News Archive

Two significant events stand out as we mark the beginning of a new academic year at our University.

The first was the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Act of Parliament which established our University. This provided an important opportunity to acknowledge the role of governance of the University, focusing on University and student leadership, involving (among others) current and former members of the Senate and its committees and leaders of the Student Guild.

The second milestone was the enrolment of a record number of outstanding undergraduate students from Australia and abroad. We welcomed more than 4,000 students whose high level of achievement maintains the University's reputation of enrolling the most academically talented undergraduate cohort of any university in Australia.

Both events point towards the strength of our University. While much has changed since the University Act of 1911 that brought our institution into being, the fundamental reason for our University's existence has been a constant mission: To advance, transmit and sustain knowledge and understanding through the conduct of teaching, research and scholarship at the highest international standards, for the benefit of the Western Australian, Australian and international communities.

One of our distinguished graduates - former Western Australian Premier and current Director of the University of Sydney's Graduate School of Government, Professor Geoff Gallop - wrote in The West Australian Newspaper recently of UWA's "enduring value".

In an article reflecting on the establishment of the University 100 years ago, Professor Gallop argued that our University had not lost "its special place" in our State:

"It reminds us of what can happen when that powerful mixture of personal commitment, money and politics can join forces in the interests of education, arguably the greatest wealth and wellbeing creator of all," he wrote.

Our University's founding father, Sir John Winthrop Hackett, strove to create UWA for "the higher education (of)...the sons of the people" and to address "the practical questions of life upon which...we depend for our daily bread".

He saw the University as ensuring that its community, the new State of Western Australia, would thrive.

Today, through our University's far reaching collaborations with researchers and teachers, the word ‘community' includes people who live not only locally but also nationally and internationally. Today, the work of our staff-members contributes to global wealth and wellbeing.

Vice-Chancellor Alan Robson

• UWA News 7 March 2011