Monash University

Monash University (or simply Monash) is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL.

Monash enrolls approximately 39,000 undergraduate and 16,000 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 centres and 17 co-operative research centres. In 2008, Monash University attracted more than $210 million of research investment and grants from various Government bodies and external organisations.

The university has eight campuses: six in Victoria (Clayton, Caulfield, Berwick, Peninsula, Parkville and Gippsland), one in Malaysia and one in South Africa. Monash also has a research and teaching centre in Prato, Italy and a graduate research school in Mumbai, India.

Beginnings
Monash University is a commissioned Victorian university. It was established by an Act of the State Parliament of Victoria in 1958 as a result of the Murray Report which was commissioned in 1957 by then Prime Minister Robert Menzies to establish the second university in the state of Victoria. The university was named after the prominent Australian general Sir John Monash. This was the first time in Australia that a university had been named after a person, rather than a city or state.

The original campus was in the south-eastern Melbourne suburb of Clayton (falling in what is now the City of Monash). The first University Council, led by Monash's first Chancellor Sir Robert Blackwood, selected Sir Louis Matheson, to be the first Vice-Chancellor of Monash University, a position he held until 1976. The University was granted an expansive site of 100 hectares of open land in Clayton.

From its first intake of 347 students at Clayton on 13 March 1961, the university grew rapidly in size and student numbers so that by 1967, it had enrolled more than 21,000 students since its establishment. In its early years, it offered undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in engineering, medicine, science, arts, economics, politics, education and law. It was a major provider for international student places under the Colombo Plan, which saw the first Asian students enter the Australian education system.

In its early years of teaching, research and administration, Monash was not disadvantaged by entrenched traditional practices. Monash was able to adopt modern approaches without resistance from those who preferred the status quo. A modern administrative structure was set up; Australia's first research centres and scholarships devoted to Indigenous Australians were established, and, thanks to Monash's entirely new facilities, students in wheelchairs could enrol.

1970s onwards
From the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, Monash became the centre of student radicalism in Australia. It was the site of many mass student demonstrations, particularly concerning Australia's role in Vietnam War and conscription. By the late 1960s, several student organisations, some of which were influenced by or supporters of communism, turned their focus to Vietnam, with numerous blockades and sit-ins.

In the late 1970s and 1980s, Monash's most publicised research came through its pioneering of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). Led by Professors Carl Wood and Alan Trounson, the Monash IVF Program achieved the world's first clinical IVF pregnancy in 1973. In 1980, they delivered the first IVF baby in Australia. This eventually became a massive source of revenue for the University at a time when university funding in Australia was beginning to slow down.

In the late 1980s, the Dawkins Reforms changed the landscape of higher education in Australia. Under the leadership of Vice-Chancellor Mal Logan, Monash transformed dramatically. In 1988, Monash University had only one campus, Clayton, with around 15, 000 students. Just over a decade later, it had 8 campuses (including 2 overseas), a European research and teaching centre, and more than 50,000 students, making it the largest and most internationalised Australian university.

Expansion in the 1990s
The expansion began in 1990, with a series of mergers between Monash, the Chisholm Institute of Technology, and the Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education. In 1991 a merger with the Victorian College of Pharmacy created a new faculty of the University. Monash University's expansion continued in 1994, with the establishment of the Berwick campus.

In 1998, the University opened the Malaysia campus, its first overseas campus and the first foreign university in Malaysia. In 2001, Monash South Africa opened its doors in Johannesburg, making Monash the first foreign university in South Africa. The same year, the University secured an 18th Century Tuscan Palace to open a research and teaching centre in Prato, Italy.

At the same time, Australian universities faced unprecedented demand for international student places, which Monash met on a larger scale than most, to the point that today around 30% of its students are from outside Australia. Today, Monash students come from over 100 different countries, and speak over 90 different languages. The increase in international students, combined with its expansion, meant that Monash's income skyrocketed throughout the 1990s, and it is now one of Australia's top 200 exporters.

2000 onwards
In recent years, the University has been prominent in medical research. A highlight of this came in 2000, when Professor Alan Trounson led the team of scientists which first announced to the world that nerve stem cells could be derived from embryonic stem cells, a discovery which led to a dramatic increase in interest in the potential of stem cells. It has also led to Monash being ranked in the top 20 universities in the world for biomedicine.

On 21 October 2002 Huan Yun "Allen" Xiang shot two people dead and injured five others on the Clayton campus.

On 30 May 2008, Monash University celebrated its 50th Anniversary.

The current Vice-Chancellor and President of Monash University is Professor Edward Byrne AO (since 6 July 2009).

Clayton campus
The Clayton campus covers an area over 1.1 km² and is the largest of the Monash campuses. Clayton is the flagship campus for Monash, demanding higher ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) scores than all the other campuses, with the exception of Parkville. Clayton is home to the faculties of Arts, Business & Economics, Education, Engineering, IT, Law, Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences and Science. The Clayton campus has its own suburb and postcode (3800).

Various major scientific research facilities are located on or adjacent to the campus. Chief among these are the Australian Synchrotron and the CSIRO.

The campus is also home to numerous restaurants and retail outlets, as well as student bars Sir John's (located in the Campus Centre) and the Notting Hill Hotel (founded in 1891), both of which are hubs of social life on the campus.

The campus is also home to a number of halls of residence, colleges and other on-campus accommodation that house several thousand students. Six halls of residence are located at the Clayton campus in Clayton, Victoria. There is an additional private residential college affiliated with the University.

Halls of Residence


 * Howitt Hall is the tallest Monash residential building, standing 12 stories high, with a good view of the other halls and the university. Howitt Hall is the third oldest hall, and was opened in September 1966. The hall is named after Alfred Howitt, a scholar and prominent figure in early Gippsland.


 * Farrer Hall is divided into two buildings, Commons and Lords, with an annex to Commons called Chastity which is located above the common room. The Hall has more focus on floors, with kitchens, laundries and common rooms shared across them. The hall is named after William Farrer, who developed many strains of wheat suited to Australian conditions.


 * Richardson Hall (Richo) is the newest of the Halls of Residence at Monash University. Richardson is home to 190 residents. Richardson has been known as the "International Hall" to residents of other halls, due to the high numbers of international students residing in Richardson. The hall is named after Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson, a prominent Australian author who adopted the male pseudonym Henry Handel Richardson.


 * Deakin Hall was the first residence hall established at Monash University in Australia, in September 1962. The residence hall was named after Alfred Deakin, Prime Minister from 1903–1910 and father of the Australian Constitution.


 * Roberts Hall is named after Tom Roberts, an Australian artist who was affectionately known as "the bulldog". The mascot of Roberts Hall is a bulldog in recognition of this.


 * Mannix College is a residential college affiliated with Monash, located near the south-western corner of the university's Clayton campus, adjacent to the Monash Clayton bus interchange. It is made up of two wings of dormitories, Hoevers and Fitzgerald, each with three levels and approximately 40 students per floor - giving a total student residence of approximately 240. Mannix is the only on-campus residence to provide fully catered board and lodging.

Caulfield campus
The Caulfield campus is Monash University's second largest campus. Its multifaceted nature is reflected in the range of programs it offers through the faculties of Arts, Art & Design, Business & Economics, Information Technology and Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences. A major building program has been announced, to expand teaching facilities, provide student accommodation and redevelop the shopping centre.

Other Australian campuses
One of Monash's newest, Berwick campus was built on the old Casey airfield in the south-eastern growth corridor of Victoria, Australia. The town of Berwick has experienced an influx of people and development in recent times, which includes the new campus of Monash University. With a presence in the area since 1994, the first Monash Berwick campus building was completed in 1996 and the third building in March 2004. It is situated on a 55-hectare site in the City of Casey, one of the three fastest growing municipalities in Australia

The Gippsland campus is home to 2,000 on-campus students, 5,000 off-campus students and nearly 400 staff. The campus sits in the Latrobe Valley town of Churchill, 142 km east of Melbourne on 63 hectares of landscaped grounds. It is the only non-metropolitan campus of Monash University. The campus offers many undergraduate degrees, and attracts many students from the Latrobe Valley, East and West Gippsland. The Gippsland Medical School, offering postgraduate entry Bachelor of Medicine / Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) courses was officially opened by the Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon on 5 June 2008, providing students with a unique opportunity to learn medicine in a rural setting working with rural practitioners.

The Parkville campus is situated in the Melbourne suburb of Parkville, around 2 km north of the Melbourne CBD on Royal Parade. The campus is the home of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Phamaceutical Sciences. The faculty specialises in the areas of formulation science and medicinal chemistry and offers the Bachelor of Pharmacy and Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Science undergraduate degrees, the latter replacing the Bachelor of Formulation Science in 2007 and the Bachelor of Medicinal Chemistry in 2008. Double degrees are also offered including the Bachelor of Pharmacy/Commerce with the Business and Economics faculty at Clayton, and also the Bachelor of Engineering/Pharmaceutical Science with the Engineering faculty. It also offers postgraduate degrees.

The Peninsula campus has a teaching and research focus on health and wellbeing, and is a hub of undergraduate and postgraduates studies in Nursing, Health Science, Physiotherapy and Psychology - and particularly in Emergency Health (Paramedic) courses.

The campus is located in the bayside suburb of Frankston on the edge of Melbourne. Peninsula campus also offers a range of courses including those from its historic roots with early childhood and primary education (during the 1960s and 1970s the campus was the State Teachers' College), and Business & Economics (since the merger of the State Teachers' College with the Caulfield Institute of Technology to create the Chisholm Institute of Technology in 1982). The campus was also home to the Peninsula School of Information Technology, which in 2006 was wound back with Information Technology units previously offered being relocated to the Caulfield campus.

Overseas campuses
The Monash University Sunway campus opened in 1998 in Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia. The Sunway campus offers various undergraduate degrees through its faculties of Medicine and Health Sciences, Engineering, Information Technology, Business, and Arts and Sciences. It is currently home to almost 4,000 students. The new purpose-built campus opened in 2007, providing a high-tech home for Monash in Malaysia. In addition to a wide range of undergraduate degrees, the campus also offers both postgraduate Masters and PhD programs. Its degrees in Medicine and Surgery are the first medical degrees outside Australia and New Zealand to be accredited by the Australian Medical Council.

Monash South Africa is situated on the western outskirts of Johannesburg, and opened its doors in 2001. A new learning commons opened in 2007, and, in early 2008, new housing will mean the campus will be able to provide secure on-campus accommodation for 1,000 students. The campus offers undergraduate courses from the faculties of business and economics, arts and IT.



The Monash University Prato Centre is located in the 18th Century Palace, Palazzo Vaj, in the historic centre of Prato, a city near Florence in Italy. Primarily, it hosts students from Monash's other campuses for semesters in Law, Art and Design, History, Music, as well as various international conferences. The Department of Business Law and Taxation, in the Faculty of Business and Economics also runs subjects in Prato. It was officially opened on 17 September 2001 as part of the University's vigorous internationalisation policy.

The IITB-Monash Research Academy opened in 2008 and is situated in Mumbai, India. It is a partnership between Monash and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. It aims to carry out high impact research in engineering and sciences, particularly clean energy, biotechnology and nanotechnology. Students undertake their research in both India and Australia, with supervisors from both Monash and IITB. Upon graduating, they receive a dual PhD from the two institutions. In the month following its official opening, 36 joint projects had commenced, with a further several hundred planned. Construction of a new $5m facility began in November 2008.

Admissions
Monash has the highest demand for places among high school graduates of any university in Victoria. In 2009, one in four applicants put Monash as their first preference. This equates to more than 15,000 first preferences from Victorian high school leavers.

The Good Universities Guide places the Clayton, Caulfield, Parkville and Peninsula campuses in the category of universities which are most difficult to gain admission to in Australia, with each campus receiving an Entry Standards mark of 5/5.

Of the top 5% of high school graduates in Victoria, more choose Monash than any other institution. In 2010, almost half of the top 5% of high school leavers chose to attend Monash - the highest of any Victorian university by quite some margin. In 2009, among students with a "perfect" ENTER score of 99.95 (i.e. students in the top 0.05% of high school applicants), 63 made an application for Monash.

Faculties
Monash is divided into 10 faculties. These incorporate the University's major departments of teaching and research centres.

The faculties are:
 * Faculty of Art & Design
 * Faculty of Arts
 * Faculty of Business and Economics
 * Faculty of Education
 * Faculty of Engineering
 * Faculty of Information Technology
 * Faculty of Law
 * Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
 * Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
 * Faculty of Science

Notable interdisciplinary research centres include:
 * Monash University Accident Research Centre
 * Monash Centre for Synchrotron Science

Various other academic organisations exist alongside the faculties and research centres. Monash College provides students with an alternative point of entry to Monash University. The institution offers pathway studies for students who endeavour to undertake studies at one of Monash's campuses. The College's specialised undergraduate diplomas (Diploma Part 2 is equivalent to first-year university) provide an alternative entry point into more than 60 Monash University bachelor degrees, taught intensively in smaller classes and an environment overall similar to that offered by the university. Monash College offers programs in several countries throughout the world, with colleges located in Australia (Melbourne), China (Guangzhou), Indonesia (Jakarta), Singapore and Sri Lanka (Colombo).

Rankings
The following publications ranked universities worldwide. Monash University ranked:

The corresponding rankings within Australia are:

Research produced by the Melbourne Institute in 2006 ranked Australian universities across seven main discipline areas: Arts and Humanities, Business and Economics, Education, Engineering, Law, Medicine, and Science. For each discipline, Monash University was ranked:

* R1 refers to Australian and overseas Academics' rankings in tables 3.1–3.7 of the report. R2 refers to the Articles and Research rankings in tables 5.1–5.7 of the report. No. refers to the number of institutions in the table against which Monash is compared.

Other rankings:
 * The Monash Clayton campus was ranked number 1 in Australia for student experience by the National Union of Students of Australia in 2007
 * In life sciences and biomedicine, Monash was ranked 25th best in the world by Times Higher Education in 2009
 * In social sciences, it was ranked 26th best in the world by Times Higher Education in 2009
 * In the employer review category, in which employers rate the quality of a university's graduates, Times Higher Education ranked Monash 15th best in the world in 2008.
 * In the international students category, Times Higher Education ranked Monash 17th best in the world in 2008.
 * The Monash MBA was ranked number 1 in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit in the category of "personal development and educational experience"
 * The Monash Faculty of Business and Economics School was ranked number 1 in Australia by Webometrics in 2010 (July Ranking).
 * Monash University chemistry ranks top 75 in the world and number 1 in Australia according to ARWU's ranking.
 * In 2010, the Australian Government's Learning and Teaching Performance Fund recognised the Monash Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences as the best in Australia.

Monash University Library
Monash University Library currently operates several libraries at all of its campuses, spanning over 3 continents. Monash University Library has over 3.2 million items.

Rare Books Collection
Located at the Sir Louis Matheson Library on the Clayton Campus, the Rare Books Collection consists of over 100,000 items, valued because of their age, uniqueness or physical beauty, which can be accessed by Monash staff and students. The collection was started in 1961 when the University Librarian purchased original manuscripts by Jonathan Swift and some of his contemporaries. The Collection now consists of a range of items including photography, children's books, 15th-17th century English and French literature, original manuscripts and pamphlets. A variety of exhibitions are hosted throughout the year in the Rare Books area.

Monash University Museum of Art
The Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA) was founded in 1961 and is located on the University's Caulfield Campus. The establishment of the Museum reflected a desire by the University's founders for students to obtain a broad education, including an appreciation and understanding of the arts. Its collection has now grown to over 1500 works, including a variety of items from artists such as Arthur Boyd, William Dobell, Sidney Nolan, Howard Arkley, Tracey Moffatt, John Perceval, Fred Williams and Bill Henson. While the gallery's focus is on Australian art, it houses a number of international works and exhibitions. It hosts regular exhibitions which are open to Monash students and staff, as well as the general public. The current Curator of the Museum is Geraldine Barlow.



Switchback Gallery
The Switchback Gallery was opened in 1995 in the landscaped gardens of the University's Gippsland Campus, and has become a cultural focal point for the region. It hosts a diverse range of exhibitions each year, from work by Monash students, to displays by international artists.

Monash Faculty of Art and Design Gallery
The Art and Design Faculty houses its own collection of artwork. It is located at the University's Caulfield campus. Its collection includes a wide range of media including painting, tapestry, printmedia, ceramics, jewellery, photomedia, industrial design, digital media and installation. In addition to being a public gallery, it runs a Visiting Artists program which attracts artists from around the world to spend a year at the gallery.

Student organisations
There are approximately 56,000 students at the university, represented by individual campus organisations and the university-wide Monash Postgraduate Association.
 * Monash Union of Berwick Students (MUBS) - Berwick campus
 * Monash Student Association (MSA) - Clayton Campus
 * Monash Student Union Caulfield (MONSU Caulfield) - Caulfield Campus
 * Monash University Gippsland Student Union (MUGSU) - Gippsland Campus
 * Monash Parkville Students Association (MPSA) - Parkville Campus
 * Monash Student Union Peninsula (MONSU Peninsula) - Peninsula Campus
 * Monash Student Association of South Africa - South Africa Campus.
 * Monash University Student Association (MUSA) - Malaysia campus

Other notable student organisations include:
 * Lot's Wife, a newspaper
 * Monash Association of Debaters
 * Monash Whites Football Club

Sport
Sport at Monash University is overseen by Monash Sport, a department of the University which employs over 200 staff. Currently, there are 47 sporting clubs at the University.

Each campus has a range of sporting facilities used by students and staff, including football, cricket, hockey, soccer, rugby and baseball fields; tennis, squash and badminton courts; gyms and swimming pools. The University also has an alpine lodge at Mount Buller.

Monash's sporting teams compete in a range of local and national competitions. Monash sends the largest number of students of any Australian university to the Australian University Games, in which it was Overall Champion in 2008 and 2009.

Facilities at Monash are often used by a range of professional sporting teams. For example, the Australia national association football team, the Socceroos, used the Clayton and South Africa campuses for training for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Colleges and Halls of Residence
Monash Residential Services (MRS) is responsible for co-ordinating the operation of on-campus halls of residence. MRS manages a variety of facilities at all five Australian campuses and South Africa.

The following residences are based at the Clayton Campus:

Mannix College, founded in 1969 and owned by the Catholic Church, is also affiliated with the university.

Faculty and alumni
Monash has a long list of alumni who have become prominent in a wide range of areas. 1100 Monash graduates (or 8.33% of the total biographical listings) are listed among the 13,200 biographies of Australia's most notable individuals in the 2008 edition of Who's Who in Australia.

Monash graduates who are currently leaders in their fields include:
 * Daniel Andrews, Victorian Opposition Leader
 * Adam Bandt, Member for Melbourne
 * Boediono, Vice President of Indonesia
 * Simon Crean, Australian politician
 * David de Kretser, Governor of Victoria
 * Robert Doyle, Lord Mayor of Melbourne
 * John Lenders, former Treasurer of Victoria
 * George Pell, present Australian Cardinal of the Catholic Church
 * Marilyn Warren, Chief Justice of Victoria

Vice-Chancellors and Chancellors
The Vice-Chancellor is the chief executive of the University, who is head of Monash's day-to-day activities. The Vice-Chancellor is also the University President. In North America and parts of Europe, the equivalent role is the President or Principal.

The Chancellor is chair of the University Council and provides advice to the Vice-Chancellor, as well as having ceremonial duties.

Vice-Chancellors

 * Sir Louis Matheson (1960–1976)
 * William Alexander Gowdie Scott (1976–1977)
 * Raymond Martin AO (1977–1987)
 * Mal Logan AC (1987–1996)
 * David Robinson (1997–2002)
 * Peter Darvall AO (2002–2003)
 * Richard Larkins AO (2003–2009)
 * Edward Byrne AO (2009–)

Chancellors

 * Sir Robert Rutherford Blackwood (1958–1968)
 * Sir Douglas Ian Menzies (1968–1974)
 * Sir Richard Moulton Eggleston (1975–1983)
 * Sir George Hermann Lush (1983–1992)
 * David William Rogers (1992–1998)
 * Jerry Ellis (1999–2007)
 * Alan Finkel (2008–)