Victoria University, Melbourne

The idea for a technical school based in the western suburbs of Melbourne was first proposed in 1910. The Footscray Technical School opened its doors to 220 students and 9 teachers in 1916 after five years of fundraising.

Charles Archibald Hoadley was the school's principal from its founding until his death in 1947.[2] Under Hoadley's leadership, the school expanded and began offering trade certificate courses, diplomas in architecture, building, and contracting, as well as evening classes. War and the Depression saw a dip in student numbers. However, by 1943, there were 2500 students enrolled in courses taught at the Footscray Park and Footscray Nicholson campuses.

The following decades saw gender and cultural shifts. In 1958, the school changed its name to the Footscray Technical College. Ten years later, it changed its name again, this time, to the Footscray Institute of Technology (FIT). Women first enrolled in day diploma courses in 1960, and changes to the federal government's immigration policy resulted in many more European and Asian students entering the school. The secondary school component, now known as Footscray City College, was separated from the rest of the institute in 1972. By the mid-1970s, the expanded curriculum included degree courses and was well beyond the technical focus of the original Footscray Technical School. Further changes occurred in the 1980s, with the technical and trade education section separating from FIT to form the Footscray and Newport Colleges of TAFE.

In 1990, FIT merged with the Western Institute, which had been founded three years earlier to provide TAFE and higher education courses to the outlying suburbs in western Melbourne. In 1990, it was established as a university by the Victoria State Parliament as Victoria University of Technology.[3] The university further amalgamation with the Western Melbourne Institute of TAFE in 1998. In 2005, the Victoria University of Technology Act of 1990 was amended[4] to rename the university as Victoria University, reflecting the development of its teaching and research.

The institutions that combined to form VU include:

• Footscray Technical School, renamed Footscray Technical College and later Footscray Institute of Technology
• Newport Technical College, renamed Newport College of TAFE
• Melbourne School of Hairdressing
• School of Painting, Decorating and Sign Crafts
• Melbourne Technical College of Hairdressing
• Melbourne College of Decoration
• Footscray College of TAFE
• Flagstaff College of TAFE
• Western Institute
• Gellibrand College of TAFE, renamed Western Metropolitan College of TAFE
• Western Melbourne Institute of TAFE
• Victoria University of Technology
• Victoria Polytechnic

Victoria University has campuses located throughout Melbourne's western region and the city centre. The new VU City Tower will be Melbourne's tallest vertical campus, and is due for completion in 2021.[5] One campus is located in central Sydney.

VU courses are also delivered by partner institutes throughout Asia, including in China, India, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka. Two of the university's largest partners are Sunway University College in Malaysia and Liaoning University in China.

Footscray Park

Victoria University Footscray Park Campus – Building P

Footscray Park Campus on Ballarat Road, Footscray is the university's main campus and administrative centre. It offers higher education courses primarily in engineering, education and sport-related disciplines. It occupies a 7-hectare (17-acre) site overlooking Flemington Racecourse and the Maribyrnong River. A A$68.5 million sport and learning precinct, including sport and exercise science research labs, was completed in early 2011. The campus also has a 25-metre swimming pool and a childcare centre.[6]

St Albans

St Albans VU Campus

St Albans Campus on McKecknie Street, St Albans, is the university's health and education hub, with a focus on psychology, nursing, arts, and paramedic and biomedical sciences. It is set on 32 hectares (79 acres) of native grasslands and sugar gums. The new St Albans Health and Fitness Centre was opened in 2013.[7]

Footscray Nicholson

Victoria University Footscray Nicholson Campus – Building T as viewed from Buckley Street

Footscray Nicholson Campus is in central Footscray, on the corner of Nicholson and Buckley Streets. It delivers TAFE, VCE and short courses. Its new learning commons was opened in 2012 offering a broad range of educational and student services.[8]

City

Victoria University City Campus on Queen Street

The City Campus includes the VU City Tower and the law building at 295 Queen Street in the heart of Melbourne's legal precinct. The campus houses business courses, Osteopathy, a hair and beauty salon as well as the university's College of Law and Justice, a law library, the Sir Zelman Cowen Centre and two moot courts. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate law courses, including continuing legal education courses for legal professionals.[9][10]

Werribee

VU Weribee Campus

The 16-hectare (40-acre) Werribee Campus is located in the Werribee agricultural research and tertiary education precinct. It offers trades training as well as facilities for water, food and fire safety research.[11]

Several of the university's colleges offer internationally recognised qualifications ranging from certificates and diplomas to degrees, postgraduate certificates and diplomas, and masters and doctoral research degrees (PhD). Victoria Polytechnic and VU College offer vocational education courses and higher education diplomas. These are divided between several colleges, including:

• The College of Arts and Education
• The College of Business
• The College of Engineering and Science
• The College of Health and Bio-medicine
• The College of Law and Justice
• The College of Sport and Exercise Science
• Victoria University Polytechnic, which is the TAFE division of Victoria University.

In 2019, VU had 43,802 students.[1] Approximately 65% student in higher education degree programs, and 35% enrolled in TAFE training courses. Of these students, 5,662 were international students studying at one of VU's Melbourne or Sydney Campuses, and 3,772 were international students studying at VU programs overseas at one of its partner organisations located mainly in Asia.[1]

VU owns and operates student accommodation for students, staff, and guests of the university.[27] In February 2016, the Student Village in Maidstone was replaced with the newly built UniLodge Victoria University, a 13-story apartment building across the road from the Footscray Park Campus on Ballarat Road, Footscray.

International House, a traditional residential college located at the University of Melbourne, also offers places to Victoria University students.

• List of universities in Australia

• Rasmussen, Carolyn (1989), Poor Man's University: 75 years of Technical Education in Footscray, Melbourne: The Press of the Footscray Institute of Technology ISBN 1-86297-000-9
• 90 Years, 90 Legends (2006), Melbourne: Published by Victoria University ISBN 1-86272-665-5

• Media related to Victoria University, Melbourne at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website

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