Macquarie University
Macquarie University is a public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area.
Established as a verdant university, Macquarie has four faculties, as well as the Macquarie University Hospital, which are on the university's main Wallumattagal campus in the suburb of Macquarie Park.
The university is the first in Australia to fully align its degree system with the Bologna Accord.
History
20th century
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 parliament.
The initial concept of the campus was to create a new high-technology corridor, similar to the area surrounding Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, the goal being to provide for interaction between industry and the new university. The academic core was designed in the Brutalist style and developed by the town planner Walter Abraham who also oversaw the next 20 years of planning and development for the university. A committee appointed to advise the state government on the establishment of the new university at North Ryde nominated Abraham as the architect-planner. The fledgling Macquarie University Council decided that planning for the campus would be done within the university, rather than by consultants, and this led to the establishment of the architect-planners office.
The first vice-chancellor of Macquarie University, Alexander George Mitchell, was selected by the University Council which met for the first time on 17 June 1964. Members of the first university council included: Colonel Sir Edward Ford OBE, David Paver Mellor, Rae Else-Mitchell QC and Sir Walter Scott.
Image:First students Macquarie.JPG|thumb|left|First students at Macquarie University
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 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.
Macquarie grew during the seventies and eighties with rapid expansion in courses offered, student numbers and development of the site. In 1972, the university established the Macquarie Law School, the third law school in Sydney. 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'. An additional topic considered in this book is the science reform movement of the late 1970s that resulted in the introduction of a named science degree, thus facilitating the subsequent inclusion of other named degrees in addition to the traditional BA. An alternative view on this topic is given by theoretical physicist John Ward.
In 1973, the student union worked with the Builders Labourers Federation to organise one of the first "pink bans". Similar in tactic to the green ban, the pink ban was recommended when one of the residential colleges at Macquarie University, Robert Menzies College, ordered a student to lead a celibate life and undertake therapy and confession to cure himself of his homosexuality. The BLF decided to stop all construction work at the college until the university and the College Master made statements committing to a non-discriminatory university environment. MUSC was successful in engaging with the BLF again in 1974 when a woman at Macquarie University had her NSW Department of Education scholarship cancelled on the basis that she was a lesbian and therefore unfit to be a teacher.
After over a decade of service, the first vice-chancellor Mitchell was succeeded by Edwin C. Webb in December 1975. Webb was required to steer the university through one of its most difficult periods as the value of universities were debated and the governments introduced significant funding cuts. Webb left the university in 1986 and was succeeded by Di Yerbury, the first female vice-chancellor in Australia. Yerbury would go on to hold the position of vice-chancellor for nearly 20 years.
In 1990, the university absorbed the Institute of Early Childhood Studies of the Sydney College of Advanced Education, under the Higher Education Act 1989.
21st century
replaced Di Yerbury as vice-chancellor at the beginning of 2006. Yerbury's departure was attended with much controversy, including a "bitter dispute" with Schwartz, disputed ownership of university artworks worth $13 million and Yerbury's salary package. In August 2006, Schwartz expressed concern about the actions of Yerbury in a letter to university auditors. Yerbury strongly denied any wrongdoing and claimed the artworks were hers.During 2007, Macquarie University restructured its student organisation after an audit raised questions about management of hundreds of thousands of dollars in funds by student organisations At the centre of the investigation was Victor Ma, president of the Macquarie University Students' Council, who was previously involved in a high-profile case of student election fixing at the University of Sydney.
The university Council resolved to immediately remove Ma from his position. Vice-chancellor Schwartz cited an urgent need to reform Macquarie's main student bodies.
However, Ma strongly denied any wrongdoing and labelled the controversy a case of 'character assassination'.
The Federal Court ordered on 23 May 2007 that Macquarie University Union Ltd be wound up.
Following the dissolution of Macquarie University Union Ltd, the outgoing student organisation was replaced with a new wholly owned subsidiary company of the university, known as U@MQ Ltd. The new student organisation originally lacked a true student representative union; however, following a complete review and authorisation from the university Council, a new student union known as Macquarie University Students Association was established in 2009.
Within the first few hundred days of Schwartz's instatement as vice-chancellor, the 'Macquarie@50' strategic plan was launched, which positioned the university to enhance research, teaching, infrastructure and academic rankings by the university's 50th anniversary in 2014. Included in the university's plans for the future was the establishment of a sustainability office in order to more effectively manage environmental and social development at Macquarie. As part of this campaign, in 2009 Macquarie became the first Fair Trade accredited university in Australia. The beginning of 2009 also saw the introduction of a new logo for the university which retained the Sirius Star, present on both the old logo and the university crest, but now 'embedded in a stylised lotus flower'. In accordance with the university by-law, the crest continues to be used for formal purposes and is displayed on university testamurs. The by-law also prescribes the university's motto, taken from Chaucer: 'And gladly teche'.
In 2013, the university became the first in Australia to fully align its degree system with the Bologna Accord.
Campuses and buildings
Macquarie University's main campus is about north-west of the Sydney CBD and is set on 126 hectares of rolling lawns and natural bushland. Macquarie's location within the high-technology corridor of Sydney's north-west, in close proximity to Macquarie Park and its surrounding industries, has been crucial in its development as a relatively research intensive university.Before the development of the campus, most of the site was cultivated with peach orchards, market gardens and poultry farms. The university's first architect-planner was Walter Abraham, one of the first six administrators appointed to Macquarie University. As the site adapted from its former rural use to a busy collegiate environment, he implemented carefully designed planting programs across the campus. Abraham established a grid design comprising lots of running north–south, with the aim of creating a compact academic core. The measure of was seen as one minute's walk, and grid design reflected the aim of having a maximum walk of 10 minutes between any two parts of the university. The main east–west walkway that runs from the Macquarie University Research Park to the arts faculty buildings was named Wally's Walk in recognition of Abraham's contribution.
Apart from its centres of learning, the campus features the Macquarie University Research Park, museums, art galleries, a sculpture park, an observatory, a sport and aquatic centre and the private Macquarie University Hospital. The campus has its own postcode, 2109.
Image:Hospital Construction.JPG|thumb|Macquarie University Hospital