International House, Melbourne Australia

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International House is a college of Melbourne University.

International House, Melbourne University, Parkville, Victoria, Australia is situated on a leafy boulvard at 241 Royal Parade. The Melbourne Zoo is located behind, with Princes Park out the front, across the road. It is situated a 10 minute walk from Melbourne University, beyond the college crescent which houses most of the university colleges.

Founded in 1957, International House enjoys rich traditions and cultures as reflected by its students and has housed exchange students from Universities like Brown, Nottingham, UC NY, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokoyo, Oxford, Yale and many other universities in the world.

The college population hovers around 270 students, with 50%-65% of the student body being international students, ensuring that time spent in the college remains a truly 'international' experience. Everything from eating at BISMI to drinking Japanese rice tea, eating spicy malaysian food, eating Mi Gorang with chop sticks, is all fair game. This college is the second largest at melbourne and is the only, directly owned by The University, though it is permitted to take in a small percentage of students that attend other nearby universities.

Much of the tradition at International House has grown from its original mandate, to advance the goals of cross-cultural peace, friendship and harmony. At IH, there are strong ties being built between Aussies and students from China, England, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Korea, Fiji, Singapore, Japan, America, Belgium, Germany, Norway, Canada, Africa and many other areas of the world.

The college has a flourishing cultural and arts tradition and also excels in sports, notably soccer, badmington and baseball.

A major event held each year is the Cafe Internationale, a major fundraiser. This event , a dinner and performance affair, typically falls on a Saturday in May, and involves the entire student body volunteering to take part in performance and organisation of the huge event. Traditionally funds raised are split between the student body and Interplast Australia. Most of the guests at Cafe International are composed of alumini and members of the rotary club.