A UNIVERSITY VISIT

“A human being is not attaining his full heights until he is educated.” - Horace Mann
 

I visited Macquarie University for work yesterday, and as this was my first time at this University I was pleasantly surprised. Having been to other universities in Sydney it was wonderful at last to visit this large, significant university, which sits on a large, park-like campus in Sydney’s northern suburban area and is very dissimilar to the grand, historic University of Sydney or the very modern and bustling University of Technology Sydney, both in the City. I also found the staff at Macquarie extremely hospitable and approachable, intently interested in what they were at but also displaying a very collegiate attitude and willing to cooperate amongst themselves, and also with external academics.
 

Macquarie University is an Australian public teaching and research university located in Sydney, with its main campus situated in Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney. Macquarie’s 126-hectare (310-acre), park-like campus belies its setting within the high-technology corridor of Sydney’s Northern suburbs.
 

The university comprises four faculties, enrolling approximately 37,000 students and having 2,468 (full-time equivalent) academic and professional staff, making it the fourth largest University in Sydney. At present, the university offers 87 undergraduate courses and 124 different postgraduate courses to students. The university is governed by a 17-member Council. Macquarie University also has the largest student exchange programme in Australia.
 

The Academic Ranking of World Universities listed Macquarie as seventh among Australian Universities in its 2009 rankings. The university is also ranked among the national top five recipients of relative research income. Also affiliated with the university are several research centres, schools and institutes including the Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Australian Proteome Analysis Facility, the Institute of Human Cognition and Brain Science, the Macquarie University Research Park and the Macquarie University Hospital. Macquarie University’s linguistics department developed the Macquarie Dictionary, the copyright on which it still owns.
 

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few months at Macquarie, given that a new Vice Chancellor has been appointed. Professor S. Bruce Dowton is currently Clinical Professor in Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and until recently was Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Partners Harvard Medical International. Professor Dowton is also an Emeritus Professor at the University of New South Wales where he was Dean of the School of Medicine between 1998 and 2005. Professor Dowton had been chosen from an exceptionally strong field of applicants from Australia and overseas, after proving himself on the international stage. Professor Dowton will take up his position later this year, becoming only the fifth Vice-Chancellor in Macquarie University’s 48-year history.