The Residential Colleges of the University 2005
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The Residential Colleges of the University 2005 The establishment of residential colleges was envisaged from the foundation of the University and their affiliation was expressly provided for in the original Act of Incorporation. The Government set aside sites for the purpose within the area generally reserved for the University. The first of the colleges, Trinity (an Anglican foundation of 1870), was opened in 1872. The first Warden of Trinity, Alexander Leeper, quickly built up a comprehensive system of college teaching. This was adopted by other colleges on their foundation, and remains a distinguishing feature of the Melbourne collegiate system. So too, do the enrolment of non-resident students and the provision of significant college libraries, now supplemented by computer installations. The college tutorial system (in which International House and Medley Hall also participate) is in general supplementary to teaching offered by the University's faculties, and is organized in part on an intercollegiate basis. Formal links with the University on academic matters are maintained through a Joint Committee of the Academic Board and the Heads of Colleges, and under a Statute of the University (S5.1.2), "any teacher in an affiliated institution" may be appointed to membership of a faculty. Heads of Colleges play a part in the committee work of the University. The other three colleges for which sites had been originally reserved were established as follows: Ormond (Presbyterian foundation, 1870, later Uniting Church), opened 1881; Queen's (Methodist foundation, 1887, later Uniting Church), opened 1888; Newman (Roman Catholic foundation, 1916), opened 1918. A residential hostel for women students was opened by Trinity College in 1886, the first institution of its kind within Australia. Janet Clarke Hall, as it was in due course named, became an independent college in 1961 and co-educational in 1973. University College (private non-denominational foundation, 1936) was opened in 1937 on a site made available by the State Government. From 1937 to 1975 it was known as University Women's College. St Mary's College, originally a Hall of Residence in Parkville founded in 1918 for Catholic women students, obtained full college status in 1965 and moved to a new site adjacent to Newman College. SL Hilda's College (Methodist-Presbyterian foundation, 1963, later Uniting Church) opened in 1964 on a site made available by Queen's College. Whitley College (Baptist foundation) was opened in 1965. Ridley College (Anglican foundation, 1910) from the outset offered residence to students at the University of Melbourne. In 1965 it became an affiliated college and in 1972 was the first College to become co-educational. The Graduate Union of the University in 1962 established Graduate House as a postgraduate hall of residence. In 1972 the whole Graduate Union became an affiliated college of the University. All Colleges of the University are open to both men and women students. General enquiries about the Colleges may be directed to the Intercollegiate Office, c/o Trinity College, Royal Parade, Parkville 3052. Telephone and Fax: (03) 9347 9320; Email: [email protected] See also the Colleges' website, http://www.colleges.unimelb.edu.au/ for more information about the residential Colleges, including how to apply for a College place.. 31/12/2005 Trinity College 2005 SECTION A - HISTORY Trinity College occupies that portion of the University Reserve which was granted by the Government of Victoria to the Church of England under the authority of Parliament. The first formal steps towards its establishment were taken in 1853, the College was founded in 1870, the first students were enrolled in 1872, and the College was affiliated - in the words drafted for the University Council by the Dean of Law, W.E. Heam - as an 'Educational Establishment of and within the University of Melbourne' in 1876. The College was founded by graduates of Cambridge and Oxford Universities and of Trinity College, Dublin, who were determined to make it possible for students to have in a College of the University of Melbourne an education at least as good as they had in the great collegiate universities of Britain and Ireland. The principal founder of the College was the Right Reverend Charles Perry, first Bishop of Melbourne, who named the College for Trinity College, Cambridge, of which he had been a Fellow. The first Warden of the College, Dr Alexander Leeper, who served from 1876 to 1918, had studied at Trinity College, Dublin, and St John's College, Oxford. The second Warden, Sir John Behan, had been an undergraduate at Trinity, was the first Rhodes Scholar for Victoria, and returned to Trinity as Warden from a Fellowship at University College, Oxford. Three of the College's six Wardens have been Rhodes Scholars, and some 35 Trinity students have been elected to Rhodes Scholarships since 1904. The present Warden, Professor Donald Markwell, was a Rhodes Scholar and later a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, and is also a Professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne. Although an Anglican foundation, the College has always freely admitted non-Anglicans to membership and applies no religious test. Parliament expressly confirmed this policy in the Trinity College Act 1927. The College was incorporated by Parliament through the Trinity College Act 1979. The remarkable tutorial system of the Melbourne Colleges was pioneered in Trinity College with the appointment of the first resident tutor (J. Winthrop Hackett) in 1876. Trinity College now has 270 resident students, about 100 non-resident students, about 25 resident College officers and tutors, and many non-resident tutors. The life of the College is greatly enriched by outstanding visiting scholars, including Nobel Laureates Peter Doherty, Bert Sakmann, Sir Clive Granger, and Sir James Mirrlees, who are Eminent Scholars of the University and Visiting Research Fellows of the College. In 1883 the College became the first in Australia to offer membership to women students. A Women's Hostel was opened in 1886 and the first Janet Clarke Building for women in 1890. The Hostel, known after 1921 as Janet Clarke Hall, was extended in 1927, 1930 and 1956. In 1961 arrangements were completed for the affiliation of Janet Clarke Hall as an independent College of the University and it thereafter ceased to be part of Trinity College. Trinity College has been fully co-residential since 1974, admitting both women and men as resident and non-resident students and tutors. The residential university College is part of a larger College, which also includes: • Trinity College Theological School (TCTS) which trains Anglican clergy and offers courses in theology for lay people, delivered on campus, online and in parishes around Australia, • Trinity College Foundation Studies (TCFS), which prepares able overseas students for undergraduate entry to the University of Melbourne and other leading Australian universities, • International Summer Schools for secondary school students from Australia and overseas, • Critical Thinking Workshops for senior decision-makers, • Other short courses, including various undergraduate and postgraduate bridging courses, and • The Trinity College Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the College administered by the College's Development Office. All are integral parts of Trinity College. 31/12/2005 TRINITY COLLEGE The Trinity College Theological School was founded in 1877. Although concerned largely with the training of candidates for Anglican priesthood, its classes are open to any suitably qualified student. Since 1969, it has been a partner with the Jesuit Theological College and the Uniting Church Theological Hall in the United Faculty of Theology, which is itself one of the associated teaching institutions of the Melbourne College of Divinity, affiliated to the University of Melbourne. Since 2000, the Trinity College Theological School has been teaching distance courses 'online', making it a leader in this field in Australia. Trinity College Foundation Studies (TCFS) was established in 1989 to support the University, and further to expand the College's educational and cultural horizons, by providing a high-quality pathway for international students wishing to study at the University of Melbourne. TCFS is primarily a one-year full-time course (with shorter 'fast track' programs and also extended and 'early entry' programs) catering mainly to students from Asia, with some coming also from Africa, the Middle East, and other regions. Currently some 650 international students are being prepared for University study by TCFS, and more than 5,000 students have already proceeded from Trinity to undergraduate courses in the University. The TCFS program is accredited and overseen by the Academic Board of the University, and works closely with the University in promoting intemationalisation and high academic standards. Described as 'one of the finest collegiate chapel choirs in the world' the Choir of Trinity College comprises twenty-four choral scholars and three organ scholars, and is conducted by the Director of Music at Trinity College. Auditions are held annually. In addition to its primary role of providing music of the highest standard for services in the College Chapel, the Choir fulfils a busy schedule of external engagements. It has performed in leading arts festivals in Australia and the UK, is broadcast on Australia's classical music radio stations, records for ABC Classics, frequently tours internationally, and, when in England, is regularly engaged by the BBC's Religious Broadcasting unit. The Choir sings Choral Evensong on Sundays during semester at 6pm in the College Chapel (consecrated in 1917) and all are welcome. The Library, begun in the earliest days of the College, is known as the Leeper Library and is handsomely housed in a modem building opened in 1996. It is well equipped with online information resources and more than 66,500 volumes encompassing the principal fields of undergraduate study, primary research collections in Theology and Australiana, and a wealth of historical research material.