Adelaide University

The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on North Terrace in the Adelaide city centre, adjacent to the Art Gallery of South Australia, the South Australian Museum, and the State Library of South Australia.

The university has four campuses, three in South Australia: North Terrace campus in the city, Roseworthy campus at Roseworthy and Waite campus at Urrbrae, and one in Melbourne, Victoria. The university also operates out of other areas such as Thebarton, the National Wine Centre in the Adelaide Park Lands, and in Singapore through the Ngee Ann-Adelaide Education Centre.

The University of Adelaide is composed of three faculties, with each containing constituent schools. These include the Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology (SET), the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, and the Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics (ABLE). It is a member of the Group of Eight and the Association of Commonwealth Universities. The university is also a member of the Sandstone universities, which mostly consist of colonial-era universities within Australia.

The university is associated with five Nobel laureates, constituting one-third of Australia's total Nobel Laureates, and 114 Rhodes scholars. The university has generated a considerable impact on the public life of South Australia, having educated many of the state's leading businesspeople, lawyers, medical professionals and politicians. The university has been associated with many notable achievements and discoveries, such as the discovery and development of penicillin, the development of space exploration, sunscreen, the military tank, Wi-Fi, polymer banknotes and X-ray crystallography, and the study of viticulture and oenology.

History

The University of Adelaide was established on 6 November 1874 after a £20,000 donation by grazier and copper miner Walter Watson Hughes, along with support and donations from Thomas Elder.

The university's first chancellor was Sir Richard Hanson, and the first vice-chancellor was Augustus Short. The first degree offered was the Bachelor of Arts, and the university started teaching in March 1876. John Davidson was the first Hughes professor of English literature and mental and moral philosophy.

The university has a long history of championing the rights of women in higher education. It was the second university in the English-speaking world (after the University of London, 1878) to admit women on equal terms with men (1881), although women studied alongside men from the commencement of classes in 1876 and were equally eligible for all academic prizes and honours. Its first female graduate was Edith Emily Dornwell, who was also the first person in Australia to receive the degree of Bachelor of Science (BSc., 1885). The university also graduated Australia's first female surgeon Laura Fowler (MB, 1891). Ruby Davy (B.Mus., 1907; D.Mus., 1918) was the first Australian woman to receive a doctorate in music. The university was also the first to elect a woman to a university council in Australia, Helen Mayo (MBBS, 1902), in 1914.

The great hall of the university, Bonython Hall, was built in 1936 following a donation from the owner of '' The Advertiser'' newspaper, Sir John Langdon Bonython, who left £40,000 for a great hall for the university.

21st century

On 2 July 2010, the university officially implemented its "Smoke-Free Policy". This move was the culmination of an anti-smoking agenda headed by Professor Konrad Jamrozik and subsequently, following Jamrozik's death, the executive dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Professor Justin Beilby. Security have the right to eject people smoking within the university buildings and also fine people smoking in the gardens or walkways. It is the first higher education institution in South Australia to institute a smoke-free policy. The North Terrace campus has been smoke-free since July 2010; it was planned that the Waite and Roseworthy campuses would be smoke-free by 2011, and the university's residential facilities have also been made smoke-free.

In June 2018, the University of Adelaide and University of South Australia began discussions regarding the possibility of a merger. The proposition was described as the formation of a "super uni" by Steven Marshall and Simon Birmingham, but the merger was called off in October 2018. In 2022, the topic of a merger was raised again by the new government led by Peter Malinauskas, which proposed setting up a commission to investigate the possibility of a merger of the University of South Australia, the University of Adelaide and Flinders University. Staff's opinions were evenly divided on the idea of the commission.

Campuses

North Terrace

The main campus of the university is on North Terrace. It is bordered by the Art Gallery of South Australia, the State Library of South Australia, the South Australian Museum and the "City East" campus of the University of South Australia. The Adelaide University Medical and Dental Schools were located across Frome Road, behind the old Royal Adelaide Hospital (now Lot Fourteen). The hospital moved to the western end of North Terrace and so have the schools; the Medical School North and South buildings were renamed Helen Mayo North and South from 1 January 2018, in honour of Helen Mayo, a doctor at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and a graduate of the University of Adelaide.

The vast majority of students and staff of the university are based at the North Terrace campus, where the majority of courses are taught and schools are based. The central administration of the university and the main library, the Barr Smith Library, are both located on this campus. While many other universities have law and business schools or satellite campuses within the central business district, the University of Adelaide is unique among Australian sandstone universities for having its main presence adjacent to the main business and shopping precinct.

Buildings

Bonython Hall, (the great hall of the university), the Mitchell Building, the Elder Hall, the Napier building and the Ligertwood building, form the North Terrace street frontage of the campus. Bonython Hall is one of the many historic and heritage listed buildings located at the North Terrace campus. Others include the Mitchell Building, Elder Hall, and the Reading Room of the Barr Smith Library.

The heritage-listed group of buildings known as the Union Buildings or Union Building Group include the Lady Symon Building, the George Murray Building, the Cloisters, Union House and the Western Annexe. The earlier Georgian-style buildings, including the Cloisters, the Lady Symon Building (named after the wife of Sir Josiah Symon) and the George Murray building (named after George John Robert Murray, vice-chancellor and later chancellor of the university), were designed by the architects Woods, Bagot, Jory and Laybourne-Smith (who also designed Bonython Hall, the Mitchell Gates and Johnson Laboratory, the Barr Smith Library and the Bentham Building) in 1929 and 1937. Later additions. The award-winning redevelopments in 1971 and 1975 known as Union House, including the Union Bookshop, were designed by Dickson & Platten and Robert Dickson & Associates respectively.

Masterplan (2016–)

In 2016, the university commenced work on a , 20-year "masterplan" for its three campuses. The masterplan envisages new facilities for all schools, and greatly enhanced campus amenities for students, with a focus on pedestrians and cyclists, providing better, safer pathways through the campus, and eliminating vehicle traffic where possible. At North Terrace, the Schulz building will be repurposed as an on-campus residential college, with accommodation, and recreational facilities including a gym. This major transformation of the university's physical presence across all campuses comes in conjunction with the multimillion-dollar renewal and redevelopment of the old Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) site on North Terrace. In September 2017, the RAH moved to the western end of North Terrace, in the $4 billion South Australian Health and Biomedical Precinct (SAHBP), at which the University of Adelaide also has a physical presence in the form of the Adelaide Health and Medical Sciences Building.

Waite

The Waite campus has a strong focus on agricultural science, plant breeding and biotechnology. The School of Agriculture, Food and Wine is based on the Waite campus and the campus contains components of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. It is adjacent to the Urrbrae Agricultural High School.

A number of other organisations are co-located in the Waite Research Precinct, including the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) (which is part of Primary Industries and Regions SA (PIRSA), whose headquarters are also at the campus); Australian Grain Technologies; the Australian Wine Research Institute. the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO); and the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG).

It is situated in Adelaide's south-eastern foothills, in the suburb of Urrbrae on . A large amount of the land was donated in 1924 by the pastoralist Peter Waite. A large amount of money was donated by Rosina and John, the widow and son of William Tennant Mortlock. These donations were initially used to establish the Peter Waite Institute of Agricultural Research (first Director A. E. V. Richardson), which later became the Waite campus.

A Soil Research Centre was founded in 1929 with a donation of £10,000 from Harold Darling of J. Darling and Son, grain merchants.

In 2004, Premier Mike Rann opened the multimillion-dollar Plant Genomics Centre at the Waite campus. Then in 2010 Premier Rann opened The Plant Accelerator, a $30 million research facility – the largest and most advanced of its kind in the world.

Malcolm Oades was the director from November 1996 to 2001.

Roseworthy

Located north of the city, the Roseworthy campus comprises 16 km² of farmland and is a large centre for agricultural research. It was the first agricultural college in Australia, established in 1883 and the first veterinary school in SA in 2008. Other organisations linked to the campus include SARDI and the Murray TAFE.

In 1991, the college merged with the University of Adelaide and became the university's Roseworthy campus, part of the Faculty of Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences. The merger would see teaching and research in oenology and viticulture transferred to the university's Waite campus, along with the bulk of its work in plant breeding. Before the degree in oenology was transferred to the Waite campus, Roseworthy produced a number of highly regarded and awarded winemakers and wine critics."Australian Winemaking, The Roseworthy Influence", Geoffrey Bishop 1980, Investigator Press Pty Ltd

From the mid-1990s, the major focus of the campus turned to dryland agriculture, natural resource management and animal production. The campus is also now home to South Australia's first veterinary science training program, which commenced in 2008. The new Veterinary Science Centre houses not only teaching facilities, including a surgical skills suite, but also a public veterinary clinic offering general practice as well as emergency and specialist veterinary services for pet animals. There are also specialised pathology laboratories in this centre for teaching, research and diagnostic work. In 2013, the veterinary science facilities were expanded with the opening of the Equine Health and Performance Centre, a state-of-the-art facility for equine surgery, sports medicine, internal medicine and reproduction.

Other locations

National Wine Centre

Located in the Adelaide Park Lands at the eastern end of North Terrace, the Wine Centre offers some of the university's oenology courses. Opened in 2001, the facility also hosts public exhibitions about winemaking and its industry in South Australia. It contains an interactive permanent exhibition of winemaking, introducing visitors to the technology, varieties and styles of wine. It also has a wine tasting area, giving visitors the opportunity to taste and compare wines from different areas of Australia.

The Wine Centre is situated at the eastern end of North Terrace, Adelaide in the eastern parklands and adjacent to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. The building, designed by Cox Grieve Gillett, uses building materials to reflect items used in making wine.

Thebarton

Thebarton is the base of the university's Office of Industry Liaison. The precinct works in conjunction with the university's commercial partners. Commercial enterprises at Thebarton include businesses involved in materials engineering, biotechnology, environmental services, information technology, industrial design, laser/optics technology, health products, engineering services, radar systems, telecommunications and petroleum services. The flames for the Sydney and Athens Olympic Games were developed at the Thebarton campus by the TEC group.

Ngee Ann (Singapore)

The Ngee Ann – Adelaide Education Centre (NAAEC)NAAEC
, Ngee Ann – Adelaide Education Centre, http://www.adelaide.edu.au/sg/ was the University of Adelaide's first overseas centre. It was a joint venture with the Ngee Ann Kongsi foundation, started in 1998. In 2016, the University of Adelaide withdrew from the partnership, after about 3000 students had graduated over the 18 years of operation.

In 2018 the Singapore institution was rebranded as the Ngee Ann Academy, and in 2019 partnered with the University of Adelaide as well as three British universities.

Gallery

File:University of Adelaide.jpg, View of eastern side of the Mitchell Building from North Terrace, 2007.
File:UofAdelaide-BonythonHall&LawBld-front-Aug08.jpg, Bonython Hall & the Ligertwood Building (viewed from North Terrace).
File:UofAdelaide-Mawson&Conservatorium-Aug08.jpg, Bust of Sir Douglas Mawson & the Elder Conservatorium of Music (viewed from North Terrace).
File:UofAdelaide-BonythonHall&Conservatorium-front-Aug08.jpg, Bonython Hall & the Elder Conservatorium of Music (viewed from North Terrace).
File:UofAdelaide-BonythonHall&Conservatorium-rear-Aug08.jpg, Bonython Hall & the Elder Conservatorium of Music (viewed from the north).
File:UofAdelaide-BonythonHall&NapierBld-rear-Aug08.jpg, Bonython Hall & the Napier Building (viewed from the north).
File:UofAdelaide-Cloisters-Aug08.jpg, The Cloisters.
File:UofAdelaide-Cloisters&Union-Aug08.jpg, The Cloisters and the Student Union Building.
File:The University of Adelaide and Barr Smith Library.jpg, The Barr Smith Library with the Napier building visible in the background
File:UofAdelaide-BarrSmithLibraryLawns-Aug08.jpg, Barr Smith Lawns.
File:UofAdelaide-TeachersCollegeBuildings-Aug08.jpg, The old Adelaide Teachers College buildings, now part of the university.
File:Adelaide University 1926 map.jpg, University of Adelaide site map 1926
File:Statue of Sir Walter Watson Hughes on North Tce, Adelaide.jpg, Statue of foundation philanthropist, Sir Walter Watson Hughes, facing North Tce.

Residential colleges

The University of Adelaide, unlike most universities, did not set any land aside on its North Terrace campus for student accommodation, due mainly to an ideological opposition to the culture of live-in students, but also influenced by the small size of the original campus. However, demand for residential college accommodation led to the establishment of private colleges affiliated to the university. St. Mark's College was founded by the Anglican Church (then called the Church of England) in 1925, Aquinas College in 1950 by the Catholic Church, Lincoln College in 1952 by the Methodist Church, and later St Ann's College, Kathleen Lumley College and Australian Lutheran College. All are located within close walking distance of the university, across the River Torrens in North Adelaide. In addition to providing accommodation and meals for local, interstate and international students, each college organises academic support, social activities and sporting opportunities for its members.

Governance

In 2021, Peter Hoj commenced his tenure as 24th Vice-Chancellor, taking over from Peter Rathjen (2018–20) and Interim VC Mike Brooks (2017–18, 2020–21).

In May 2020, Rathjen commenced an indefinite leave of absence after University of Adelaide Chancellor Kevin Scarce resigned without public explanation the previous day. Later in the week, the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption (ICAC) confirmed he was investigating allegations of improper conduct by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Adelaide. Rathjen, accused of engaging in "a personal relationship with a staff member", was succeeded by Acting Vice-Chancellor Mike Brooks. Rathjen formally resigned in July 2020, "due to ill health". In August 2020, the ICAC found that Rathjen had committed "serious misconduct" by sexually harassing two University of Adelaide colleagues, had lied to the then Chancellor Kevin Scarce, and also lied to the Commissioner in his evidence with respect to an investigation of sexual misconduct with a postgraduate student when he was employed at the University of Melbourne. The ICAC Commissioner Bruce Lander acknowledged there were "further issues" in the full 170-page report on the investigation which he chose not to release due to privacy concerns surrounding the victims, instead releasing an abridged 12-page version 'Statement about an Investigation: Misconduct by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Adelaide'. In determining his findings, the Commissioner relied in part on the personal blog of US journalist Michael Balter who documented Rathjens prior history of sexual harassment, and was largely responsible for bringing the matter to the public's attention, and ultimately ICAC's. The ICAC Commissioner's damning findings against Rathjen have put the University of Adelaide's culture under intense scrutiny in both the local and international media.

Claiming ill-health, Rathjen formally resigned in July 2020 and, despite the ICAC Commissioner's findings, received a large payout from the university.

Organisation

The university is divided into three faculties, down from five in 2022. This is following a merger of the Arts faculty with the Professions faculty and the Faculty of Sciences with the Faculty of ECMS (Engineering, Computer, and Mathematical Sciences). Each faculty is made up of various constituent schools:

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

*Adelaide Medical School
*Adelaide Dental School
*Adelaide Nursing School
*School of Public Health
*School of Psychology
*School of Allied Health Science and Practice
*School of Biomedicine
*Adelaide Rural Clinical School

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering, and Technology

*School of Agriculture, Food, and Wine
*School of Physical Sciences
*School of Biological Sciences
*School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences
* Australian School of Petroleum and Energy Resources
*School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials
*School of Civil, Environmental & Mining Engineering
*School of Computer Science
*School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering
*School of Mathematical Sciences
*School of Mechanical Engineering
* School of Architecture, and Built Environment

Faculty of Arts, Business, Law, and Economics

*Elder Conservatorium of Music
*School of Humanities
*School of Education
*School of Social Sciences
*Adelaide Business School
*School of Economics and Public Policy
*Adelaide Law School.
*The National Centre for Aboriginal Language and Music Studies (NCALMS) comprises three units: Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi (KWP), the Mobile Language Team (MLT), and the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM), which is within the Elder Conservatorium, and the "only devoted university-based centre for studies in Australian Indigenous music".

Wirltu Yarlu

The university has a long history of Indigenous education, establishing its first formal courses in the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM) in 1972. Wirltu Yarlu is a separate unit, which is "responsible for engaging with and recruiting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as well as providing support to students during their time s students.

Lecture series

The university hosts a number of lecture series, including the Joseph Fisher Lecture in Commerce, established in 1903 following a donation by politician and newspaper proprietor Joseph Fisher of £1000 to the university "for the purpose of promoting the study of commerce". The Gavin David Young Lectures in Philosophy began in 1956, owing their existence to a bequest made by Jessie Frances Raven, in memory of her father, for "the promotion, advancement, teaching and diffusion of the study of philosophy…".

The university also presents the James Crawford Biennial Lecture Series on International Law, named for James Richard Crawford SC, a graduate of the university who went on to be Dean of Law at the University of Sydney and subsequently Whewell Professor of International Law at the University of Cambridge. Crawford delivered the first lecture in 2004. The university is one of a number of institutions to have established an Edward Said Memorial Lecture. The first in this series was given in 2005.

Research

The University of Adelaide is one of the most research-intensive universities in Australia, securing over $180 million in research funding annually. Its researchers are active in both basic and commercially oriented research across a broad range of fields including agriculture, psychology, health sciences, and engineering.

Research strengths include engineering, mathematics, science, medical and health sciences, agricultural sciences, artificial intelligence, and the arts.

The university is a member of Academic Consortium 21, an association of 20 research intensive universities, mainly in Oceania, though with members from the US and Europe. The university held the Presidency of AC 21 for the period 2011–2013 as host the biennial AC21 International Forum in June 2012.

The Centre for Automotive Safety Research (CASR), based at the University of Adelaide, was founded in 1973 as the ''Road Accident Research Unit'' and focuses on road safety and injury control.

The University of Adelaide has capitalised on opportunities to commercialise its research. The university has the highest volume of commercial research agreements of all Australian universities. It engages in extensive contract research and collaborative work in conjunction with local and international companies, as well as federal, state and local governments. This activity is managed by the university's commercial development company, Adelaide Research & Innovation Pty Ltd (ARI).

Some examples of recent influences to the university's teaching and research priorities are the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG; previously the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, or DSTO) in Adelaide's northern suburbs to which the university provides many psychology, physics, engineering, and IT graduates; and the growth in South Australia's wine industry, which is supported by the Waite and National Wine Centre campuses producing oenology and agriculture/viticulture graduates.

In addition, the university participates in the Auto-ID Labs, a network of seven research universities in the field of networked radio-frequency identification (RFID) and emerging sensing technologies.

In August 2019, Primary Industries and Regions SA (PIRSA) and the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) entered a partnership with the university, in which scientists in diverse disciplines will be able to access PIRSA's research farms share their academic knowledge to the agricultural sector. The collaboration is anticipated to help develop SA's expertise in dryland agriculture, by encouraging multi-disciplinary research and help to bring about new export opportunities.

In 2020, the University partnered with SA Health to train Covid detector dogs.

Other university partners include the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the Hanson Institute.

In March 2022, the Australian Space Agency and the University of Adelaide stated that they would work together on space research.

Rankings

The University of Adelaide consistently features in the top 150 international universities as ranked by the Academic Ranking of World Universities, the QS World University Rankings, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and the U.S. News & World Report, situating it securely in the top 1% of ranked universities worldwide. The University of Adelaide ranked 90th in the 2022 Aggregate Ranking of Top Universities

Student life

Associations

As of 1 July 2006, membership of the Adelaide University Union (AUU) has been voluntary for all students, following the passing of voluntary student unionism (VSU) legislation by the Federal Government. The AUU funds five affiliates which carry out their functions autonomously. They are the Adelaide Postgraduate Students' Association (APGSA), the Clubs Association (CA), the Roseworthy Agricultural Campus Student Union Council (RACSUC), the Student Representative Council (preceded by the now defunct Students' Association of the University of Adelaide) and the Waite Institute Students' Association (WISA).

The Adelaide University Union was responsible for organising the annual Prosh (University of Adelaide) events.

Media

The University of Adelaide has three print news publications; these are:
* ''On Dit'', the student magazine,
*''Adelaidean'', the university's newspaper,
*''Lumen'', the alumni magazine.

The University of Adelaide Press publishes staff scholarship and works of interest about the history and activities of the university. The Press is also responsible for publishing the ''Adelaide Law Review

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