University of Melbourne

The University of Melbourne is a public research university founded in 1853, which makes it the oldest university in Victoria and the second oldest in Australia. Its main campus is in Parkville, just north of Melbourne's central business district. It also has campuses at Southbank, Werribee, Burnley, Creswick and Dookie. The university is a member of the Group of Eight. In 2008 it adopted the Melbourne Model, in which most professional degrees, including medicine, law and teaching, are taught at graduate level after a broad undergraduate degree.

Teaching and research sit in about ten faculties. They cover architecture, building and planning; arts; business and economics; education; engineering and information technology; fine arts and music; law; medicine, dentistry and health sciences; and science. Melbourne Law School, the Melbourne Graduate School of Education and the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences run large graduate programs. The Parkville biomedical precinct includes the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, and the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

The university enrolls more than 50,000 students, and about half study at postgraduate level. More than 40 percent are international students, from over 130 countries. Nobel laureates linked to the university include Macfarlane Burnet, Peter Doherty and Elizabeth Blackburn. Alumni include Prime Ministers Robert Menzies and Julia Gillard and the writer Germaine Greer.

Graduate study is split between coursework master's degrees, professional degrees such as the Juris Doctor and Doctor of Medicine, and research degrees (the MPhil and PhD). Research candidates work with a principal supervisor and an advisory committee. The academic year has two main semesters, February to June and July to November. Research students compete for Graduate Research Scholarships and Australian Government Research Training Program awards. Parkville is a short tram ride from the city center and next to the student suburb of Carlton.

In the Grad School Navigator directory, University of Melbourne lists 50 graduate programs across 36 subjects: 41 master's programs and 8 doctoral programs, with the widest choice in finance & financial economics, business & management and earth & environmental sciences. University of Melbourne holds rank 44 in the GSN Overall University Ranking.