The University of New England is a public university in Australia with approximately 22,500 higher educationstudents. Its original and main campus is located in the city of Armidale in northern central New South Wales. UNE was the first Australian university established outside a state capital city. Each year, the University offers students more than $5 million in scholarships, prizes, and bursaries and more than $18 million for staff and students involved in research. In the 2019 Student Experience Survey, UNE recorded the sixth highest student satisfaction rating out of all Australian universities, and the highest student satisfaction rating out of all public universities in New South Wales, with an overall satisfaction rating of 83.2.
History
The University of New England was originally established in 1938 as the New England University College, a College of the University of Sydney. It became fully independent in 1954. The University of New England has undergone two major changes since 1989. The University of New England Act, 1989, created a network University consisting of: a campus at Armidale, incorporating the former University of New England and the former Armidale College of Advanced Education; and a campus at Lismore, incorporating the former Northern Rivers College of Advanced Education. The following year the Orange Agricultural College joined the network University. The network also included the UNE-Coffs Harbour Centre, which provided courses from within academic departments of the Armidale and Lismore campuses. The University of New England was re-formed once again, with legislation passed by both Houses of the New South Wales Parliament in November 1993. This legislation had the effect of dismantling the network University. The University of New England from 1994 has only one campus, at Armidale. A new University was created with campuses in Lismore and Coffs Harbour; the Orange campus was amalgamated with the University of Sydney. The University of New England has, since 1989, included the former Armidale College of Advanced Education, which was amalgamated with the Armidale campus at the time of the creation of the network University. This process of amalgamation was complete by the time of the new legislation in 1993.
Campus
The University of New England is on several sites in Armidale. The northern campus is five kilometres to the northwest of the city centre, in a rural and bushland setting. Part of this campus includes the original property presented by T R Forster to the University of Sydney for the establishment of a University College. This property comprised the old homestead, 'Booloominbah', with several other buildings and 74 hectares of land. Since the original gift, other generous benefactors have presented properties to the university, whose Armidale site now comprises some 260 hectares. Booloominbah and the Vice-Chancellor's residence Trevenna were designed by architect John Horbury Hunt. The Newling campus of the university includes the Newling Centre, home to the New England Conservatorium of Music, and other buildings associated with the former Armidale College of Advanced Education. The university possesses rural properties close to the campus, providing facilities for teaching and research. In addition, there are the 'Tullimba' rural research property at Kingstown and the Douglas McMaster Rural Research Station at Warialda. The University of New England has one of the most extensive residential college systems in Australia. Around half of UNE’s on campus students live in one of the colleges.
Research
UNE undertakes fundamental and applied research in many disciplines. Its scholars and scientists have established international reputations through their contributions in areas such as rural science, agricultural economics, educational administration, linguistics and archaeology. Collaborative research with other institutions includes projects with the CSIRO and the high-profile Cooperative Research Centres. Through its research UNE seeks to assist in the economic, social and cultural advancement of Australia and in the advanced training of undergraduate and postgraduate students. UNE's principal research flagship is Animal Genetics and Livestock Breeding which is serviced by the Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit and delivered commercially by the Agricultural Business Research Institute. Other research flagships include: Rural Education which is undertaken by the National Centre of Science, Information and Communication Technology, and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia Rural Communities, Landscapes and Practices which is led by the Institute for Rural Futures. Other targeted areas of research include:
Environmental and Agricultural Change: Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation; Marine and Freshwater Biodiversity; Terrestrial Biodiversity; Natural Resource Management; Rural Futures; Australian Fauna; Vegetation Research; Sustainable Agriculture; Agricultural Genetics; Animal Research
Rural Health: Rural Medicine; Health Services Management; Bioactive Materials; Health Psychology; Gender, Health and Sexuality
Rural and Regional Education: School Science and Mathematics Education; School English and Literacy Education; Special Education and Diversity in Schools
Economics and Public Policy: Agricultural Economics; Applied Economics and Policy; Local Government; Business and Management; Higher Education Management and Policy
Asia Pacific Region : Failing States – Rising States; Empowering People, Developing Infrastructure; Conflict and Governance; Peace Studies; Migration
Frontiers and Boundaries: Australia's Regional Frontiers; The Arts, Media, Culture and Society; Ancient Societies; Language and Cognition; Believing and Thinking; Mathematics, Nonlinear and Complex Analysis
Security: Crime, Criminology and Justice; Biosecurity; IT Security
Water Perspectives: Water through History - Water Stories; Water Policy; Water Resources
Academic faculties
The research and teaching staff of the University of New England, Australia, is divided into three faculties that together contain nine multi-disciplinary schools.
Faculty of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Education
The university offers over 200 programs in 23 discipline areas.
Residential colleges
The University of New England has one of the most extensive residential college systems in Australia. Around half of UNE’s on-campus students live in one of the colleges. As at 2019, the residential colleges are:
The current Chancellor is James Harris FRSN, who succeeded John Watkins in 2014. The current Vice-Chancellor is Brigid Heywood who succeeded Annabelle Duncan in July 2019.
According to a 2017 Australian Human Rights Commission report based on optional surveys given to students, UNE had the highest reported rate of sexual assaults at universities in Australia, with 4% of respondents saying they had been sexually assaulted; the average rate across all universities was 1.6%. Under a previous 2016 freedom of information request UNE had reported there were 22 officially reported cases of sexual assaults on campus over the previous five years, resulting in two expulsions, no suspensions and seven warnings. In February 2017 vice-chancellor Annabelle Duncan said that past UNE policies dealing with sexual harassment did not allow management to handle some cases satisfactorily.
Alumni
more than 106,000 people hold qualifications from UNE, with many in senior positions in Australia and overseas. There is an active Alumni network which contributes to the University, enabling the institution to continue expanding its work and offerings.
