Annual Report 2020
Advancing melbourne
Overview and introduction
Message from the Chancellor
Allan J Myers AC QC
Chancellor
I am pleased to submit the Annual Report of the University of Melbourne for the year ending 31 December 2020.
The Annual Report is prepared in accordance with the requirements of the financial reporting directions under the Financial Management Act 1994. The University of Melbourne Council endorsed this Annual Report at its meeting on 17 March 2021.
Council’s purpose is to exercise broad oversight of the University’s operations, whose day-to-day work is the responsibility of the Vice-Chancellor and the University’s staff members. Council’s membership is diverse, and its individual members are mindful of their public duty to serve the University and the broader society to which the University belongs.
As you may conclude from the information contained in this Annual Report, in 2020 the University responded strongly to the public health emergency and other challenges of the year.
Importantly, it also maintained its leadership position in Australian higher education with strong performances in both the Academic Ranking of World Universities and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
During 2020, after taking account of the impact of COVID-19, University Council was also pleased to re-endorse the new strategy for the University, Advancing Melbourne, which had been approved by Council during 2019, and offers a strong sense of direction for the University in the years ahead.
As Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, I submit this Annual Report to you for your information and presentation to Parliament.
Yours sincerely
Message from the Vice-Chancellor
Professor Duncan Maskell
Vice-Chancellor
The role of a great university was never more plain to see than in 2020. As people and communities worldwide were affected by the onset of COVID-19, the University of Melbourne’s community of researchers, teaching academics, students, professional staff and many collaborators in the wider community made great contributions to local, state, national, and global needs in a time of extended public health emergency.
This Annual Report recaps many specific achievements by the University, both in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to other pressing global challenges. These achievements ranged across the disciplines, from notable work in the biological and physical sciences (for example the Doherty Institute) to the social sciences and humanities (for example the Melbourne Institute).
A most striking feature of this institution’s overall response was the extraordinary combination of adaptability, innovation and resilience shown by staff members and students alike in all faculties and schools.
Yet perhaps the most significant achievement of all for the University was in remaining true to its core mission as an eminent global research and teaching university, while rapidly adapting to the radically changed circumstances imposed by public health restrictions and by COVID-19 itself.
In May 2020 our new strategy, Advancing Melbourne, was adopted. It embraces five important themes to guide the institution on its next decade’s journey; these themes are ‘Place’, ‘Discovery’, ‘Education’, ‘Community’ and ‘Global’.
These are perhaps more relevant and necessary than ever as we start to imagine our University in a post-pandemic world.
I look forward to leading the University in pursuit of this strategy’s ambitious goals in years to come.
Yours sincerely
At a glance
#1
in Australia in the THE¹ Global Rankings
52,151
students(EFTSL)2
42,296
total award completions
#31
in the world in the THE1 Global Rankings
430,000
living alumni
$657M
research income4
#35
in the world in the ARWU3 Rankings
6000+
participants in student/alumni mentor programs
9189
staff5
41% international students
52% undergraduate
48% graduate
155
student nationalities
- Times Higher Education
- Equivalent full-time administered student load (EFTSL)
- Academic Ranking of World Universities
- Estimated from 2020 results, confirmation from Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC) due June 2021
- Total staff full-time equivalent (FTE) including continuing, fixed-term and casual staff
Locations
1. Parkville
Our main campus in the heart of Melbourne.
2. Southbank
Home to training in the creative and performing arts, immersed with Melbourne’s leading cultural institutions.
3. Burnley
Heritage listed gardens – a living laboratory for training in all forms of horticulture.
4. Hawthorn
Supporting the University through commercial lease and venue hire.
5. Fishermans Bend
An emerging hub for heavy engineering and design Werribee – Purpose-built campus for training of veterinarians.
6. Werribee
Purpose-built campus for training of veterinarians.
7. Creswick
Heritage buildings in a forest setting, home to research and teaching in ecosystem and forest sciences.
8. Shepparton
A campus with deep connections to the Goulburn Valley, supporting Indigenous education initiatives and rural health training.
9. Dookie
A working farm and vineyard for training in agricultural sciences.
Title
Description
Our history
1853
Laying a foundation for excellence
The University of Melbourne was constituted by the newly formed Parliament of Victoria in 1853 and its foundation stone laid in 1854. The University has been synonymous with Melbourne’s intellectual growth and global reputation ever since.
1880
Welcoming women to an all-male bastion
In 1880 the University of Melbourne admitted women for the first time. Australia’s first female graduate, Julia ‘Bella’ Guerin, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1883. The country’s first registered female medical students graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1891.
1904
First university appeal conducted
Lady Janet Clarke, for whom Janet Clarke Hall residential college is named, was appointed president of the University’s first fund-raising campaign. The project succeeded in drawing £13,326 in seven months to support research projects.
1948
First PhD offered by an Australian university
The University of Melbourne became the first Australian university to offer a PhD, conferring the first two in 1948 to Erica Wolff in Arts, and RH Myers in Science. The development of the PhD reflected the increasing importance placed on research.
1978
Helping the deaf to hear
Professor Graeme Clark led a pioneering team in the University of Melbourne’s Department of Otolaryngology to engineer the world’s first bionic ear. This groundbreaking achievement paved the way for development of the Cochlear device, introduced in 1982, which has since provided the gift of hearing to more than 550,000 people worldwide.
2008
Introducing an innovative new curriculum
In 2008 the introduction of a new Melbourne curriculum marked another historic transformation of the University, delivering broad undergraduate programs followed by professional qualifications offered at masters level, smaller class sizes, team-based learning and an enhanced university experience.
2010
Committed to reconciliation
With its first Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) in 2010, the University of Melbourne made an official commitment to using its teaching and learning, research, and engagement expertise and resources to make a sustainable contribution to improved health, education and living standards for Indigenous Australians. The RAP recognises the contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and knowledge in support of this aim.
2020
An extraordinary year
In an extraordinary year, starting with destructive bushfires raging across the country and followed by the devastating global COVID-19 pandemic, the University community came together to plan and act with immediacy, decisiveness and empathy. Guided by the aspirations of the new Advancing Melbourne strategy, the University maintained the highest standards of teaching, research and professionalism.
Our history
1853
Laying a foundation for excellence
The University of Melbourne was constituted by the newly formed Parliament of Victoria in 1853 and its foundation stone laid in 1854. The University has been synonymous with Melbourne’s intellectual growth and global reputation ever since.
1880
Welcoming women to an all-male bastion
In 1880 the University of Melbourne admitted women for the first time. Australia’s first female graduate, Julia ‘Bella’ Guerin, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1883. The country’s first registered female medical students graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1891.
1904
First university appeal conducted
Lady Janet Clarke, for whom Janet Clarke Hall residential college is named, was appointed president of the University’s first fund-raising campaign. The project succeeded in drawing £13,326 in seven months to support research projects.
1948
First PhD offered by an Australian university
The University of Melbourne became the first Australian university to offer a PhD, conferring the first two in 1948 to Erica Wolff in Arts, and RH Myers in Science. The development of the PhD reflected the increasing importance placed on research.
1982
Helping the deaf to hear
Professor Graeme Clark led a pioneering research team in the University of Melbourne’s Department of Otolaryngology to engineer the world’s first bionic ear, an invention that has since provided the gift of hearing to more than 180,000 people worldwide.
2008
Introducing an innovative new curriculum
In 2008 the introduction of a new Melbourne curriculum marked another historic transformation of the University, delivering broad undergraduate programs followed by professional qualifications offered at masters level, smaller class sizes, team-based learning and an enhanced university experience.
2010
Committed to reconciliation
With its first Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP)in 2010, the University of Melbourne made an official commitment to using its teaching and learning, research, and engagement expertise and resources to make a sustainable contribution to improved health, education and living standards for Indigenous Australians. The RAP recognises the contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and knowledge in support of this aim.
2020
An extraordinary year
In an extraordinary year, starting with destructive bushfires raging across the country and followed by the devastating global COVID-19 pandemic, the University community came together to plan and act with immediacy, decisiveness and empathy. Guided by the aspirations of the new Advancing Melbourne strategy, the University maintained the highest standards of teaching, research and professionalism.
