From the Vice-Chancellor

Last month, the Times Higher Education (THE) supplement released its first list of the world’s top 200 universities ranked by reputation. The University of Melbourne, at 45th, was the highest ranked university in Australia and the only Australian institution in the top 50, reflecting our University community’s sustained commitment to excellence.

That reputation is built on the hard work of many brilliant teachers and researchers. In this edition of Voice, we explore the issues in immunology through the work of three of our leading researchers whose work has contributed to this high reputational ranking: Sir Gustav Nossal, Nobel Laureate Professor Peter Doherty and the Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza Professor Anne Kelso.

Work by these world leaders in immunology continues to benefit society on the global scale, a fact recognised by our academic colleagues around the world – the Times rankings were based on the largest global survey of academic opinion ever undertaken, with more than 13,000 experienced academics from 131 countries participating.

To be recognised by one’s peers is a high accolade, particularly for the University of Melbourne and the other six Australian universities, which were ranked in the Times list.

And because reputation is the currency in which universities trade, the University of Melbourne and the Australian higher education sector as a whole benefit from this esteem in a very real, material way.

Melbourne’s strong research position draws the best researchers to the University to work and study, and has led to multi-national companies with stellar reputations, including IBM and Bell Labs, pairing with our research cohort to create co-operative research centres.

A sustained reputation for excellence is also increasingly important in the international student market, as higher education becomes more and more globalised. Around the world today, more than 3.5 million students travel abroad to study each year. Australia is the world’s third largest destination for international students, drawn here by the calibre of our programs and our teaching and research.

The University’s motto, Postera Crescam Laude, means “I shall grow in the esteem of future generations”. The University’s first Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor, Redmond Barry and Hugh Childers, chose it because they envisaged future generations looking back at the institution to see how its reputation had grown.

Melbourne’s reputation has been more than 150 years in the making. Like Redmond Barry and Hugh Childers, we will work to ensure the University of Melbourne continues growing in the esteem of future generations.

Glyn Davis
Vice-Chancellor