Murdoch University

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**Murdoch University**

Motto	None at present
Established	1975
Type	Public
Chancellor	Geoffery Bolton
Vice-Chancellor	Professor John Yovich AM
Faculty	1,300
Undergraduates	10,200
Postgraduates	2,200
Location	Perth, WA, Australia
Campus	Urban
Organisations	Member of Innovative Research Universities Australia
Website	www.murdoch.edu.au

Murdoch University is a university with its main campus at Murdoch, 14km south of Perth, Western Australia, along the Kwinana Freeway (32°4′3″S, 115°50′10″E). It commenced operations as WA's second university in 1973, and opened its doors to its first students in 1975. Its name is taken from Sir Walter Murdoch (1874-1970), a prominent Australian academic and essayist famous for his intelligence, wit and humanity.

Murdoch University is home to 13,000 students, of which over 2,000 are international students. There are three main divisions at Murdoch: Arts (which includes Humanities, Social Sciences, IT, Law and Business); Health Sciences and Science and Engineering.

Murdoch has Australia's geographically largest campus at 2.27 square kilometres, necessary in order to accommodate Western Australia's only veterinary school. Most of the southern part of the university consists of paddocks of livestock, farm and renewable energy facilities.

The original group of University buildings surround an open court, known as "Bush Court", on an elevated site in the northern part of the campus. The buildings are linked on the court's sides by broad colonnaded verandahs in a compact design which aims at encouraging a sense of community. Features around campus include the Chinese garden and the Joglo Rahayu (Peace Pavilion).

The University has three major campuses. Aside from Murdoch, there is the Rockingham Regional Campus, opened in 1996 alongside Rockingham's TAFE campus, which features dedicated facilities for Engineering, an Arts and Commerce building as well as a community library; and the Peel Campus in Mandurah, which opened in 2004 for nursing and life science students.

Murdoch University was initially intended to cater predominantly to mature-aged students. As a result, many courses are available externally and an increasing number are available online. It is home to several disciplinary schools: law, arts, information technology, science, biotechnology, psychology, engineering, veterinary studies, chiropractic, postgraduate pharmacy^[1], counter-terrorism^[2], education, mass communications and commerce.

Chancellery Building

Murdoch University particularly prides itself on its high standard of teaching and focus on students' needs.

Murdoch University is a member of Innovative Research Universities Australia (IRU Australia).

[edit] Merger plans

Curtin University of Technology and Murdoch University have recently agreed (June 2005) to undertake a feasibility study on merging. On November the 7th, 2005, both institutions issued a press release that such a merger will not be undertaken.

[edit] Murdoch College

On the north east corner of the South Street campus, Murdoch College was established by the university and the Alexander Education Group in 2000 to cater for secondary students in a university environment and to enrich their academic, social and personal potential. It is one of few secondary schools on a university campus in Australia and students have the opportunity to experience university facilities often. It offers a full complement of Year 7 - 12 subjects across the 8 learning areas. Many students from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Korea enrol at Murdoch College and enhance its strong multicultural ethos. It has a positive and growing profile in the community. Murdoch College Website

[edit] Murdoch Institute of Technology (MIT)

As of this year, 2006, Murdoch University in conjunction with the Alexander Education Group established the Murdoch Institute of Technology or MIT. It is a feeder college which caters for students wishing to complete diploma level courses. Future plans involves building dedicated facilities on the tennis courts north of the SSHE building which currently houses the School of Education's teaching caravans and some satellite dishes.

[edit] Student Village

Murdoch University Student Village offers a friendly on campus residential community within the larger campus community. With over 530 resident students from many different backgrounds and cultures, living in the Village is a lifelong learning experience. Student village is located approximately four minutes from the main campus areas and also offers a large social environment involving many student organisations. Student village also runs many events that are free to attend for residents, from movie nights to sports days.

Student Village at night

[edit] Places of Interests on Campus

Interesting places on campus recommended to students include:

[edit] Food

The Ref (Food Court);

Located on the western side of Bush Court, the Food Court contains several cafés, a kebab shop and Asian food. It is also near the new Murdoch Bookshop which has an entrance from within the Refectory. There is also an outdoor seating area on its southern side. Students can also bring in their laptops to connect to the Murdoch Wireless LAN in this area. There is also Club Murdoch at the northern side of the Ref.

Footpath to Club Murdoch

Sir Walter's Cafe;

Located on the 2nd floor of the Library, it's a popular spot for coffee or even just relaxing in the outdoor seated area.

The Tavern;

Located past the ECL buildings at the lower end of campus, The Tavern is always popular with students and has a range of entertainment at different times during the year.

Also, various Asian food caravans exist around campus courtesy of the Guild and are cheap - well-established ones (since at least 1998) are at The Lunchbox at ECL level 2, and "Campus Asian Food" near the Science & Computing building.

[edit] Library

Murdoch Campus Library

The main library on the Murdoch campus is located on the south end of Bush Court. It is made up of a North Wing (3 levels), a Link (2 levels) and a South Wing (4 levels). Coming from Bush Court, the ground level of the library is on North Wing Level 3.

North Wing Section

North Wing Level 3: Main entrance, foyer, Reserve section, elibrary 1 and elibrary 2
North Wing Level 4: Teaching and Learning Centre, Art Gallery
North Wing Level 2: Science, Biotechnology, Biomedical, ICT

Link Level Section

Link Level 3: Reference and Magazine section
Link Level 2: Murdoch Print, Newspapers, Video/DVD and Microfiche section

South Wing Section;

South Wing Level 4: Economics and Business Library
South Wing Level 3: Murdoch Law Library and elibrary 3
South Wing Level 2: Education and Mass Communications
South Wing Level 1: Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities and elibrary 4

Many items from the university's art collection are on show around the library, especially in the North Wing Level 4 Art Gallery. As well as Murdoch students and staff, students from other WA universities and members of the public may apply to borrow from the library. For more info, see the Library web site.

[edit] Vet Library

The veterinary and biomedical sciences library is a smaller facility located in the Veterinary Clinical Sciences building, southeast of the main library. There are 2 computers for students to login, 3 catalogue computers and 1 printing station. Students can also bring in their laptops to connect to the Murdoch Wireless LAN.

[edit] Computer Labs

GCL1

General access labs located just off Bush Court near the Kim E Beazley Lecture Theatre.
Provides PCs running Windows XP and printing stations.
See Student IT website for more info.
See Service Desk website for more info

Various faculty and department-specific computing labs also exist, and a large number of computers are available in the library.

[edit] Guild Shop

The new Guild Shop is located on the eastern side of Bush Court. You can find
• Sunglasses
• Suncream
• Film & Film Processing
• Toiletries
• Postage Stamps
• Confectionery
• Local, International & Mobile Pre-paid Phone Cards
• Mobile Phones & Starter Kits
• Murdoch Memorabilia
• Lab Safety Gear
• I.D. Photos
• Greeting Cards
• Lip Balm
• Printer Cartridges: New, Refill & Exchange
• Backpacks
• Hats
• Gifts
• Newspapers
• Stationery
• Multi-riders

The Guild Shop is located on Bush Court, next to Little Walter's and the Service Station.
The opening hours are: Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
The telephone number of the guild shop is: (08) 9360 6776

[edit] Little Walter's & Service Station

Little Walter's and the Service Station is a small kiosk serving hot and cold beverages for the student on the move. It also sells some hot food such as muffins and cakes.

[edit] Student Demographics

Total population of Murdoch University as of 2005 is 13,492^[3].

Murdoch University also partners with other educational institutions, such as KDU College in Malaysia, to provide university degrees to off-shore students.

Murdoch has many students from Singapore, Malaysia, China, United States, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, India, Kenya and Taiwan ^[4]

Murdoch University also have foreign exchange students from Japan, Korea, United States, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Germany and United Kingdom.

[edit] Student Guild

The Murdoch University Guild of Students is the student representative association at Murdoch University. All students automatically become members of the guild under current universal student membership legislation, though they are able to opt-out of membership if they so choose. As well as handling student representation and assistance with education and welfare issues, the Guild manages two food outlets on campus, runs the tavern, sports and recreation centre and the second hand bookshop. The guild partially finances many of the student associations on campus and run specific guild events of their own. Finally, the guild publishes Metior, the campus magazine.

The Guild is affiliated with the National Union of Students, and the postgraduate student representative organisation (Murdoch University Postgraduate Student Association, or MUPSA) is a member of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations.

For more information, see the Guild website.

[edit] Student Clubs

A list of Guild Affiliated Clubs are available at the Guild Website.

[edit] Murdoch Student Law Society

MSLS (Murdoch Student Law Society) is a student organisation that represents students studying law and legal studies at Murdoch Universty (though membership is open to all). MSLS organises some of the biggest social events at Murdoch. MSLS was one of the founding co-hosts the semester ending event, Triple Crown.

In addition to social events, MSLS also organises educational seminars and legal competitions such as Mooting, Negotiation, Trial Advocacy, Client Interview and Paper Presentation.

The Murdoch Student Law Society is affiliated with ALSA and sends competitors to the National Championships held at the Annual Conference each year.

[edit] MITS

MITS(Murdoch Information Technology Society) is a society that promotes education and socialising between IT students. They hold many events for students to network and gain essential job skills and knowledge.

[edit] MARS

MARS (Murdoch Alternative Reality Society) is a genre fiction (fantasy, science fiction, horror etc) and gaming club that was founded in 1988. It has a large collection of role playing games. In the past it has received national press coverage, playtested supplements for Rolemaster and received funding from Cadbury chocolates on account of its name. MARS maintains close links with the University library which has an extensive genre fiction section.

[edit] Transportation

[edit] Murdoch campus

Car

There are several car parks around the campus, for staff and student use. For more info, see the Parking and Traffic web site.

Public transport

Transperth provides several bus services to and from Murdoch and Rockingham. The 98/99 Circleroute service has two stops outside the Murdoch campus on South Street, which runs to Fremantle and the nearby Murdoch Park 'n' Ride, connecting to regular services to Perth. A bus stop on Campus Drive near the gymnasium accommodates buses to Perth, Bibra Lake and Booragoon.

Murdoch Train Station is currently under construction approximately 1000 metres from Murdoch campus, and when complete in 2007 will be the major public transport focus of the area. The campus will ultimately be linked to the station by the proposed Murdoch Transit Link, a busway running roughly parallel to South Street.

Rockingham Train Station is currently under construction, approximately 1500 metres from the Rockingham campus. When the station is complete in 2007, a shuttle bus will operate between the campus and station.