Added: 11/28/2005 |
The University of Melbourne as One of the Top-performing Universities of AustraliaToday the University of Melbourne is seen as the intellectual, cultural and professional center of the City of Melbourne due to its international vision, academic standards, research, scholarship and high-class staff. The university takes pains to maintain the excellence in development and research. Over the years it has been competing with other Australian universities for the status of leading Australian research university. The university is a member of "Group of Eight" lobby group of Australia.
The University of Melbourne was founded in 1853 by Hugh Childers. The subsequent years witnessed many tensions over the emerging university, which has managed to overcome all obstacles on the way of its development. Today the university has a large number of campuses, located in Burnley, Creswick, Dookie, Terang, Werribee, Waragul and Leongatha, Horsham and Southbank. The oldest and the main campus is located in Parkville, a suburb of Melbourne. The residential colleges have been a part of the University of Melbourne since 1872.
The university has a total of nearly 40,000 students and 6,000 staff members. However the total number of students is expected to drop to 30,000 with the introduction of an educational system, similar to that of the United States, where students earn a Bachelor's degree and then attain graduate qualifications in Law or Medicine.
The Melbourne University Student Union has funded a great variety of clubs and services, which are places of students' extracurricular activities.
The university's eleven faculties offer courses ranging from Bachelor's Degree to Doctorate level. The largest is the Faculty of Art, having 6,400 students as of 2004). It is followed by the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (5,800 students) and the Faculty of Economics and Commerce (4,700 students). The number of international students increased from 2000 in 1996 to 8000 in 2004.
In 1997 Melbourne University Private was established to provide distant learning.
Since the second half of the XX century the university has been paying particular attention to the importance of applied research. A program of research has been maintained by the academic staff, applying for funding opportunities. As of June 2005 the university's endowment totaled $908 million. The best endowed are the Faculties of Art and Science. The endowments are small as compared to those of the US wealthy universities like Harvard or Princeton.
Among the notable graduates of the University of Melbourne are philosopher Peter Singer, politician Sir Robert Menzies, writer Germaine Greer, author Helen Garner, and a great number of Australia's academics, politicians, doctors, lawyers and artists. Four Nobel Laureates dedicated themselves to the work in the university: Sir James Mirrlees, Sir Clive Granger, Professors Peter Doherty and Bert Sakmann.
The university administration is responsible for the welfare and services for staff and students as well as management of finance, information, property and services related to them.
Article comments:
No comments for this article yet. Post your comment now!
