Australian National University

The Ranking of Austrailan National University
www.anu.edu.au

The Australian National University, commonly abbreviated to ANU, is a public teaching and research university located in Canberra, Australia, the federal capital city. This university was established by an act of the Parliament of Australia on 1 August 1946, with the legislated purpose of conducting and promoting research in Australia.

The university is consistently ranked as the best university in Australia, and is one of only three Australian universities in the top 50 worldwide in several international surveys (it is followed by the University of Sydney and University of Melbourne), including the Newsweek Top 100 and the annual Times Higher Education Supplement rankings. Its notable staff and alumni include five Nobel laureates.

This university is governed by a 15-member council. The university is a member of several university alliances and cooperative networks, including the Group of Eight (Australian Universities), the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy and the International Alliance of Research Universities

History

The ANU is the only Australian university to be established by an act of the Federal Parliament. The Australian National University Act 1946-47 was introduced into parliament by the then Prime Minister, Ben Chifley, and the Minister for Post-war Reconstruction, J.J. Dedman. The bill was passed on 1 August 1946 with support from the Opposition Leader Robert Menzies. A group of eminent Australian scholars were involved in the infancy of the ANU, including a leader in radar development and nuclear physics, Sir Mark Oliphant; the discoverer of the benefits of penicillin, Sir Howard Florey; the eminent historian, Sir Keith Hancock; and the renowned economist and public servant, Herbert ‘Nugget’ Coombs.

After its establishment, the university conducted research and provided only postgraduate education. The former Canberra University College was amalgamated into the Australian National University in 1960, as the School of General Studies, to provide for the education of undergraduate students.

Research

The Australian National University (ANU) is an education-intensive research institute of international distinction, established by an Act of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, its national capital location and its special mission for contributing to nation building and advancing Australia's place in the world. ANU has evolved into a research and teaching university, with national hubs and international networks of scholarly activity and outreach services. It has played no small part in the transformation of Australian higher education over the past decade.
The ANU is committed to working with the public and private sectors to produce benefit through knowledge transfer. If you are interested in sponsoring or commercialising the university's research, please contact our knowledge transfer arm Office of Commercialisation.

The strong research culture offers Undergraduate Students a distinctive education experience, with exposure to programs that draw their content from cutting-edge, curiosity driven research. Our Postgraduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows form an important and integral part of the research fabric at ANU, contributing to our intellectual and creative capacity.

Online Systems and Services for Teaching

In 2009 the ANU introduced a new framework to bring together the online systems and services used for teaching and learning. 'WATTLE' (Web Access To Teaching & Learning Environments) commenced with a pilot of Moodle for selected courses in first semester 2009. The system is being used to support flexible and distance education courses as well as conventional on campus education. Green ICT Strategies (COMP7310), is the first flexible course to use the system.

Rankings

The Australian National University is consistently ranked as the best in Australia and one of the top twenty in the world.

The following publications ranked universities worldwide. The Times Higher Education Supplement consistently ranks the Australian National University very highly. In 2007, its position 16th in the world and the best in Australasia, and placing it higher than Stanford University and Cornell University on the overall ranking.

The 2008 Shanghai Jiao Tong University rankings place ANU as the 59th university in the world. Both ranking systems use research output as a key determinant of quality. ANU ranks highest on research compared to other Australian universities.

Academic structure

The university is split into seven colleges and the Institute of Advanced Studies. The colleges undertake both undergraduate teaching, postgraduate studies and research. The Institute of Advanced Studies comprises of nine research schools which focus exclusively on research.

The university's seven Colleges combine research with research-led teaching and are responsible for undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
ANU College of Business and Economics
ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science
ANU College of Law
ANU College of Medicine and Health Science
ANU College of Science

The ANU College of Science is the largest of the university's Colleges.

The Institute of Advanced Studies

The Institute is focused on post-graduate education and research and comprises nine research schools and a research centre:

Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics
The Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA)
Research School of Biological Sciences
Research School of Chemistry
Research School of Earth Sciences
The Research School of Earth Sciences (RSES)
Research School of Information Sciences and Engineering
The Research School of Information Sciences and Engineering (RSISE)Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
The Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (RSPAS)
Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering
The Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering (RSPhysSE)

Research School of Social Sciences

The John Curtin School of Medical Research
The John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR)
The Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies
The Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies (CRES)


University Centres

The University Centres are organisational structures that can draw from both the Faculties and the Institute.

• Asia Pacific College of Diplomacy
• Crawford School of Economics and Government,
• Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute
• Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research
• Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics
• Centre for Cross-Cultural Research
• Centre for Mental Health Research
• Centre for the Public Awareness of Science
• Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems
• Humanities Research Centre
• National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health
• National Graduate School of Management
• Mathematical Sciences Institute (joint with The Faculties and the Institute)
• The National Europe Centre
  

Australian National University ranked 16th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

University of Sydney

The Ranking of University of Sydney

www.usyd.edu.au

The University of Sydney (informally Sydney Uni, USyd or simply Sydney) is the oldest university in Australia. It was established in Sydney in 1850. It is a member of Australia's "Group of Eight" universities that are highly ranked in terms of their research performance. In 2008, the University had 46,054 students and 3,081 (full-time equivalent) academic staff making it the second largest in Australia. By financial endowment it is the wealthiest university in Australia.

The University of Sydney has been ranked amongst the top 40 universities in the world by various sources. The UK’s Times Higher Education Supplement World University Rankings published in October 2006 ranked the University fifth best in the world for the Arts and Humanities, nineteenth for the social sciences and twentieth for biomedicine. The University as a whole was ranked 37th in the world in 2008 in that same publication's league table, ranking second among Australian universities.In the Newsweek global 100 for 2006, the University of Sydney (together with the Australian National University) was one of two Australian universities placed in the top 50 in the world.

Reputation

In the most recent THES worldwide rankings of universities released in November 2008, the University was ranked 37th overall, gaining its position as the second highest ranked Australian university behind ANU (16th).

Centred on the Oxbridge-inspired groundsof the University's Main Campus on the south-western outskirts of Sydney's CBD, the University has a number of campuses as a result of mergers over the past 20 years. The University of Sydney is a member of the Group of Eight, Academic Consortium 21, the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) and the Worldwide Universities Network.

History

During 1848, William Wentworth proposed a plan to expand the existing Sydney College into a university in the Legislative Council. Wentworth argued that a state university was imperative for the growth of a society aspiring towards self-government, and that it would provide the opportunity for 'the child of every class, to become great and useful in the destinies of his country'. It would take two attempts on Wentworth's behalf however, before the plan was finally adopted.

The University was established via the passage of the University of Sydney Act which was signed on 1 October 1850. Two years later, the University was inaugurated on 11 October 1852 in the Big Schoolroom of what is now Sydney Grammar School. The first principal was John Woolley. On 27 February 1858 the University received its Royal Charter from Queen Victoria, giving degrees conferred by the University equal rank and recognition as those given by universities in the UK. By 1859, the university had moved to its current site in the Sydney suburb of Camperdown.

In 1858, the passage of the Electoral Act provided for the university to become a constituency for the Legislative Assembly as soon as there were 100 graduates with higher degrees. This seat in Parliament was first filled in 1876, but was abolished in 1880 one year after its second Member, Edmund Barton, was elected to the Legislative Assembly.

Most of the estate of John Henry Challis was bequeathed to the university, which received a sum of £200,000 in 1889. This was thanks in part due to William Montagu Manning (chancellor 1878–1895) who argued against the claims by British Tax Commissioners. The following year seven professorships were created; anatomy, zoology, engineering, history, law, logic & mental philosophy, and modern literature.

In February 2007, the University agreed to acquire a portion of the land granted to St John's College to develop the Sydney Institute of Health and Medical Research. As a Catholic institution, in handing over the land St John's placed limitations on the type of medical research that can be conducted on the premises seeking to preserve the essence of the College mission. This has caused concern among the some groups who argue this could interfere with scientific medical research. However this is rejected by the university administration because the building is not intended for this purpose and there are many other facilities in close proximity where such research can take place.

Main campus

The main campus of the University is spread across two inner-city suburbs of Sydney: Camperdown and Darlington. Originally housed in what is now Sydney Grammar School, in 1855, the government granted the university land in Grose Farm, three kilometres from the city, which is now the main Camperdown campus. The architect Edmund Blacket designed the original Neogothic sandstone Quadrangle and Great Tower buildings, which were completed in 1862. The rapid expansion of the university in the mid-20th century resulted in the acquisition of land in Darlington across City Road. The Camperdown/Darlington campus houses the headquarters of the University, and the Faculties of Arts, Science, Education and Social Work, Pharmacy, Veterinary Science, Economics and Business, Architecture, and Engineering. It is also the home base of the large Faculty of Medicine, which has numerous affiliated teaching hospitals across the State.

The main campus is also the focus of the university's student life, with the student-run University of Sydney Union (often known simply as the Union) in possession of three buildings on-site - Wentworth, Manning and Holme Buildings. These buildings house a large proportion of the university's catering outlets, and provide space for gaming rooms, bars and function centres. One of the largest activities organised by the Union is the Orientation Week (or 'O-week'), centering on stalls set up by clubs and societies on the Front Lawns.

Research

Latest figures show that the University of Sydney has been confirmed as Australia’s leading research university in terms of funding. Sydney researchers have been awarded more than $49 million by the Australian Research Council for 120 research projects commencing in 2007, the largest amount awarded to any university in Australia. Of that total, Sydney has received $40.5 million for 97 new Discovery Grants commencing in 2007, $5.4 million more than its nearest national competitor.

The University of Sydney secured more than $46 million in funding in the 2007 round of National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Project Grant, Capacity Building and Fellowship awards, the largest allocation to any university in the state. The James Jones foundation has announced the 2007 recipient of the bicentennial award in university research linked to applied agricultural economics. The award includes various grant and research opportunities that may be taken up by both staff members and senior students. Five of the University's affiliated medical research facilities secured $38 million in the Australian government’s 2006 budget, part of $163 million made available for a variety of development and expansion projects.

Organisation

The University comprises sixteen faculties:

• Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources
• Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning
• Faculty of Arts
• Faculty of Dentistry
• Faculty of Economics and Business
• Faculty of Education and Social Work
• Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies
• Faculty of Fine Arts
• Faculty of Health Sciences
• Faculty of Law
• Faculty of Medicine
• Faculty of Music
• Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery
• Faculty of Pharmacy
• Faculty of Science
• Faculty of Veterinary Science

The four largest faculties by (2007) student enrollments are (in descending order): Economics and Business; Arts; Health Sciences; Science. Together they comprise 57% of the University's students. Each contains a student enrollment over 5,000, and they are indeed the only such faculties. It is notable that the Faculty of Economics and Business, disproportionately to other Faculties consists of about 49% international students, whilst the University-wide average rate is about 22% (2008).

The University of Sydney was ranked 37th in the recent THES-QS 2008 World University Ranking

University of Melbourne

The Rankig of University of Melbourne

www.unimelb.edu.au

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 "Growing Esteem". 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.

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 150th anniversary in 2003. The University is the home of the Grainger Museum, celebrating the life and work of composer Percy Grainger.

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

Reputation

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.

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.

Faculties, Graduate Schools and Administration

• Architecture, Building and Planning
• Education
• Law
• Melbourne School of Graduate Research
• The VCA and Music
• Arts
• Engineering
• Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences
• Science
• Economics and Commerce
• Melbourne School of Land and Environment
• Veterinary Science
• Melbourne Consulting and Custom Programs
• Melbourne Business School

University of Melbourne was ranked 38th in the 2008 THES-QS World University ranking

University of Queensland

The Ranking of University of Queensland

www.uq.edu.au

The University of Queensland (UQ) is one of Australia's premier learning and research institutions. The University is a founding member of the national Group of Eight, an alliance of research-strong, mostly "Sandstone universities" committed to ensuring that Australia has higher education institutions which are genuinely world class. It belongs also to the global Universitas 21 alliance. This group aims to enhance the quality of university outcomes through international benchmarking and a joint venture e-learning project with The Thomson Corporation.

UQ is Queensland's foremost university. In 1998–99 it was named Australia's University of the Year and it continues to enjoy the highest overall rating for Queensland universities in the annual Good Universities Guide.

UQ remains the most successful Australian university in winning and being shortlisted for Australian Awards for University Teaching since they were established in 1997. On a variety of measures it is one of the top three research universities in the country.

UQ's strength in research is evident in the many joint and collaborative research centres associated with the university. The Queensland Bioscience Precinct on the St Lucia campus houses scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Institute for Molecular Bioscience(IMB), the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology(AIBN) and the Queensland Brain Institute to form one of the largest biomedical research clusters in Australia. In addition, UQ is involved in biomedical translational research at the Diamantina Institute for Cancer, Immunology and Metabolic Medicine (DI) Pharmacy Australia Centre of Excellence (PACE) and the University of Queensland Centre of Clinical Research (UQCCR).

History and Campuses
St Lucia Campus

UQ was established on 10 December 1909, with Sir William MacGregor as first chancellor (with Reginald Heber Roe as vice-chancellor) and was originally situated in Brisbane's downtown area on George Street. In 1927, the land on which the St Lucia campus is built was resumed by the Brisbane City Council using money donated by James O'Neil Mayne and his sister Mary Emelia Mayne to replace the less spacious city campus (now home to the Gardens Point campus of the Queensland University of Technology). Building began at St Lucia in 1937.

The University has its main campus in the suburb of St Lucia in Brisbane. Its other campuses include Ipswich, Gatton, Herston, South Brisbane, Turbot Street and Moggill.

Situated on a peninsula of the Brisbane River, the university is reachable by road, CityCat ferry, or bus and is seven kilometres from Brisbane's city centre. At its centre is the heritage-listed Great Court — a 2.5 hectare open area surrounded by sandstone buildings with distinctive gargoyles, figures of great academics and historic scenes, floral and faunal motifs and crests of universities and collages from around the world. This central semi-circular quadrangle features a connected arcade so students could reach any section under cover.

The large campus of 274 acres (1.1 km²) also includes sporting fields, gardens, duckponds, and cycling tracks. The athletics centre features 21 floodlit tennis courts and Olympic-standard swimming pool, a three-level gymnasium and a multi-purpose indoor centre.

The university is served by a CityCat wharf, two bus stations and is also served by the Eleanor Schonell Bridge providing pedestrian and bus access across the river to Dutton Park.

Gatton Campus

Located in Gatton, Queensland about 90km west of Brisbane on the Warrego Highway, UQ Gatton is home to the university's Faculty of Natural Resources, Agriculture and Veterinary Science (NRAVS). UQ Gatton, formerly the Queensland Agricultural College, was opened in 1897 as a combined agricultural college and experimental farm. The QAC amalgamated with UQ in 1990. UQ Gatton is serviced by the UQ Gatton Student Association and remains affiliated with the UQ Student Union.

UQ Gatton offers courses in agriculture, animal science, environmental management, agronomy/agribusiness, equine studies, wildlife and bushland studies and other fields relating to natural and rural environments. Its facilities include over 1000 hectares of agricultural land, extensive and intensive animal production operations, a recently redeveloped equine centre, and facilities for wildlife studies, as well as modern teaching facilities and laboratories, and a branch of the UQ Library. Some of the original QAC buildings are still standing, such as the Foundation Building.

Ipswich Campus

The Ipswich campus, opened in 1999, after State and Federal government backing is the newest campus, made up of nearly 20 buildings and more than 4000 students on nearly 25ha. Courses offered include: arts, business and social sciences as well as Interaction design. In 2009, a cohort of 39 students became the pioneers to undertake medicine at the Ipswich campus.

It is located near central Ipswich, Queensland, just south of the CBD. Nearby landmarks include Limestone Park, The Workshops Railway Museum and the RAAF Base Amberley. The actual site surrounds the Ipswich Showgrounds and is in turn, sided by a golf course.

The site dates back to 1878 with the opening of the Ipswich branch of the Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum. Operations continued until 1910 when it became the Ipswich Hospital for the Insane. In 1938 it was renamed the Ipswich Mental Hospital and in 1964 it was renamed again as the Ipswich Special Hospital. It was finally named the Challinor Centre in 1968 in honour of Dr. Henry Challinor, the ships surgeon on the Fortitude. From 1968 to 1997 the Challinor Centre served as an institution for people with intellectual disabilities. In late 1997 the Challinor Centre began its first stage of transformation as the new UQ Ipswich campus.

This history is reflected today with 17 heritage listed buildings that have been refurbished into work spaces, computer laboratories and public spaces. Work is still underway refurbishing more buildings.

Research Centres

• Co-operative Research Centre for Enterprise Distributed Systems Technology
• NICTA — national information and communication technology research centre, co-supported by University of Queensland
  Aboriginal Environments Research Centre, within the School of Architecture.
• QBI - Queensland Brain Institute

Academic Reputation

According to The Times Higher-QS World University Rankings 2007, UQ is the only Queensland university in the top 50 (ranked 33rd along with the National University of Singapore), and one of only nine Australian universities in the top 200[6]. UQ moved from being the sixth-ranked Australian university in the 2006 world rankings to become the fourth-ranked Australian university in 2007. In 2008 the university was ranked 43rd, behind University of Melbourne (38), University of Sydney (37) and Australian National University (16).

The Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Academic Ranking of World Universities also placed UQ among the top five Australian universities. UQ was also listed at number 91 in a 2006 Newsweek ranking of the world's top 100 universities, placing seventh among Australian universities after the Australian National University, University of Melbourne, University of Sydney, University of New South Wales, Monash University and University of Western Australia. These six higher ranking institutions together with UQ and the University of Adelaide also form the Group of Eight consortium, which consists of the top eight Australian research universities.

The University was independently ranked as one of Australia's best universities in the 2007 edition of The Good Universities Guide; receiving a maximum five-star rating in six key performance indicators. These include student demand, positive graduate outcomes (reflecting both graduate employment and going on to further study), staff qualifications, research grants, research intensivity and toughness to get in (specifically for the St Lucia campus).

Faculties

• Faculty of Arts (ARTS)
• Faculty of Science (Science)
• Faculty of Business, Economics & Law (BEL)
• The Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology (EAIT)
• Faculty of Health Sciences (HEALTH)
• Faculty of Natural Resources, Agriculture & Veterinary Science (NRAVS)
• Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences (SBS)

University of Queensland Ranked 43rd in 2008 Thes-QS World University Ranking

Macquarie University

The Ranking of Macquarie University

www.mq.edu.au

Macquarie University is an Australian public research university located in Sydney. Its main campus is in Macquarie Park and also has overseas campuses in Hong Kong and Singapore. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney. Macquarie’s 126 hectare park-like campus belies its setting within the high-technology corridor of Sydney’s north-west.

Macquarie has a strong reputation in the business and finance area, such as the actuarial studies programme. Macquarie is currently reviewing its academic structure, with its 32,000 students to be located within four faculties – Business and Commerce; Arts; Human Sciences, and Science.

Macquarie University's linguistics department developed the Macquarie Dictionary, the copyright on which it still owns.

History

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 enrolments 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.

Macquarie University was formally established in 1964 with the passage of the Macquarie University Act 1964 by the New South Wales Government. 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 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. 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’.

There have only been four Vice-Chancellors in the University’s forty-four year history. 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. Di Yerbury was appointed to the position in 1986 and was the first female Vice-Chancellor in Australia.

Campus

Located about 16 km north-west of the Sydney CBD, the Macquarie University campus is set on 126 hectares of rolling lawns and natural bush and strategically located within the high-technology corridor of Sydney's north-west. It is served by the Macquarie University railway station as well as a bus interchange within the campus.

Macquarie University’s first architect-planner was Walter Abraham, one of the first six administrators appointed to Macquarie University.

When he took up his appointment in April 1965 there had been very little study of the challenges involved in the design and planning of universities in this country. So Abraham travelled to study the contemporary work of campus planners in the United States and Britain.

Abraham treasured Macquarie’s natural environment as one of the University’s invaluable assets. As the site adapted from its former rural use to a busy collegiate environment, he implemented carefully designed planting programs across the campus.

Apart from its centres of learning, the campus features the Macquarie University Research Park, Museums, Art Galleries and a Sculpture Park. A major medical precinct is also planned, combining the Australian School of Advanced Medicine and the Macquarie University Private Hospital.

Reputation

Macquarie University showed significant drop in THES - QS World University Rankings in 2007. After the university made 67th in 2005, they ranked equal 168th in the 2007 of the top 200 universities.

The Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Academic Ranking of World Universities in 2008 placed Macquarie University ranked 7th in Australian Universities along with Monash University and Adelaide University.

According to the 'Good University Guide' of Australian University, starting salaries for Macquarie graduates have been ranked as the highest in Australia for ten consecutive years (1998-2007) and university made 5 star ratings in seven different performances categories. Macquarie University teachers also have received numerous awards and citations from the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education since it was established in 2004.

MGSM (Macquarie Graduate School of Management) is Macquarie's business school that offers postgraduate, MBA, DBA and Master Management programmes. MGSM is considered as one of the best business school in Asia/Oceania region along with AGSM of UNSW/University of Sydney and Melbourne Business School of University of Melbourne. MGSM made #1 in Australia (#36 worldwide) for open programmes, #2 in Australia (#43 worldwide) for Combined Executive Education, and #3 in Australia (#63 worldwide) for custom programs, according to the report from Financial Times.

The School is ranked 1st in Australia and Asia and 40th in the world for its full-time MBA program (Economist Intelligence Unit, Which MBA?, 2003 Global Full-Time MBA Rankings), in the top 2 business schools in Australia and New Zealand and among Asia's 15 best schools (Asia Inc, 2003). The MGSM MBA was also ranked equal 1st of Australian MBA programs (Australian Financial Review BOSS Magazine, 2003) and in the top 40 business schools worldwide for executive education (London Financial Times, 2003). MGSM ranked #1 in the world in the category of 'student quality' (The Economist, 2004).

Research

Its goal is for Macquarie to rank amongst the top 200 research intensive universities in the world by 2014.

Macquarie is home to some of the world's most pre-eminent researchers who attract significant research funding to the University. In 2007 Macquarie received research income totalling $33.7 million, ranking us fifth nationally when our size and success rate per application were taken into consideration. Australian Competitive Research Grants netted $14.3 million, other public sector grants earned us $9.3 million, industry and other income totalled $8.7 million, and Cooperative Research Centres garnered $1.4 million.

In 2007 the weighted figures regarding our research publications were 162.5 points for books, 154.54 for book chapters, 727.96 for journal articles and 327.27 for conference proceedings.

Faculties

Faculty of Arts
Department of Ancient History
Department of Anthropology
Department of English
Department of Indigenous Studies – Warawara
Department of International Studies
Department of Media, Music, and Cultural Studies
Department of Modern History, Politics, International Relations and Security
Department of Philosophy
Department of Sociology
Macquarie Law School

Faculty of Human Sciences
Australian School of Advanced Medicine
Department of Education
Department of Linguistics
Department of Psychology
Institute of Early Childhood
Institute of Human Cognition and Brain Science

Faculty of Business and Economics
Applied Finance Centre
Department of Accounting and Finance
Department of Actuarial Studies
Department of Business
Department of Business Law
Department of Economics
Macquarie Graduate School of Management

Faculty of Science
Department of Biological Sciences
Department of Brain Behaviour and Evolution
Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences
Department of Chiropractic
Department of Computing
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Department of Environment and Geography
Department of Mathematics
Department of Physics and Engineering
Department of Statistics
Graduate School of the Environment

Macquarie University was ranked 182 in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking