University of Canberra

University of Canberra
Motto Australia's Capital University
Established 1990
Type Public
Chancellor Prof. Ingrid Moses
Vice-Chancellor Prof. Stephen Parker[1]
Admin. staff 853
Students 12,223
Location Bruce, Canberra, ACT, Australia
Campus Urban 290 acres (1.2 km2) (Bruce campus)
Affiliations ASAIHL, New Generation Universities
Website www.canberra.edu.au

The University of Canberra, also known as UC and Australia's Capital University, is a university located in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, the national capital of Australia.[2] There are approximately 12,000 students.[2][3]

Contents

Administration

Stephen Parker is the Vice Chancellor of the university.[1]

Funding

The ACT government provides around one percent of the university's operating budget.[1]

History

Over 60,000 students have graduated from the university since 1970.[2]

Alan Hawke, in a review requested by the territory government, suggested the University of Canberra be merged with the Canberra Institute of Technology in 2011.[1] University administrators indicated that they would be willing to discuss the issue if approached by the territory government.[1]

The University of Canberra was planning to expand its campus to regional locations in New South Wales.[4] The university had put in bids to have satellite campuses at Goulburn and Cooma.[4] It had asked the federal government to provide A$34,072,000, A$25,000,000 for capital funding improvements in a total budget of A$42,035,000 in order to move ahead.[4] On March 13, 2011, an announcement was made that the university had failed in its grant funding proposal to expand into Goulburn.[5]

Research centres

The university has a number of research centres relating to its areas of research strength. These are:

  • Institute for Applied Ecology[6]
  • National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM)[6]
  • eWater Cooperative Research Centre[6]
  • Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Tourism[6]
  • Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre[6]
  • Centre for Labour Market Research[6]
  • Australian Institute for Sustainable Communities[6]
  • Centre for Customs & Excise Studies[6]
  • Centre for Developing Cities[6]
  • Centre for Research and Action in Public Health[6]
  • Centre for Research in Public Sector Management[6]
  • Centre for Tourism Research[6]
  • Communication & Media Policy Institute[6]
  • Corrosion & Spectrochemistry Laboratory[6]
  • Human Computer Communication Laboratory[6]
  • Learning Communities Research Area[6]
  • Lifelong Learning Network[6]
  • National Centre for Corporate Law & Policy Research[6]
  • National Institute of Governance[6]
  • National Institute of Sports Studies[6]
  • Ngunnawal Centre[6]
  • Professional Management Programs[6]
  • Schools & Community Centre[6]
  • Teaching and Learning Centre[6]

Students

The University of Canberra has grown by thirty-five percent since 2007, going from 7,300 students to 12,233 in 2011.[3][7]

Staff

Notable staff members have included:

Alumni

Notable alumni include:

Campus life

1,500 students live on campus.[2] Student population growth has made it difficult for students to get on campus housing.[7] The problem is so acute that in 2011, eighty rooms had to be converted into doubles and over 800 students were on a waiting list to get accommodation.[7] In 2011, housing was only available for thirty-two percent of students who came from outside the Australian Capital Territory.[7] The University took steps to alleviate this problem by acquiring a block at the Belconnen's Cameron Offices, with the goal of creating living space for 220 students.[7]

Foundation stone and Stone Day

At the end of the year, after classes finish but before exams, Stone Day is usually held, a music festival with local bands, which lasts several days. The day before it is known as Stone Eve. It started as a celebration held annually to mark the placing of the foundation stone by Prime Minister John Gorton on 28 October 1968. This founded the Canberra College of Advanced Education, which became the University of Canberra in 1990.

The stone is under glass, outside, near Building 1 at the University, and an inscription on it reads:

This Stone was unveiled by the right honourable J.G. Gorton, M.P., Prime Minister of Australia, on 28 October 1968, to mark the establishment of the Canberra College of Advanced Education.

Over the years the Stone Day program has gradually become larger and larger, taking up a whole week and now Stonefest is one of Australia's most popular music festivals. The first foundation celebrations were held in 1971. In 1973 Stone Day celebrations were held over two days, which was expanded to take up a whole week in 1976. In the 1980s and 1990s Stoneweek became a popular Canberra entertainment event, which in 2000 became Stonefest.

Wikimedia outreach

References

Bibliography

External links