambool (in process), was concerned that it would become by far the smallest university in Victoria, less than half the size of the next smallest one in Swinburne. It suggested a deal with Victoria College. In July 1990, a state government report still preferred a Monash merger, but thought a Deakin deal would also be appropriate.
The final deal approved by Victoria College was to lose Rusden to Monash, and merge with Deakin. However the parliament decided instead to keep Rusden, move Prahran's
Fine Arts
In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...
courses to the
Victorian College of the Arts
The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus of the ...
, move the business and finance courses to Deakin, and move the Prahran campus to Swinburne.
So in the end, on 31 December 1991, the Burwood, Rusden and Toorak campuses (plus the college's corporate body) merged with
Deakin University
Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia.
Its main campuses are in Melbourne's Burwood suburb, Geelong Waurn Ponds, ...
.
The Prahran campus, along with
Prahran College of TAFE (co-located with the Prahran campus), were absorbed by
Swinburne Institute of Technology on 1 January 1992. Six months later, this became
Swinburne University of Technology
Swinburne University of Technology (often simply called Swinburne) is a public research university based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1908 as the Eastern Suburbs Technical College by George Swinburne to serve those without access ...
.
[http://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/highered/postsece/Swinburne_Com_engagement_July05jw.pdf ]
Campuses post merger
The Rusden campus, while initially part of Deakin, became part of
Monash University
Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...
's
Clayton campus in 2004. The site now offers student accommodation. The courses at Rusden were transferred to Deakin's Burwood campus.
The Toorak campus ceased operations in 2007. Like Rusden, its courses were relocated to Deakin's Burwood campus and the property was sold to developers. Much of the site is to become private housing, while the future use of the heritage protected
Stonnington mansion is uncertain.
Antecedents
The constituent colleges of the State College of Victoria were formed on 31 July 1973.
Larnook Domestic Arts Teachers' College at the Larnook mansion,
Armadale, was founded in 1950. It later became
Larnook Teachers College, but retained the domestic arts specialisation.
The
Monash Teachers College was a secondary teachers' college on the Rusden campus site, founded in 1961. It was founded because Monash University's initial enrolment for teaching was greater than its facilities could support, and establishing a separate college on the same site was more cost effective for the state government than enlarging facilities at the university.
The
Glendonald School for Deaf Children was a school for the deaf in
Kew
Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...
. One of its functions was to train teachers for the deaf. This aspect was known as
Glendonald Teachers College and was established in 1954.
The State College of Victoria at Rusden was formed by the merger of these three colleges in 1975.
Burwood Teachers College began at the
Box Hill Methodist Church in 1954 while waiting for its buildings to be ready. It moved to the current Burwood campus site in late 1954. The State College of Victoria at Burwood was formed by the merger of the
Training Centre for Teachers of the Deaf with this college and the ex-Glendonald component of Rusden in 1976. The result was mainly a primary teaching college, with a special unit for disabled student teaching.
In 1951,
Toorak Teachers' College was established in Toorak. It moved to the Stonnington mansion in Malvern in 1957. This later became the State College of Victoria at Toorak. This institution focused on primary teaching. In 1975 it absorbed
Mercer House (also known as Mercer College), a small private teachers college that trained teachers for independent schools.
The
Prahran Mechanics' Institute
PMI Victorian History Library Inc. (Formerly Prahran Mechanics' Institute) is a community-owned subscription library situated at 39 St Edmonds Road, Prahran, Victoria, Australia. The library focuses on collecting resources about every locality i ...
was established in 1856. An offshoot of this became the
Prahran Technical Art School in 1915. This in turn became the
Prahran Technical School
The Prahran College of Advanced Education, formerly Prahran College of Technology, was a late-secondary and tertiary institution with a business school, a trade school, and a multi-disciplinary art school that dated back to the 1860s, populated ...
in 1950 and the
Prahran College of Technology in 1967. This then became the
Prahran College of Advanced Education in 1974. It offered a wide range of higher education and TAFE courses (including degrees), with a focus on art and design. On 9 December 1981, the TAFE component was spun off as the
Prahran College of TAFE.
References
External links
Razor gang to Dawkins : a History of Victoria College: an Australian College of Advanced EducationBurwood Campus History Book to be LaunchedDeakin Alumni Community farewell to the Melbourne Campus at ToorakSale of Deakin University's Melbourne Campus at ToorakRusden - Post-Apocalypse
{{coord missing, Victoria (Australia)
Deakin University
Educational institutions established in 1981
Educational institutions disestablished in 1992
Colleges of Advanced Education
1981 establishments in Australia
1992 disestablishments