CAMPUS : Our Melbourne

History

Melbourne has come a long way from its somewhat humble beginnings in 1855 when four professors began instructing just 16 students in a cluster of buildings set in a large park on the fringe of the city.

Over the course of its history, the University has undergone profound changes, which have affected not only its internal structure, but also its physical, intellectual and cultural landscapes.

Melbourne is now a leading research university, widely renowned for its teaching, research achievements and its social and economic contributions to the city of Melbourne and to the state of Victoria.

Today it has 6500 full and part-time staff and a student body of more than 47,000, including more than 11,800 international students from over 120 countries.

The influence of the University reaches into every aspect of the city of Melbourne's life through its students and staff, teaching hospitals, affiliated institutions, residential colleges and halls of residence, the Melbourne Theatre Company, Melbourne University Publishing, the Ian Potter Museum of Art, and its research centres. Not to mention providing film set locations for a range of televisions programs and movies including Mad Max, Love and other Catastrophes, and Knowing.

Learning Spaces

The University is committed to designing and experimenting with new learning spaces that go well beyond traditional thinking in higher education.

This includes developing ﬂexible learning spaces that encourage and allow for a wide range of teaching and learning methods and which have seamlessly integrated electronic technologies.

Our new learning centres have expanded students' access to new computers and to a faster wireless network. New spaces are expanding teaching methods: eLearning studios are especially designed spaces for collaborative work in small groups and are equipped with PCs, laptop interconnectivity and data projectors; eSeminar rooms are designed for seminars and presentations that use a range of different media; iMedia theatres and theatrettes have ‘lecture capture' that records audio and visual content from lectures making streamed and downloadable versions of these recordings.

Particular disciplines also have specially designed spaces. For example, the Engineering Learning Lab supports group and collaborative approaches to teaching and learning; the Law moot court trains future lawyers in using technology in presenting their cases; biology labs with AV equipment to present microscope, video and 35mm slide images to television monitors; and the Information Systems Interaction Design, Evaluation and Analysis (IDEA) laboratory is a facility for conducting computer user experience tests and interaction research.

Leading Edge Facilities

It's great to see the University's facilities evolving and developing to incorporate state-of-the-art sustainable design principles, as well as learning spaces that reflect changing technologies and pedagogical practice.

The University of Melbourne's new Economics and Commerce building (‘the Spot', as it has come to be known) is a 12-storey testament to the University's commitment to sustainability. It was awarded a five-star Green Star Education Pilot rating by the Green Building Council of Australia, short-listed for the Victorian Premier's Sustainability Award and named a finalist for the Banksia awards 2009 for its achievements and contributions to the environmental cause.

As far as teaching and learning goes, it houses a range of collaborative and individual teaching spaces, open access laboratories, theatres, student break-out areas and Faculty offices.

Another great facility is the University's Biotechnology Institute (Bio21 Institute), a multidisciplinary research centre, specialising in medical, agricultural and environmental biotechnology.

The Bio21 Institute improves human health and the environment through innovation in biotechnology and related areas and is driven by multidisciplinary research and dynamic interactions with industry. It's also the flagship of the Bio21 Cluster project, which includes 21 member institutions recognised for research excellence and translational outcomes in medical and biomedical science and biotechnology.

Union House

Union House is at the heart of the Parkville campus and is the key hub for the Student Union.

Staff and students head here for food, coffee and shops or just to find out what's happening around the campus. Whether you need to stock up on stationery, get a prescription filled, buy a new SIM card or just grab a snack, Union House is the place to go.

The Food Co-op sells ethically produced food and the Uni Store has everything from newspapers to University brand clothing. Then there's the Student Flights travel centre; the Campus Pharmacy; J2K mobile phones and a whole variety of other food outlets whether you feel like sushi, donuts, kebabs, a sugar hit to power your way through the afternoon or a satisfying bowl of pasta.

There's always something happening at Union House—theatre shows, exhibitions, gigs, comedy and film—and a whole variety of events run by the Entertainment Department of the Student Union are all on offer. Markets are also held every weekday in the North Court of Union House.

The Rowden White Library on the 2nd floor, a recreation library for Student Union Members, has a great collection of contemporary media including DVDs, comics, computer games, journals and genre fiction.

Uni House

It's a real pleasure to be able to relax and enjoy a meal or drink in University House, a building with such a tangible link to the University's early decades.

A beautiful Victorian house and the sole survivor of what was once a row of professorial houses it's now the University of Melbourne staff club.

Dating back to 1885, University House was built for Professor Nanson, Professor of Mathematics, who is noted for his work on Australia's preferential voting system.

Uni House has some amazing collections and décor, and the odd quirky feature. The verandah that graces the front of the building, for example, was originally attached to Oggs Pharmacy in Collins Street, and was relocated to the Uni House when such fixtures were banned by the Melbourne Town Council in 1955.

One of its outstanding spaces is the Karagheusian Room, furnished with the fittings and walnut Renaissance-revival furniture originally from a Paris apartment. The apartment was home to Nazareth Karagheusian, who was a Senior Lecturer in the French Department.

Situated within the grounds of the University, with gardens to its east and west, Uni House is available as a venue for hire for functions, weddings and private dining.

Libraries

Melbourne's library is one of the oldest and largest academic libraries in Australia. It has around 3.6 million holdings in its collection and over 20 languages are represented.

When combined with the large electronic journal and eBook collections that's a serious lot of information.

The libraries are being upgraded to state of the art learning centres with IT-rich spaces for individual as well as collaborative study. Whether you want to hit the books by yourself or work in a group, you can find space to accommodate you.

The Baillieu is the biggest library on campus and has floors stuffed with resources on art, the humanities and social sciences and undergrad material for physics and mathematics. Then there are the branch libraries, including the state-of-the-art law library with the latest electronic resources for teaching and research, computing facilities and a huge legal collection.

Recently redeveloped as part of the new MDHS precinct, the Brownless Biomedical Library has fantastic spaces suited for both independent and collaborative learning.

Other discipline specific libraries include Architecture, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Veterinary Science, Mathematical Sciences laboratory, the Giblin Economics and Commerce Library, Earth Sciences Laboratory Library and the Louise Hanson-Dyer Music Library.

Arts

The University of Melbourne continues to have a huge impact on the cultural life of the city of Melbourne and Victoria through some of the country's most important arts institutions.

The Melbourne Theatre Company is a department of the University and the oldest professional theatre company in Australia. In 2009, the company opened its new performance home, the MTC Theatre on Southbank Boulevard. University staff can salary package an MTC subscription as part of their remuneration.

The Ian Potter Museum of Art houses the University's extensive art collection, which ranges from classical antiquity to contemporary art. As well as exhibitions, it also hosts lectures, symposia, musical performances and film screenings.

Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Melbourne. In recent years, its little books on big subjects (On Beauty, On Humbug, On Digestion among others) and its political biographies and autobiographies have certainly enlivened debate in the wider community. The rundown of their authors sounds like a Who's Who of Australian cultural, literary and political life and includes Germaine Greer, David Malouf, Gideon Haigh, Jana Wendt, Tony Abbot and Peter Costello to name a few.

MUP also publishes Meanjin, which is one of Australia's most important literary journals.

The University hosts 32 cultural collections dating back to the 1850s. The collections capture the history of academic disciplines taught at the university, from dentistry to law, engineering to arts and botany to zoology.

Why Melbourne?