People

The University of Melbourne attracts people who are the best in their fields to teach and work on its campuses.

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Among the many scholars of international renown at Melbourne are winners of the Nobel Prize – Professor Peter Doherty (Physiology and Medicine) and visiting eminent scholar Professor Sir James Mirrlees (Economic Science).

Other distinguished scholars of high international repute include Professor Peter Singer who is a Laureate Professor in the Faculty of Arts; and Fellows of the Royal Society, Professors David Solomon and David Boger.

The University has a great track record for its scholars being recognised for their achievements at the highest level and for gaining research funds. In 2009 25 outstanding early and mid career researchers at the University of Melbourne were awarded inaugural ARC Future Fellowships. The University received the highest number of Fellowships and the highest funding of any Australian University – $18.2million.

The success of our researchers in winning Future Fellowships highlights the University's ongoing commitment to the professional development of its early and mid-career research staff. And the research they are doing will have real and strong benefits for the broader community and the world.

Campus

The University of Melbourne is a fantastic worksite. Music, exhibitions, sporting facilities, libraries with amazing collections and excellent cafes offering great coffee, as well as a Post Office, banks and credit co-op can all be found on the Parkville campus.

Campus

Walking from one end of the campus to the other always offers something new to see. Sandstone buildings and the Old Quad bring an air of the past and contrast dramatically against the contemporary architecture featuring the latest sustainable design.

Seasonal changes are reflected in the landscape and the gardens. Sweeping lawns and hidden corners offer peaceful places to sit and lounge, while huge gum trees attract native birds and exotic flowers give a sense of colour and vibrancy.

There's always something to do or see with lunchtime lectures and music concerts held all year round, and the Ian Potter Museum of Art's collection ranging from classical antiquity to contemporary art.

Sculpture and the odd plaque commemorating historic events are constant reminders of the heritage of the University and the history of Melbourne and Victoria.

The bustling North Court market adjacent to Union House is a great place to browse for books, clothing, CDs and handmade cosmetics. While the cafes around the campus provide a huge variety of food.

There's always something to do or see with lunchtime lectures and music concerts held all year round, and a number of exhibition spaces including the Ian Potter Museum of Art's collection ranging from classical antiquity to contemporary art.

Sport

Whether a workout means swimming laps in an indoor pool, a session of Pilates or a high-intensity game of squash, the Sports Centre has it all.

Sport

Membership of the University's Sports Centre gives access to the Strength and Fitness Gym, the Beaurepaire Swimming Pool, Group Fitness classes, squash and tennis courts as well as member rates for physiotherapy and massage. Casual access options are also available.

Fantastic facilities are on offer ranging from the athletics track and sporting fields to the Mt Buller Alpine Lodge, where members keen on snow sports or simply the fresh mountain air can hire accommodation.

If competitive or team sport is your thing, literally dozens of sports clubs exist that cater for the novice right through to experienced and elite athletes. From athletics to weightlifting, archery to waterpolo, or netball to rugby, training, competition and camaraderie are on offer.

For the adventurous types, there are also mountaineering, SCUBA diving and surfing clubs.

Team Melbourne University encourages the university community to take part in wider community events, by coordinating team involvement in community running, cycling, golf and swimming events.

Values

Teaching and learning excellence is fundamental to Melbourne's aims and purpose, and is underpinned by values shared at all levels of the University.

Values

Diversity is one of the most valuable—and visible—aspects of the culture of Melbourne. Academic life, and the social aspects of working on campus, benefit when diversity is celebrated and embraced. We live in an increasingly global environment and responding to different perspectives, experiences and understandings encourages innovative teaching and learning.

Diversity Week is celebrated every year at Melbourne, and it isn't just the fabulous international food that makes it such a highlight. It's a great opportunity to promote the inclusion of everyone who works or studies at the University.

There's a sense of a shared purpose found within the academic and professional staff, and in the administration. It centres around the appreciation of the intrinsic value of education and the pursuit of knowledge. There's a dedication to quality and innovation at every level and a commitment to high standards of ethics and integrity.

Intellectual freedom, honesty, openness and rigour aren't just concepts at Melbourne; they are robustly pursued. There's a deeply held belief that all the activities of the University should benefit the community.

HR Benefits

Staff benefits on offer at Melbourne include the opportunity to salary package everything from childcare and additional superannuation to subscriptions to the Melbourne Theatre Company and mobile phones.

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It's great being able to tailor your salary to best suit your individual financial and personal needs and circumstances. Course fees can also be salary packaged and as they come at a 25% discount for staff and their immediate families, continuing education is very attractive.

Flexi-time, job-share and part-time positions are all available, as is the possibility for a 48/52 annualised salary, something that really helps when trying to organise school holiday time. There's even a Children-on-Campus policy for those days when the kids are sick or when there's a pupil-free day at school. Planned career breaks can be negotiated and the maternity leave provisions include a return to work bonus.

Unsurprisingly, Melbourne has reduced rates of absenteeism and high numbers of women returning to work. It was one of the first winners of the Fair and Flexible Employer Recognition award, presented in June 2009 by Minister for Industrial Relations Martin Pakula.

Teaching

It's exciting to be part of the introduction of the Melbourne Degrees, a radical reform that will see Melbourne aligned with the world's top universities in Europe, North America and Asia, and leading the way in the Australian tertiary sector.

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It's fantastic to work at a university that rewards excellence in the practice and support of learning and teaching. Three discipline-based awards are offered to teachers every year as well as an award for excellence in Research Higher Degree supervision.

The Kwong Lee Dow scholars program is another great initiative that engages Year 11 and 12 students and offers ongoing benefits if they enrol at the University.

Inspiring young minds is still the most important part of teaching at Melbourne and it's based on creating an atmosphere of intellectual excitement and giving the students a crystal-clear idea of the academic standard expected. At the same time individual development and an adaptive curriculum are crucial to the way we teach.

The University works hard to attract the best and brightest students, including those who face real challenges. The Access Melbourne Scheme helps talented students who have had to deal with hardship gain a place. Outstanding students from across Australia are offered Melbourne National Equity Scholarships and Melbourne National Scholarships.

Learning

There's a real sense at Melbourne that for the University to remain one of the finest in the world, staff must be encouraged to continue to learn and develop their skills and knowledge.

Learning

Melbourne back this up by offering staff, as well as their immediate families, a 25% discount to undertake further study at the University. This is just one part of the broader Staff Development, Education and Training Policy.

The University is also keen to develop management capacity within the staff. To this end, the Faculty of Economics and Commerce offers 10 scholarships every year to outstanding staff to take up free graduate study at the Melbourne Graduate School of Management. It's a great scheme and a fantastic opportunity for staff.

And on a day-to-day basis, the University hosts around 250 public lectures each year. Every day of each semester, faculties and departments offer seminars, symposiums, colloquiums and forums that are open to staff and to the public. Faculties also regularly run lunchtime presentations of current research by staff, students, visiting scholars and guests so there's always an opportunity to learn something new.

Research

With such a vast institution, we often overlook the scale of the research done at the University of Melbourne, but the reality is, the University is one of Australia's most important research organisations second only to the CSIRO in size.

Research

Some of the University's truly exciting research and development stories include the announcement that the first clinical test of an Australian bionic eye is likely within two years with commercialisation within five; the discovery of the remnants of a 650-million-year-old reef in the Northern Flinders Ranges; and the development of a hydrogen-fuelled internal combustion engine.

Melbourne's reputation for research, as well as teaching and research training, is acknowledged internationally. In the recent Times Higher Education World University Rankings it was the only Australian university to rank in the top 30 on all surveyed disciplines.

Melbourne's life sciences and biomedicine rank in the top 20 worldwide and given its location at the heart of a precinct that includes the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, the Howard Florey Institute and the Bio21 Institute, it's not surprising.

There's also the University's recently created series of virtual institutes—the Melbourne Energy Institute, the Melbourne Materials Institute, the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute and the Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society—which will work across all disciplines to tackle some of the world's most urgent research challenges.

Credentials

The University of Melbourne is placed 57th internationally in the Shanghai Jiao Tong University 2012 Academic Rankings of World Universities, the most highly regarded academic rankings of the world's top universities.

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In the prestigious 2012 Times Higher Education rankings of the world's top 200 universities, Melbourne ranked top in Australia and 28 in the world.

The University of Melbourne is now the highest placed Australian university in three of the four major world rankings.

The University is also Australia's leader in the Shanghai Jiao Tong and Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan rankings, and second nationally in the QS table.

Melbourne's membership of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities and U21, as well as involvement in other international business and cultural institutions like the Business Councils for China, India and Malaysia means its reputation precedes it.

Melbourne has a great reputation that is based on the quality of our teaching and learning, our innovative Melbourne curriculum, our status as Australia’s highest-ranked research university and the fact that Melbourne is one of this country’s oldest universities.

The excellent performance of the University in teaching and learning is consistently recognised.

In 2012 six University of Melbourne staff received citations for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning in the Australian Awards for University Teaching, joining a distinguished list of award-winning Melbourne staff. The full list of recipients of University and National awards can be viewed here: http://www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/recop/