maintaining a regard for social conscious

‘It had better be a good one’ were the words of Sir Walter Murdoch when informed in July 1970 that Western Australia’s second university was to be named after him.

And, according to Murdoch University Chancellor, Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Bolton, it is.

An editorial in The West Australian newspaper a few days after the announced naming praised the aptness of the name: “Murdoch will have its special inspiration. If its undergraduates respond to it there will be no humbug or pretence and no ready acceptance of convention on their campus. Murdoch will be characterised by idealism, thoughtfulness, and, above all, humour.”

Professor Bolton, who was recently named as the WA Australian of the Year for 2006, said there could have been no better summary of that debatable concept.

“There are two things Murdoch University prides itself on – looking after its students and the development of excellent research,” he said.

Professor Bolton is duly qualified to remark on Murdoch’s 30-year vivid history. He was a member of the Murdoch University Planning Board (1970-73), an inaugural member of the University’s governing body, and in 1973 was appointed Murdoch’s Foundation Professor of History.

It all began in the early to mid 1960s when it became evident that WA’s tertiary education needs where outgrowing those that could be served by one university, The University of Western Australia.

A Commission of Inquiry was set up chaired by Sir Lawrence Jackson and a number of alternative models for a new institution were looked into. While these options seemed feasible it was determined that an independent metropolitan university was the way to go. A site was chosen, planning began and the seventeenth university in Australia was formally constituted on 25 July 1973.

In 1975, its inaugural year, Murdoch University enrolled 672 undergraduate students and had six professors. Last year, nearly 13,000 students enrolled at the university and staffing levels grew to 1,348 including 47 professors.

The foremost years for Murdoch were not without difficulty.

“From the outset Murdoch University encountered a number of distinct advantages and disadvantages, particularly when faced with the perception that tertiary education was changing fast,” Professor Bolton said. “Murdoch started teaching in an environment when the Whitlam Government had ended. Menzies and Whitlam had been the only Prime Ministers to take university education to heart and at the time Murdoch was faced with cutbacks to funding.

“There were also fears that Murdoch would be punished for its educational radicalism. In the first years we were ready to try anything. Murdoch’s first Chancellor Stephen Griew didn’t impose strategic policies on the University, but instead encouraged the ideas of bright staff to see what illustrious ideas emerged.

“While for most universities policy was fundamental, at the time Murdoch was seen as exciting, argumentative and new age. The disadvantage for us was that Perth was not a radical community.”

Nevertheless, Murdoch set out to be innovative and to take chances and over the years it has maintained that purpose.

“One of the main advantages was that Murdoch was named the site for the fourth veterinary school in Australia which gave us backbone and proved immensely valuable to our professional standing,” Professor Bolton said.

In 2002 the School of Veterinary and Biomedial Sciences was the first in Australia to achieve accreditation by the American Veterinary Medical Association, and there are only a handful of veterinary schools outside North America to have met these demanding standards.

Another advantage for Murdoch in the early days was that little had been done to cater for external and mature age students. Murdoch developed a strong external studies centre, and pitched its opportunities for ‘second chance students’, such as women who had raised families and wanted to return to the classroom and migrants who had not had the opportunity to attend university in their homeland.

“We were able to successfully harness this untapped area and pool this dedicated group of mature age people who wanted that opportunity to attend university,” Professor Bolton said.

“One example that springs to mind is a Carnarvon woman who, with the aid of a supportive husband, moved to Perth and completed a degree and PhD at Murdoch. She is now teaching at a university in New Zealand.

“But of course not all students attend university with a career as the end goal; some attend for the love of learning.”

Professor Bolton said that early on Murdoch University had also been able to fill the gaps not being met in WA in various areas of learning including environmental studies, education, and Southeast Asian and Chinese studies.

Professor Bolton recalls numerous significant moments in the life of Murdoch University, not least becoming WA’s second law school, which has increased its professional credibility profoundly. Murdoch’s new Law building was opened last year and boasts an electronic moot court and rooms for the School of Law’s community legal service called SCALES (Southern Communities Advocacy Legal and Education Service).

Another important step forward is the progressive international connections and collaborations Murdoch has nurtured over the years, Professor Bolton said.

Producing excellent and useful research is a critical function of Murdoch. Professor Bolton said one of principles behind research and development had been a strong commitment to primary produce and agriculture, and the University had an international presence in this area.

“Murdoch has built up strong credibility through its high teaching quality and world class research. In doing so we have also achieved high teaching standards; for the last 10 out of 11 years Murdoch has recorded a five star rating in graduate satisfaction.”

"One of the founding principles that has shaped Murdoch is that it is not elitist; it is a university for all. We have endeavoured to improve access to university for the people and we have maintained that principle.”

The University's first regional campus was established at Rockingham in 1996 and had its first intake of students in 1997. Last year saw the first intake of students at Murdoch’s new Peel Campus in Mandurah. In the early stages of the University there was a belief that the maximum number of students would be around 12,000. Now that this figure has been passed, and further growth is planned.

In 2004, 82 per cent of students were enrolled in undergraduate courses, a further 10 per cent in higher degree courses, and the balance enrolled in postgraduate diplomas and certificates and non-award studies. There were more than 2,000 international students at Murdoch.

“I suspect in the early years there was a tendency to try and do everything in relation to Teaching and Research and Development. But we have learnt to do things strategically now and to focus on what we do well,” Professor Bolton said.

“Murdoch will continue be a prominent and influential university, renowned for its teaching quality, and it research excellence and innovation.”

And as Professor Bolton reflects on the last 30 years of the university he has this to say: “Murdoch is the custodian of something tried and true. The University was named after a man who was not radical but was sceptical and asked the probing questions and I like to think we ask the important questions too.”

“I believe Murdoch University has held on to the importance of social conscious that was close to Sir Walter Murdoch's heart."

"The next 30 years will be more spectacular."