Jump to content

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Mo7aisen (talk | contribs) at 12:03, 7 July 2007. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
RMIT University
RMIT University Coat of Arms
RMIT University Coat of Arms
MottoPerita manus, mens exculta (a skilled hand, a cultivated mind)
TypePublic
Established1887
ChancellorProfessor Dennis Gibson
Vice-ChancellorProfessor Margaret Gardner
Academic staff
2,957
Undergraduates25,683 (2005)
Postgraduates8,424 (2005)
Location
Melbourne
,
Vic.
,
Australia
CampusUrban
OrganisationsMember of Australian Technology Network, Global University Alliance (GUA) & Open Universities Australia
AffiliationsASAIHL
Websitewww.rmit.edu.au

RMIT, abbreviation for Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology is a university in Melbourne, Australia. It has its main campus in the city's central business district and other campuses at Brunswick and Bundoora. In 2006, the Times Higher Education Supplement placed RMIT in the top 200 universities of the world, at rank 146 (down 91 places from 55 in the 2004 Times Higher Education Supplement placings). RMIT is a memberof the GU8.

History

Founded by Francis Ormond, prominent grazier, Freemason and philanthropist, in 1887 as the Working Men's College (encapsulated in its motto: "perita manus mens exculta" translating to "a skilled hand, a cultivated mind"), and renamed the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 1960, RMIT University gained formal university status in 1992.

The RMIT College proved immediately successful, with over 900 students enrolled by the end of 1887. Students undertook a variety of courses including mechanics, physics, bookkeeping, elocution and arithmetic, as well as certain trades. Its campus was adjacent to the Old Melbourne Gaol on LaTrobe Street, and over the years has taken over the whole block as the Gaol was decommissioned and the university's courses increased in size.

The Emily McPherson College amalgamated with RMIT adding building 13 near the 888 monument that is just on the University grounds (at the corner of Victoria Parade and Russell Street), bringing on board courses in Cooking, Reading, Writing and other courses to get young people to levels of higher education entry.

The college also played a major part in training over 22,000 servicemen for World War II, especially in the areas of Radio Communications, when the current Chemistry Building (Kernot) was used entirely for this purpose.

File:RMIT University logo.png
Logo adopted for branding and marketing purposes

The Phillip Institute of Technology merged with RMIT in 1992 on the same day RMIT won University status (prior to 1992 degrees offered at RMIT were accredited by Melbourne University). RMIT starting developing a new campus in Bundoora in the early 1990s around the same time that the Melbourne College of Decoration and Design amalgamated (1993).

In 1995 the Melbourne College of Printing and Graphic Arts merged with RMIT, followed by the Melbourne Institute of Textiles in 1999. Printing and textile students now study at the Brunswick campus. In 2005, RMIT opened a brand new campus in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

On April 4, 2005 RMIT University appointed a new Vice-Chancellor, Professor Margaret Gardner.

Rankings

Research produced by the Melbourne Institute in 2006 ranked Australian universities across seven main discipline areas: Arts & Humanities, Business & Economics, Education, Engineering, Law, Medicine, and Science.

For each discipline, RMIT University was ranked[1]:

Discipline R1* No. R2* No.
Arts & Humanities 23 38 31 35
Business & Economics 19 39 18 34
Education 23 35 26 32
Engineering 10 28 15 28
Law** - - - -
Medicine** - - - -
Science 19 38 17 31

.* R1 refers to Australian and overseas Academics' rankings in tables 3.1 -3.7 of the report. R2 refers to the Articles and Research rankings in tables 5.1 - 5.7 of the report. No. refers to the number of institutions in the table against which RMIT is compared.

.** RMIT does not have a law school or a medical school.

The following publications ranked universities worldwide. RMIT ranked:

Publications Ave. 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Times Higher Education Supplement[2] 55 82 146
Shanghai Jiao Tong University[3] u/r1 u/r u/r u/r
Newsweek[4]
The Economist
AsiaWeek*
Financial Times MBA rank[5]
Economist Intelligence Unit's MBA rank[6]
Webometrics[7]: 299

1 u/r = unranked.

.*AsiaWeek is now discontinued.

Campuses

In 2003, 58,078 students studied at RMIT University campuses in Melbourne and regional Victoria, in Vietnam, online, by distance education and at more than 190 partner institutions throughout the world. Prospective students currently have a choice of more than 200 TAFE and higher education programs.

RMIT belongs to the Australian Technology Network (ATN), an alliance of five prominent Australian universities of technology, each located in a different mainland state of Australia. ATN universities claim a history of collaboration and a commitment to partnerships with industry and the community.

  • Storey Hall, Swanston Street campus. Completed 1994 to the design of Ashton Raggatt MacDougall
    Storey Hall, Swanston Street campus. Completed 1994 to the design of Ashton Raggatt MacDougall
  • Part of Storey Hall, Swanston Street campus
    Part of Storey Hall, Swanston Street campus
  • RMIT Building 4, Swanston Street campus. Completed 1904.
    RMIT Building 4, Swanston Street campus. Completed 1904.
  • RMIT Building 8, Swanston Street campus.
    RMIT Building 8, Swanston Street campus.
  • The RMIT Business campus on Bourke Street (Building 108).
    The RMIT Business campus on Bourke Street (Building 108).
  • Capitol Theatre lecture rooms
    Capitol Theatre lecture rooms

Portfolios

RMIT University offers programs of study in twenty-seven schools across three academic portfolios.


Business

  • Accounting and Law
  • Business Information Technology
  • Business TAFE School
  • Economics, Finance and Marketing
  • Graduate School of Business
  • Management


Design and Social Context

  • Applied Communication
  • Architecture and Design
  • Art
  • Creative Media
  • Design (TAFE)
  • Education
  • Fashion and Textiles
  • Global Studies, Social Science and Planning
  • International Centre of Graphic Technology
  • Property, Construction and Project Management


Science, Engineering and Technology

  • Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
  • Applied Sciences
  • Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering
  • Computer Science and Information Technology
  • Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Health Sciences
  • Infrastructure, Electrotechnology and Building Services
  • Life and Physical Sciences
  • Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences
  • Medical Sciences

Student life

The RMIT Student Union operates across all campuses, and is active in organising political campaigns, events and providing support for academic and non-sporting or arts based clubs. The Student Union also publishes a monthly magazine, Catalyst and it supports the operations of the RMITV student television station. Postgraduate students are represented by the RMIT Postgraduate Association, a member of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations.

Some people believe the atmosphere at RMIT is unique to many other universities in the area, a belief potentially created by its larger concentration of Computer Science and Engineering students. RMIT Union and Student Union both run a large number of activities and clubs, and allow for social events and interaction between students. In addition, the RMIT Cafeteria areas, 'Intermission' in Building 10, and other recreation areas, such as the womyn's and queer rooms, run by the RMIT Student Union further enhance student interaction.

RMIT Student Union, along with many other Australian university student unions, have been under threat by VSU (Voluntary Student Unionism), a recently introduced law which changed requirements for universities, no longer required to collect a compulsory student union fee. The student union argues that this will result in less services for students, and have organised several protests, in association with other student unions.

RMIT has a history of launching successful community broadcasters including radio stations 3RMT FM (which became 3RRR) and SYN-FM plus RMITV.

Controversies

RMIT has had a somewhat troubled recent financial history, at least partly due to problems associated with the university's student administration system upgrade (it cost the institution tens of millions of dollars). The university, however, has maintained teaching services. The financial woes eventually claimed the Vice-Chancellor and some of the university's board. However these problems seem to have passed as RMIT posted a $24 million operating profit in 2005, a $50.1 million operating profit in 2006[8], and is currently in the middle of restructuring its property assets which value at over $1 billion.

Future

The city campus will receive a new Heart, with many buildings being renovated in the city. Some will be moved to a new HUB on the old site of CUB. The Business School is also being muted to move to the site behind the Oxford Scholar on Swanston Street with a new building to be built there.

Notable Alumni

Template:Australian Technology Network

  1. ^ Melbourne Institute rankings
  2. ^ The Times Higher Education Supplement
  3. ^ Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
  4. ^ "The Top 100 Global Universities, Newsweek" Newsweek's ranking of RMIT University.
  5. ^ La Trobe University's MBA rank with the Financial Times.
  6. ^ RMIT's MBA rank with EIU.
  7. ^ RMIT University's Webometric ranking
  8. ^ RMIT back in the black - The Australian
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Royal_Melbourne_Institute_of_Technology&oldid=143083544"