The University of Adelaide

The University of Adelaide (colloquially Adelaide University or Adelaide Uni) is a public university in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third oldest university in Australia. It is consistently ranked in the top 1% of universities worldwide.[citation needed] It is also associated with five Nobel laureates, 104 Rhodes scholars and is a member of the Group of Eight, as well as the Sandstone Universities.

Its main campus is 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 five campuses throughout the state: North Terrace; Roseworthy College at Roseworthy; The Waite Institute at Urrbrae; Thebarton; and the National Wine Centre in the Adelaide Park Lands. It has a sixth campus, the Ngee Ann – Adelaide Education Centre (NAAEC), in Singapore.

The 20th Vice-Chancellor of the University is Professor Warren Bebbington, who was formerly the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (University Affairs) at the University of Melbourne. He commenced his position in July 2012.
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 first Chancellor was Sir Richard Hanson and the first vice-chancellor was Dr 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), though 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.[6] The University was also the first to elect a woman to a University Council in Australia, Helen Mayo (MBBS, 1902).

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.

University graduates include prominent individuals who have made significant contributions to their fields nationally and internationally, and include Howard Florey, Lawrence Bragg, Mark Oliphant and Hugh Cairns.

The University of Melbourne

The University of Melbourne (informally Melbourne University or simply Melbourne) is an Australian public research university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria.Times Higher Education ranks Melbourne as 33rd in the world,while the QS World University Rankings places Melbourne 31st in the world.According to QS World University Subject Rankings 2015,the University of Melbourne is ranked 5th in the world for education, 8th in law, 13th in computer science and IT, 13th in arts and humanities,14th in accounting and finance, 14th in dentistry and 18th in medicine.

Melbourne's main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb north of the Melbourne central business district, with several other campuses located across Victoria. Melbourne is a sandstone university and a member of the Group of Eight, Universitas 21 and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities. Since 1872 various residential colleges have become affiliated with the university. There are 12 colleges located on the main campus and in nearby suburbs offering academic, sporting and cultural programs alongside accommodation for Melbourne students and faculty.

Melbourne comprises 11 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. Amongst Melbourne's 15 graduate schools the Melbourne Business School, the Melbourne Law School and the Melbourne Medical School are particularly well regarded.

Four Australian prime ministers and five governors-general have graduated from Melbourne. Seven Nobel laureates have been students or faculty, the most of any Australian university.

Monash University

Monash University is an Australian public research university based in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1958, it is the second oldest university in the State of Victoria. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL, and is the only Australian member of the influential M8 Alliance of Academic Health Centers, Universities and National Academies. Monash is one of two Australian universities to be ranked in the The École des Mines de Paris (Mines ParisTech) ranking on the basis of the number of alumni listed among CEOs in the 500 largest worldwide companies.Monash is in the Top 20% in teaching, Top 10% in international outlook, Top 20% in industry income and Top 10% in research in the world in 2016.

Monash enrolls approximately 47,000 undergraduate and 20,000 graduate students,making it the university with the largest student body in Australia. It also has more applicants than any university in the state of Victoria.

Monash is home to major research facilities, including the Australian Synchrotron, the Monash Science Technology Research and Innovation Precinct (STRIP), the Australian Stem Cell Centre, 100 research centresand 17 co-operative research centres. In 2011, its total revenue was over $2.1 billion, with external research income around $282 million.

The university has a number of centres, five of which are in Victoria (Clayton, Caulfield, Berwick, Peninsula, and Parkville), one in Malaysia.Monash also has a research and teaching centre in Prato, Italy,a graduate research school in Mumbai, Indiaand a graduate school in Jiangsu Province, China.Since December 2011, Monash has had a global alliance with the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom.Monash University courses are also delivered at other locations, including South Africa.

The Clayton campus contains the Robert Blackwood Hall, named after the university's founding Chancellor Sir Robert Blackwood and designed by Sir Roy Grounds.
In 2014, the University ceded its Gippsland campus to Federation University.

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, established 1636, whose history, influence and wealth have made it one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

Established originally by the Massachusetts legislature and soon thereafter named for John Harvard (its first benefactor), Harvard is the United States' oldest institution of higher learning, and the Harvard Corporation (formally, the President and Fellows of Harvard College) is its first chartered corporation. Although never formally affiliated with any denomination, the early College primarily trained Congregationalist and Unitarian clergy. Its curriculum and student body were gradually secularized during the 18th century, and by the 19th century Harvard had emerged as the central cultural establishment among Boston elites.Following the American Civil War, President Charles W. Eliot's long tenure (1869–1909) transformed the college and affiliated professional schools into a modern research university; Harvard was a founding member of the Association of American Universities in 1900.James Bryant Conant led the university through the Great Depression and World War II and began to reform the curriculum and liberalize admissions after the war. The undergraduate college became coeducational after its 1977 merger with Radcliffe College.

The University is organized into eleven separate academic units—ten faculties and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study—with campuses throughout the Boston metropolitan area: its 209-acre (85 ha) main campus is centered on Harvard Yard in Cambridge, approximately 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Boston; the business school and athletics facilities, including Harvard Stadium, are located across the Charles River in the Allston neighborhood of Boston and the medical, dental, and public health schools are in the Longwood Medical Area.Harvard has the largest financial endowment of any academic institution in the world, standing at $36.4 billion.

Harvard is a large, highly residential research university.The nominal cost of attendance is high, but the University's large endowment allows it to offer generous financial aid packages.It operates several arts, cultural, and scientific museums, alongside the Harvard Library, which is the world's largest academic and private library system, comprising 79 individual libraries with over 18 million volumes.Harvard's alumni include eight U.S. presidents, several foreign heads of state, 62 living billionaires, 335 Rhodes Scholars, and 242 Marshall Scholars.To date, some 150 Nobel laureates and 5 Fields Medalists (when awarded) have been affiliated as students, faculty, or staff.

Macquarie University

Macquarie University is a public research university based in Sydney, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney.

Established as a verdant university, Macquarie has five faculties as well as the Macquarie University Hospital and the Macquarie Graduate School of Management which are located on the university's main campus in suburban Sydney.

The university is the first in Australia to fully align its degree system with the Bologna Accord.

20th century

The idea of founding a third university in Sydney was flagged in the early 1960s when the New South Wales Government formed a committee of enquiry into higher education to deal with a perceived emergency in university enrollments in New South Wales. During this enquiry, the Senate of the University of Sydney put in a submission which highlighted 'the immediate need to establish a third university in the metropolitan area'.After much debate a future campus location was selected in what was then a semi-rural part of North Ryde, and it was decided that the future university be named after Lachlan Macquarie, an important early governor of the colony of New South Wales.

Professor Peter Mason delivers first lecture

Macquarie University was formally established in 1964 with the passage of the Macquarie University Act 1964 by the New South Wales parliament. The university was designed in the Brutalist style and developed by the renowned town planner Walter Abraham who also oversaw the next 20 years of planning and development for the university. A committee appointed to advise the state government on the establishment of the new university at North Ryde nominated Abraham as the architect-planner. The fledgling Macquarie University Council decided that planning for the campus would be done within the university, rather than by consultants, and this led to the establishment of the architect-planners office.

The first Vice-Chancellor of Macquarie University, Alexander George Mitchell, was selected by the University Council which met for the first time on 17 June 1964. Members of the first university council included: Colonel Sir Edward Ford OBE, David Paver Mellor, Rae Else-Mitchell QC and Sir Walter Scott.

The university first opened to students on 6 March 1967 with more students than anticipated. The Australian Universities Commission had allowed for 510 effective full-time students (EFTS) but Macquarie had 956 enrolments and 622 EFTS.Between 1968 and 1969, enrolment at Macquarie increased dramatically with an extra 1200 EFTS, with 100 new academic staff employed. 1969 also saw the establishment of the Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM).

Macquarie grew during the seventies and eighties with rapid expansion in courses offered, student numbers and development of the site. In 1972, the university established the Macquarie Law School, the third law school in Sydney. In their book Liberality of Opportunity, Bruce Mansfield and Mark Hutchinson describe the founding of Macquarie University as 'an act of faith and a great experiment'.An additional topic considered in this book is the science reform movement of the late 1970s that resulted in the introduction of a named science degree, thus facilitating the subsequent inclusion of other named degrees in addition to the traditional BA.Alternative views on this topic are given by famous British-Australian physicist John Wardand laser physicist Frank Duarte.

The first Vice-Chancellor of Macquarie University was Alexander George Mitchell, who held the position until December 1975, when he was replaced by Edwin Webb, who served until 1986.

In 1990 the university absorbed the Institute of Early Childhood Studies of the Sydney College of Advanced Education, under the terms of the Higher Education (Amalgamation) Act 1989.

Di Yerbury was appointed Vice-Chancellor in 1986, and was the first female Vice-Chancellor in Australia. Professor Yerbury held the position of Vice-Chancellor for just under 20 years.

21st century

Professor Steven Schwartz replaced Di Yerbury at the beginning of 2006. Yerbury's departure was attended with much controversy, including a "bitter dispute" with Schwartz, disputed ownership of university artworks worth $13 million and Yerbury's salary package.In August 2006, Professor Schwartz expressed concern about the actions of Yerbury in a letter to university auditors.Yerbury strongly denied any wrongdoing and claimed the artworks were hers.

During 2007, Macquarie University restructured its student organisation after an audit raised questions about management of hundreds of thousands of dollars in funds by student organisations At the centre of the investigation was Victor Ma, president of the Macquarie University Students' Council, who was previously involved in a high-profile case of student election fixing at the University of Sydney.The university Council resolved to immediately remove Ma from his position. Vice-Chancellor Schwartz cited an urgent need to reform Macquarie's main student bodies.However, Ma strongly denied any wrongdoing and labelled the controversy a case of 'character assassination'.The Federal Court ordered on 23 May 2007 that Macquarie University Union Ltd be wound up.

Following the dissolution of Macquarie University Union Ltd, the outgoing student organisation was replaced with a new wholly owned subsidiary company of the university, known as U@MQ Ltd. The new student organisation originally lacked a true student representative union; however, following a complete review and authorisation from the university Council, a new student union known as Macquarie University Students Association (MUSRA) was established in 2009.

Within the first few hundred days of Schwartz's instatement as Vice-Chancellor, the 'Macquarie@50' strategic plan was launched, which positioned the university to enhance research, teaching, infrastructure and academic rankings by the university's 50th anniversary in 2014. Included in the university's plans for the future was the establishment of a sustainability office in order to more effectively manage environmental and social development at Macquarie. As part of this campaign, in 2009 Macquarie became the first Fair Trade accredited university in Australia.The beginning of 2009 also saw the introduction of a new logo for the university which retained the Sirius Star, present on both the old logo and the university crest, but now 'embedded in a stylised lotus flower'. In accordance with the university by-law, the crest continues to be used for formal purposes and is displayed on university testamurs. The by-law also prescribes the university's motto, taken from Chaucer: 'And gladly teche'.

In 2013, the university became the first in Australia to fully align its degree system with the Bologna Accord.

Australian Catholic University

Australian Catholic University (ACU) is a national public teaching and research university. It has seven campuses and offers programs in four faculties throughout Australia.The university was formed on 1 January 1989 following the amalgamation of the Catholic College of Education in Sydney, the Institute of Catholic Education in Melbourne, McAuley College in Brisbane and Signadou College in Canberra.As its name implies, the university has a Catholic identity, history, and mission.

ACU has four faculties, each offering a range of courses:

Education and Arts – including education, arts and humanities, global studies and international development studies, mathematics, media communications, social science, youth work, and creative arts, visual arts and design

Health Sciences – including counselling, environmental science, exercise physiology, exercise science, mental health, midwifery, nursing, occupational therapy, paramedicine, physiotherapy, public health, psychology, social work and speech pathology

Law and Business – including commerce, business administration, accounting and finance, information technology, human resource management, law, marketing, supply chain management, occupational health and safety, and sustainability

Theology and Philosophy – these disciplines encourage students to search for wisdom, knowledge and truth

In addition to the above four faculties, the university has a number of research institutes, programs, academies, organisational units, partnerships and associated centres.

ACU has seven campuses in six different cities:

North Sydney Campus (MacKillop)

Strathfield Campus (Mount St Mary)

Melbourne Campus (St Patrick's)

Ballarat Campus (Aquinas)

Brisbane Campus (McAuley at Banyo)

Canberra Campus (Signadou)

Adelaide Campus (St Francis of Assisi)

In addition, The Rome Center, which is a collaboration with The Catholic University of America, is expected to open in September 2015 in Rome.

The University of New South Wales

The University of New South Wales (UNSW; branded as UNSW Australia) is an Australian public research university located in the suburb of Kensington in Sydney, established in 1949. It is regarded as one of the most prestigious universities in Australia, with stringent entry requirements.

UNSW attracts the highest median Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank in Australia, and sets the highest combined ATAR cut-offs out of any Australian university. It was ranked among the top 50 universities in the world in the 2015-16 QS World University Rankings. The university is particularly strong in engineering and technology, commerce and economics, and law; the 2015 QS World University Rankings by Subject ranked UNSW to be 12th in the world for accounting and finance, 15th for law, and 21st in engineering and technology. UNSW has produced more millionaires,and its graduates hold more chief executive positions of ASX 200 listed companies,than any other university in Australia.

The university comprises eight faculties, through which it offers bachelor, master and doctoral degrees. The main campus is located on a 38-hectare site in the Sydney suburb of Kensington, seven kilometres from the centre of Sydney. The creative arts faculty, UNSW Art & Design, is located in Paddington, UNSW Canberra is located at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra and sub-campuses are located in the Sydney CBD, the suburbs of Randwick and Coogee. Research stations are located throughout the state of New South Wales.

UNSW is a founding member of the Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive universities, and of Universitas 21, a leading global network of research universities. It has international exchange and research partnerships with over 200 universities around the world.