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The University of Melbourne (UoM) is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. The second oldest university in Australia, and the oldest in Victoria, its main campus is in Parkville, an inner suburb just north of the Melbourne CBD. It is a member of Australia's "Group of Eight" lobby group, and of the informal group of Sandstone universities.
Melbourne University is ranked among the top universities, both in Australia and the world. The University is highly regarded in the fields of the engineering, arts, law, humanities, and biomedicine.
The University has around 44,000 students, who are supported by nearly 7,000 staff members (full or part-time).
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Encyclopedia
The University of Melbourne (UoM) is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. The second oldest university in Australia, and the oldest in Victoria, its main campus is in Parkville, an inner suburb just north of the Melbourne CBD. It is a member of Australia's "Group of Eight" lobby group, and of the informal group of Sandstone universities.
Melbourne University is ranked among the top universities, both in Australia and the world. The University is highly regarded in the fields of the engineering, arts, law, humanities, and biomedicine.
The University has around 44,000 students, who are supported by nearly 7,000 staff members (full or part-time). On 15 November 2005, the University announced a strategic plan entitled . The University will consolidate its three core activities—Research, Learning and Knowledge transfer—in order to become one of the world's finest institutions. In 2008, the University introduced the controversial Melbourne Model, a combination of various practices from American and European Universities, which will make the university consistent with the Bologna Accord, ensuring its degrees have international relevance. Prof. Glyn Davis AC is UoM's current Vice-Chancellor.
Arms
The University's coat of arms is a blue shield on which, in white, Victory holds her laurel wreath over the stars of the Southern Cross. The motto, on a scroll beneath, is 'Postera crescam laude', borrowed from one of Horace's odes. The full phrase is 'ego postera crescam laude recens'. The motto fragment literally means, 'later I shall grow by praise'. The University currently uses a far freer translation, 'We shall grow in the esteem of future generations.' The arms include no crest, nor supporters.
History
The University was established by Hugh Childers in 1853 by an Act of the Victorian Parliament passed on Saturday 22 January, and classes commenced in 1855 with three professors and sixteen students. The original University buildings were officially opened by the then Lieutenant Governor of the Colony of Victoria, Sir Charles Hotham, on 3 October 1855. The first chancellor, Redmond Barry (later Sir Redmond), held the position until his death in 1880.
In the university's early days, an architectural masterplan was developed, establishing the intended prevailing building style as gothic revival. Early influential architects included Melbourne's own Joseph Reed, who was responsible for the design of many of the early campus buildings. Although the masterplan held as late as the 1930s, the 1950s saw the modernist style established as a new "house style" for the university, resulting in the mix of buildings seen today.
The inauguration of the University was made possible by the wealth resulting from Victoria's gold rush, and the University was designed to be a "civilising influence" at a time of rapid settlement and commercial growth (Selleck, 2003). The University was secular, and forbidden from offering degrees in Divinity - the churches could only establish colleges along the northern perimeter. The local population largely rejected the supposed elitism of its professoriate, favouring teaching of 'useful' subjects like law, over those they deemed 'useless' in the city's context, like Classics. The townspeople won this debate, and law was introduced in 1857, and medicine and engineering in the 1860s.
The admission of women in 1881 was a further victory for Victorians over the more conservative ruling council (Selleck 2003, p164–165). Subsequent years saw many tensions over the direction of the emerging University, and in 1902 it was effectively bankrupt following the discovery of a £24,000 fraud from the period 1886-1901 (the University's yearly grant was £15,000) by the University's Bursar, Frederick Dickson, who was jailed for seven years.
This resulted in a Royal Commission that recommended new funding structures, and an extension of disciplinary areas into agriculture and education.
By the time of World War I, governance was again a pressing concern. The Council, consisting of more businesspeople than professors, obtained real powers in 1923 at the expense of the Senate. Undergraduates could elect two members of the Council. In this period, the University tended to attract students drawn from affluent backgrounds, with a few opportunities for gifted scholarship students. The first Vice-Chancellor to be paid a salary was Raymond Priestley (1936) followed by John Medley in 1939.
After World War II, demand for Commonwealth-funded student places grew in Australia, and the University followed demand by becoming much larger and more inclusive.
The University celebrated its in 2003. The University is the home of the Grainger Museum, celebrating the life and work of composer Percy Grainger.
Academia
The University has twelve faculties/graduate schools:
These faculties offer courses from Bachelor Degree to Doctorate level. Arts is the largest (7,222 students in 2004), followed by Science (6,328). The University has some of the highest admission requirements in the country, with the median ENTER of its undergraduates being 94.5. Furthermore, around 70% of those who finish in the top 1% of school leavers choose to study at Melbourne.
Pure and applied research had already grown in importance from the late 19th century, but increased its reach and depth in the second half of the 20th century. Science and Arts are the best-endowed Faculties in financial terms. The medical sciences benefit from proximity to a number of hospitals, and were enhanced by the opening of Bio21, a research centre focusing on pure and applied Biotechnology.
The university has an endowment of approximately AUD$1310 million as of 2006 and is the largest of any Australian university. The fund has grown rapidly over the past few years, providing a great source of income for the University. Melbourne is one of only two Australian universities with a significant private endowment. Australian endownments are small compared with those of the wealthiest US universities.
Three Nobel Laureates work on campus: Profs. Peter Doherty is currently based in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, while Sir James Mirrlees (Economic Science, 1996 - emeritus, Cambridge) and Sir Clive Granger (Economic Science, 2003 - emeritus, San Diego), will teach a couple of months each year at the University from 2005 and reside in Trinity College
Melbourne has produced the most Rhodes Scholars of any Victorian university, including the two 2006 winners.
In recent years the University has expanded the numbers of international students from 2,000 in 1996 to over 11,000 in 2008. A separate venture, Melbourne University Private was created in 1997, and merged with the University at the end of 2005 following the easing of Commonwealth regulations to allow domestic full-fee places in Australian universities.
is the only centre of its kind in Australia, combining both theory and practice of cultural material conservation and is a joint initiative of the Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Science and the .
Residential colleges
Since 1872, the affiliated residential colleges have been an important part of the university. The earliest sought to emulate the finest European colleges, particularly those of Oxford. There are eleven affiliated colleges in total. Seven of the colleges are situated in an arc around the cricket oval at the northern edge of the campus, known as the College Crescent, with the other five within 15 minutes walk of the University of Melbourne.
Architecture
Several of the original on-campus buildings, such as the Old Quad and Old Arts buildings, feature beautiful .
The expansion during the post-World War Two period saw the construction a number of functional high-rise office buildings and laboratories, in response to space shortages. These include the Raymond Priestley building (used for administration and nicknamed the "Wind Tunnel" due to the channelling of wind through its ground level arches), the Redmond Barry building, (1956, replacing the which was ), and some of the additions to the colleges. The Architecture building is a monolithic modernist design - a "strong statement of architectural modernism influenced by Le Corbusier".
Melba Hall and the Conservatorium of Music on Royal Parade are notable examples of Edwardian edifices which features rich Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau details. They were designed by Bates, Peebles & Smart and constructed between 1905 and 1935.
A recent spate of expansions have included the Ian Potter Gallery and the Sidney Myer Asia Centre (both designed by Nonda Katsalidis). The Potter Gallery in particular is highly regarded for its architecture, and won several awards when completed in 1999. The University Square development has extended the campus to the south, significantly opening up the grid-locked Parkville campus.
The facade of the Old Commerce building is listed on the National Trust Register as an interesting artifact. It is the facade of the former Collins Street Bank of New South Wales Melbourne office transposed onto a 1935 building. The bank earned architect Joseph Reed a first prize in architecture. When the building was demolished, the facade was transferred to the University of Melbourne to become the facade of the then Commerce building. It has since made a number of
cameo appearances in film and television.
Some of the affiliated residential colleges feature notable architecture; the most beautiful is arguably the Ormond College with its large clock tower, but Newman College is also well-known as one of the few remaining buildings designed by Walter Burley Griffin.
A searchable archive of photos can be used to view individual features of the campus. .
Growing Esteem
New strategy
In 2005, the university developed a new strategy, which it named 'Growing Esteem'. While there are three 'strands' to the strategy, incorporating Research, Teaching and Learning, and Knowledge Transfer, Within the teaching and learning strand is the Melbourne Model, a curriculum depth of content discipline and breadth of disciplines and scholarly applications before settling down to a considered path, not unlike the typical undergraduate experience of first tier universities of the United States. The six 'New Generation degrees' of Science, Biomedicine, Environments, Arts, Music and Commerce are designed to lead to graduation and the workplace, graduate degrees focusing on the professions, or research higher degrees. The new structure was introduced in 2008, with faculties governing courses in law, medicine, education and architecture establishing Graduate Schools to administer Masters degrees. PhD candidatures are generally administered through the School of Graduate Research.
Some students and members of the wider community have been critical of the Growing Esteem (or Melbourne Model) project, which has come under much scrutiny in the Australian press. The University offers a minimum of 50% of the places in each of the new professional graduate degrees - 100% for education and nursing - for domestic Australian students as Commonwealth Supported Places, with the University aiming for 75% across all the new courses. . The ability to offer Commonwealth Supported Places to postgraduate students is a first for an Australian university, heralding a new approach to diversity in the higher education sector by both the former Howard government and the incumbent Rudd government.
Some have also raised issues about the proposed alterations to how research is funded, with a growing dependence on private industry monies being mooted.
Youth Allowance and Austudy has been extended to Commonwealth approved Masters by coursework programs. The University is undertaking a $100 million dollar scholarship programme, funded by Melbourne's significant invested endownment, course fees and other private ventures. Over 8000 students will receive benefits. 20% of places in the new degrees will be allocated to the 'Access Melbourne' programme.
Courses
Six courses have been approved as 'new generation undergraduate courses': generalist degrees under the 'Melbourne Model'. These degrees will eventually replace 96 undergraduate degrees.
- Bachelor of Arts
- Bachelor of Science
- Bachelor of Commerce
- Bachelor of Environments
- Bachelor of Music
- Bachelor of Biomedicine
Note: The degree of Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) has been discontinued; instead becoming the graduate degree Juris Doctor (JD) as of 2008. In addition, several existing courses will continue in 2008, such as medicine, veterinary science and some engineering degrees. The university anticipates that all professional courses (including engineering, medicine, dentistry, optometry and veterinary science) will change from undergraduate to graduate-entry by 2011.
A number of professional courses will be moved to graduate entry including:
- Juris Doctor
- Doctor of Medicine
- Doctor of Dental Surgery
- Doctor of Optometry
- Doctor of Physiotherapy
- Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
- Master of Animal Science
- Master of Architecture
- Master of Engineering
- Master of Forest Science
- Master of Nursing Science
- Master of Property and Construction
- Master of Public Policy and Management
- Master of Social Work
- Master of Teaching
- Master of Urban Horticulture
- Master of Urban Planning
Criticisms of the Melbourne Model
Trade and Student Unions
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) accused the university of "PR spin" over the decision to address media over the potential loss to 130 jobs in the Arts Faculty before speaking to staff or the union. NTEU also criticise UoM over their call for voluntary redundancies after NTEU released results of a survey finding "more than 90% of staff said their workload had increased" since 2007 and the same percentage of respondents "reported having concerns about restructuring or changes to their area..."
The National Union of Students (NUS) 2007 Education Officer Colleen Bolger, stated that staff "are being told they will need to front up at McCarthy-style "trials" to plead the case for their subjects over their colleagues'" criticising UoM's Dean of Arts Belinda Probert and the "business mentality of those who run universities" whom she claims many of which also sit on company boards.
The University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU) 2008 President, Libby Buckingham claims UoM are spending too much money on "capital works, advertising and the transition to the Melbourne Model..." and that "the future of the faculty is being shaped by voluntary redundancies rather than … consultation about the curriculum."
The University of Melbourne Postgraduate Association (UMPA) 2008 President, Tammi Jonas said the Melbourne Model had "led to a decline in student numbers and a virtual eradication of student support" on UoM's Burnley campus.
The Victorian College of the Arts Student Union (VCASU) accused UoM's restructuring as a pretext for shutting down political representation for Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) students. VCA became a faculty of UoM in 2007 and VCASU has argued UoM's plans have been about rationalisation as opposed to genuine expansion and conclude the university's refusal to discontinue VCASU funding is politically motivated.
The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) also expressed concerns that the Melbourne Model was negatively affecting trends in the Australian Higher Education sector.
Academic
UoM"s Department of History, Associate Professor David Phillips, called the Melbourne Model a "nightmare for the Arts Faculty" and that the "entire Australian university community should be worried about what is involved" with the direction UoM was steering higher education.
UoM's Department of Science and Mathematics Education, staff member Ted Clark, blamed the university for using the Melbourne Model transition as an excuse to implement cuts to staff jobs: "It is now impossible to argue that there is a separation... between cost cutting or staffing requirements from the introduction and implementation of the Melbourne Model."
UoM's Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning Professor Miles Lewis, attacked the university's demotion of Dr. Paul Mees - a former senior lecturer in transport planning who subsequently resigned, taking up a position at RMIT University - over Mees' criticism of the government's privatisation of public transport. Lewis argued that the Melbourne Model "requires the relentless pursuit of mediocrity and the routing out of any independent intellects from the university", blaming the UoM for catering to the agendas of government and wealthy industry bodies.
UoM staff member and education activist Melanie Lazero, in a public debate between the university and UMSU described the Melbourne Model as "shallow" and "a neoliberal idea of education", claiming the model limited students choices.
La Trobe University's School of Business, Professor of Economics Harry Clarke, speculated the Melbourne Model "will reduce numbers seeking to utilise its programs" and "programs will become more expensive in time and aggregate tuition charges" accusing their scholarship program of being "distributionally regressive" aimed at mainly well-off private-school-trained students.
UoM's current and former staff have also been quoted anonymously as saying that the cuts to arts at the university were significant while in relation to the workload: "Everyone is running around in shock saying we've got so many students we've got no idea what to do about it."
Swinburne University's Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ian Young, argued that UoM students would have to study for five years, as opposed to three to get a vocational qualification: "There's no doubt that the model actually increases the cost of education, either to the student or to the nation or both, by some 60 per cent. So it is a more expensive form of education. It may well be an excellent education, but it is undoubtedly a more expensive form of education."
Queensland University of Technology's economist Paul Frijters pointed to the Melbourne Model's "risk that there will be a dumbing down of content" in degrees taught and the fact that many UoM undergraduates come from private high schools "offering them scholarships will have a fairly limited effect."
Student
UoM arts student Ben Coleridge, admitted that while the university's "vision is attractive... the Melbourne Model rhetorically espouses flexibility, (but) so far it has often been experienced as inflexible. Some students have begun to think of it as a strategy to disguise retrenchment and diminution."
UoM Creative Arts student Rosalie Delaney, claimed the university was censoring students' artworks critical of the university's new teaching model, saying universities should "be a bastion of free speech and critical thought and questioning of structures and authority,” describing their alleged actions as “appalling”; actions which the university administration deny.
UoM Creative Arts group Crunch produced Melbourne Model: The Musical, a humorous critique of UoM's restructuring of the arts faculty, where VC Davis is depicted as a "a nymphomaniac rock star", who eventually relocates to Canberra, thus abandoning the university, alluding to Davis' close relationship with Labor Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. Fregmonto Stokes, the musical's writer, was inspired by what he described as "the cutting of a significant number of subjects for economic reasons". The musical was the last production for the 15-year-old arts group Crunch which was wound up by the end of 2008 due to UoM cuts to the arts faculty.
Prospective high school graduate students have also expressed criticism of the university, seeing the Melbourne Model as "a grab for cash" or "a shameless bid to make university careers longer and win lucrative fees from overseas students and wealthy locals." One year 12 student was reported as saying: "Far from offering students a genuine choice, this model dictates that we must now study an extra two or three years, whether we want to or not."
Other
Secondary School Principals' Association representative Brian Burgess charged UoM with "elitism" and put forward that the amount of students who would have access to UoM courses would be minimal and for those that could, the courses would take longer than normal.
Corporate lawyer and company director Adam Schwab linked UoM's move to a postgraduate emphasis and the newly elected Labor Government's plan to scrap full fee paying places for domestic students in 2009 being "remarkably well timed", also insinuating a close relationship between Davis and Labor.
Rankings
Research produced by the Melbourne Institute in 2006 ranked Australian universities across seven main discipline areas: Arts & Humanities, Business & Economics, Education, Engineering, Law, Medicine, and Science.
For each discipline, Melbourne was ranked:
| Discipline | R1* | No. | R2* | No. |
|---|
| Arts & Humanities | 2 | 38 | 1 | 35 | | Business & Economics | 2 | 39 | 1 | 34 | | Education | 1 | 35 | 2 | 32 | | Engineering | 1 | 28 | 3 | 28 | | Law | 3 | 29 | 1 | 28 | | Medicine | 1 | 14 | 1 | 13 | | Science | 2 | 38 | 3 | 31 | |
- R1 refers to Australian and overseas Academics' rankings in tables 3.1 -3.7 of the report. R2 refers to the Articles and Research rankings in tables 5.1 - 5.7 of the report. No. refers to the number of institutions in the table against which Melbourne is compared.
The following publications ranked universities worldwide. Melbourne University ranked:
In 2008, Times Higher Education Supplement ranked the University of Melbourne 38th in the world, falling 11 ranks and one place behind University of Sydney (which is ranked 37th) for the first time. It has been proposed that the fall in rank is a result of the newly introduced Melbourne Model, relating to worsening teacher-student ratios.
In 2007, Times Higher Education Supplement ranked the University of Melbourne 27th in the world. The University's opinion is that the significant move from the 22nd in 2006 to 27th in the year 2007 is due to different changes made in the methodology of the ranking. One of those changes is the switch from ESI Thomson research publication database to Scopus, which is a less-known database in Australia.. This places the University of Melbourne behind four other universities in the region - Australian National University, Tokyo University, University of Hong Kong and Kyoto University.. It also ranked 10 in Top 10 Employer Review, together with Bocconi University of Italy being the only two universities outside USA and UK in the category. The report also put the university 33rd for natural sciences, 17th for biomedicine, 21st for technology, 17th for social sciences, and 17th for arts & humanities.
In 2006, Times Higher Education Supplement ranked the University of Melbourne 22nd in the world. Because of the drop in ranking, University of Melbourne was behind four other universities in the region - Beijing University, Australian National University, Tokyo University and National University of Singapore. However, the university ranked in the top 8 in terms of peer review. The report also put the university 16th for technology, 7th for biomedicine, 7th for arts & humanities, 10th for social sciences, and 27th for science. In each of these categories, rankings improved compared with 2005. However, these positions are still lower than those of Australian National University.
In August 2006, Newsweek ranked the University of Melbourne 53rd in the world in its "The Top 100 Global Universities".
In 2005, the Times Higher Education Supplement ranked The University of Melbourne 19th in the world. At the time, this was the highest ranking among Australian universities and third highest in the region (behind Tokyo University and Beijing University). Furthermore, the university was ranked 8th for arts & humanities, 10th for biomedicine, 11th for social sciences, 18th for technology and 32nd for science.
In 2003, Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranked The University of Melbourne 92nd in the world. The position went up to 82nd in 2004 and 2005. The 2006 edition ranked The University 78th, up by 4 places.
Melbourne Business School's MBA course had been ranked 69th in the world in 2006 and 79th in 2007. It is the second highest ranked MBA course in Australia.
Notable graduates
The University of Melbourne has produced many notable , with graduates having held the offices of Prime Ministers of Australia, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Governors-General, Attorneys-General, Governors of Victoria, Surgeons, High Court Justices, State Premiers, Nobel Laureates, a First Lady of East Timor, ministers of foreign countries, Lord Mayors, academics, architects, historians, poets, philosophers, politicians, scientists, physicists, authors, industry leaders, Defence Force generals, corporate leaders and artists.
Student activities
The university has a rich student life due to the variety of clubs and services funded by the University of Melbourne Student Union. Student extracurricular activities generally come under the loose umbrella of the , student sporting activities under the Sports Union and postgraduate students at , a member of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations. Many student clubs are affiliated with UMSU, as well as student theatre and the official student newspaper, Farrago. A scandal engulfed the Union in 2003, eventually leading to its collapse, liquidation and subsequent rebirth as a new entity. However, given the introduction of Voluntary Student Unionism from the 1st July, 2006, it services and activities offered by this new Union have diminished. The shortfall in funding from declining membership has been offset to an extent by a recurrent grant from the University.
Prosh Week
A celebrated tradition at Melbourne, usually held in mid-August, whereby teams of students engage in various activities - the winner claiming the 'Prosh Week Trophy'. These shenanigans include giant boat races, conga lines through the Melbourne CBD, a billy kart rally, and jelly wrestling. It culminates with the infamous Scav hunt, at the conclusion of which the winning team is announced.
The term 'Prosh' is thought to have originated in one of two ways. It's chiefly considered to have evolved from an annual charity procession that once marched through the Melbourne CBD, producing the abbreviation 'prosh'. A second theory states that the term originated from when all of the faculty social balls were held in the same week. The week was nicknamed 'Posh week' due to the number of times students would have to dress up in formal attire. The effects of alcohol caused words to be slurred, and thus 'posh' became 'prosh'.
Sport
The university has participated in various sports in its history.
It is was the overall champion in the Australian University Games (AUG) in 1997, 2004, 2005 and 2006.
Cricket
The University of Melbourne Cricket Club, often called simply "University", plays the sport of cricket in the elite club competition of Melbourne, Australia, known as Victorian Premier Cricket. The club was founded in 1856 and played its first season of premier cricket in 1906–07. Known as the Students, the club has won 3 first XI premierships. Its home ground is on the campus of the University of Melbourne in Parkville.
Australian rules football
The Melbourne University Football Club founded in 1859, was a notable Australian rules football club that played seven seasons in the Victorian Football League, and has since rejoined the ranks of amateur teams.
The University women's club, the Mugars, participates in the Victorian Women's Football League and is the most successful women's football team in the country .
Hockey
The University has hockey teams that compete in the Hockey Victoria competition. It is colloquially known as "Shop" or "Shoppers" to its members, and MUHC (pronounced "muck") to its rivals. The men's division has competed in State League One (the premier division) irregularly (most recently 2004 and 2006), often gaining promotion from State League Two only to be relegated the following year. The women's division had a State League One team in 2003-2005, and since being relegated have maintained a mid-SL2 position since.
It traditionally fields strong AUG hockey teams, winning the Syme Cup (men's division) in 1999 and 2000 and placing 2nd in 2001, 2005-07. Its best result in the women's competition is 2nd (2000, 2003).
Rugby Union
The Melbourne University Rugby Football Club, which celebrated its 100th birthday in 2008, is one of Victoria's major Rugby Union Clubs. The club has celebrated many premierships over the years, most recently the under 20's Colts team took out the premiership in 2008. It was the home club of Sir Edward Dunlop, the first Victorian to represent Australia in Rugby Union and notable survivor of the Japanese POW camps during the 2nd World War.
Other campuses
The university has several other campuses located across Victoria.They are situated in Burnley, Creswick, Dookie, Werribee, and Southbank, Victorian College of the Arts. The university also has its interests in Goulburn Valley, particularly in the areas of rural health, agriculture and education. The university is a part-owner of the Melbourne Business School, the top business school in Australia in 2005 and 2006. The university has a node of the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics.
See also
Books
- Macintyre, S. & Selleck, R.J.W. (2003). A short history of the University of Melbourne. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0-522-85058-8.
- Selleck, R.J.W. (2003). The Shop: The University of Melbourne, 1850–1939. Melbourne: University of Melbourne Press. 930pp
- Poynter, John & Rasmussen, Carolyn (1996). "A Place Apart - The University of Melbourne: Decades of Challenge". Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0-522-84584-3.
- Cain J II and J Hewitt. 2004. . Melbourne: Scribe.
Newspaper
- McPhee, P. 2005. "From the Acting Vice-Chancellor." Uni News. The University of Melbourne. 03/10/05, p.3.
External links
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