From the Vice-Chancellor

For many students, Open Day (19 August) is the first step on the life-changing journey that is higher education at the University of Melbourne. It is also the University’s chance to welcome the wider Melbourne community to the Parkville and Southbank campuses and celebrate learning.

Open Day gives prospective students the opportunity to learn about the University from student hosts, and introduces them to some of our 9000 staff.  Visitors to Parkville and Southbank meet researchers working in almost every conceivable field, from climate change to epilepsy, from urban planning to literary theory, from Bionic Eye research to ethnomusicology; and if guests don’t know what ethnomusicology is, researchers will be happy to explain, because research-led teaching and learning is what study at Melbourne is all about. 

Students have applied to Melbourne degree programs in record numbers. Last year, Melbourne’s Bachelor of Art and Bachelor of Science programs were the two most popular degrees offered by any Victorian university. Indeed, Melbourne offered five of the 10 most sought degrees in the state. Students have embraced the way in which the University’s curriculum is structured: the multiple pathways students can take to enter specialist postgraduate study have led to diverse graduate student groups in the Juris Doctor law degree, the Doctor of Medicine and the Master of Teaching, which are only three of more than 340 graduate programs on offer. 

This popularity reflects Melbourne’s world-class research: the University has been named Australia’s top-ranked university in 14 disciplines in the QS World University Rankings, the most of any university in Australia. Melbourne was the highest in Computer Science, English Language and Literature, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Medicine, Biological Sciences, Psychology, Physics and Astronomy, Chemistry, Materials Science, Statistics and Operations Research, Law, Accounting and Finance, and Communication and Media Studies. The University was also ranked equal first with the University of Sydney for Education. 

Course structure and curriculum are not the only aspects of the University on display each Open Day. Student life at Melbourne is about more than study: it’s about making new friends among peers and pursuing passions by joining sporting and cultural clubs and societies, becoming active in student politics or sitting in the sun on the South Lawn, having lunch with friends.

And Open Day is not just for prospective students: the whole Melbourne community is invited to celebrate learning with us. The public can visit cultural collections and museums, some not usually open to the public, explore the marquees and the Student Union, tour the faculties and graduate schools, and sample the great food on offer throughout the day. 

This is the University’s chance to celebrate learning and it provides the community with an opportunity to see the University at work.

Though there is a wealth of information available about universities via other channels, nothing compares with visiting the campus – exploring the grounds, meeting students and staff and getting first-hand knowledge of their experiences, and for discovering the possibilities for further study in the place where it happens.

Glyn Davis
Vice-Chancellor