The University of Melbourne is a global leader in higher education. Across our campuses we convene brilliant minds from different disciplines and sectors to come together to address important questions and tackle grand challenges. In a disrupted world, that capacity has never been more important.
Our vision is to equip our students with a distinctive, future-facing education personalised around their ambitions and needs, enriched by global perspectives and embedded in a richly collaborative research culture. As active citizens and future leaders, our students represent our greatest contribution to the world, and are at the heart of everything we do.
We serve society by engaging with our communities and ensuring education and research are inspired from the outset by need and for the benefit of society, while remaining committed to allowing academic freedom to flourish. In this, we remain true to our purpose and fulfil our mission as a public-spirited organisation, dedicated to the principles of fairness, equality and excellence in everything we do.
We strive for an environment that is inclusive and celebrates diversity.
Beyond our campuses we imagine an Australia that is ambitious, forward thinking and increasing its reputation and influence globally. We are committed to playing a part in achieving this – building on our advantageous location in one of the world’s most exciting cities and across the state of Victoria, in a region rapidly becoming a hub for innovative education, research and collaboration.
Wildlife can have a tough time crossing roads. Noisy, fast vehicles and wide, open gaps in habitat make it an uninviting and risky venture. This means some animals are cut off from food, shelter or loving…
Serving on operational deployments in conflict zones carries not only the obvious physical threats, it also poses significant mental health risks. While depression and anxiety disorders are common among…
Once upon a time, there was something beseeching about a public mea culpa. Once upon a time, if you found yourself soliciting sex in a toilet block, in bed with a prostitute or having fathered an illegitimate…
Last week on Lifetime - a cable channel in the US - a reality TV show called Double Divas premiered. The trailer gives a useful overview: a couple of best friends fit amply bosomed women for new bras…
The terms of reference for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse were released this afternoon in Sydney. In speeches that emphasised the need to acknowledge the experiences…
The Federal Government today released the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses Child Sexual Abuse in Australia. The Royal Commission, announced in November last year…
Results released from a major Victorian study on student learning show high achieving children’s performance in tests is “flat-lining”. The study, by Professor Patrick Griffin, followed 36,000 students…
Law reform is required to support innovation and enable Australian universities to compete with the rest of the world in online education, say leading Australian educators. In their submissions to the…
Battle is being joined in Washington, where President Barack Obama, has nominated a former Republican senator, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, to be the next Secretary of Defense. He has also nominated John Brennan…
Debt, it seems, is an idea with currency. Cities, states, nations and individuals are indebted, with creditors at the door, demanding repayment. This year, the US Federal Reserve even had David Graeber…
Annette Rome, The University of Melbourne and Adam Smith, Australian Council for Educational Research
For-profit education is something that really doesn’t exist in Australia… yet. But in many other countries around the world it has become a normal part of education and there are now many companies providing…
Christmas - whether you’re religious or not - is a time when people gather their families together to reinforce the bonds that make us human. In the era of modern telecommunications, distance no longer…
In the weeks since my last post, life has continued to run at a million miles an hour. As a mother it was great to see my little baby learn to sit up with a beaming smile watching the world unfold around…
The academics and the “mummy bloggers” are in furious agreement – reading picture books to children is one of the best things you can do for a child’s development. It also happens to be, in the opinion…
Conservationists should take heart that Australia is finally waking up to the biodiversity crisis in Australia’s north. It is an urgent problem: right now, a diverse assortment of our small mammals – bandicoots…
Instagram’s announcement yesterday of a new set of terms and conditions has elicited a backlash from many of its 100 million users, with many vowing to ditch the service before the changes take effect…
I have been asked a number of barely concealed variations on the question “What’s wrong with you Yanks?” this week. Lacking anything better, my answer to the American thanatos with guns has been our national…
The horrific Newtown school massacre has again raised the question of why effective gun control is beyond the capacity of American politicians. The question is necessary, natural and appropriate. But it…
The past year has seen two major reports on the economics of higher education, each seeking to reform the way undergraduate study is financed. The Grattan Institute’s Graduate Winners appeared in August…
Writers, feminists, academics, social commentators. Each stir up varying degrees of loathing, mockery and complete and utter frustration in me. The irony and hypocrisy does not evade me. Depending on the…
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne