Melbourne Model

In their Growing Esteem whitepaper the University of Melbourne put their rationale for the move in this manner:

{{blockquote|There are international moves to standardise degree structures. The familiar American pattern of four-year arts or science degrees followed by graduate school is being echoed by the Bologna Declaration among European nations. The Bologna model, set to become the European standard from 2010, advocates a three-year undergraduate program with advanced courses taught in a two-year masters degree or a three-year doctoral program. Historically, this move updates an ancient structure, that of the University of Paris in the 13th century. If this becomes a global norm but Australia continues to prepare its professionals through undergraduate programs, in the longer term our graduates may no longer be seen as globally competitive.{{Cite web |date=12 December 2005 |title=Growing Esteem |url=http://growingesteem.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/86688/2005finalgrowingesteem.pdf |access-date=18 September 2009 |publisher=The University of Melbourne}}}}

The University of Melbourne introduced the Melbourne Model officially in 2008. By the end of the academic year it was reported that administration had admitted to some subjects being either too broad or too narrow and the need for a reassessment on the Model.{{Cite web |last=Tomazin |first=Farrah |date=2008-12-14 |title=Rethink on Melbourne Uni model |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/rethink-on-melbourne-uni-model-20081214-6yad.html |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=The Age |language=en}} A leaked document revealed the University of Melbourne will have spent $11.6 million on marketing for the Melbourne Curriculum by the end of 2008, followed by another $16 million by the end of 2010.{{Cite web |last=Bachelard |first=Michael |date=2008-10-11 |title=Ad budget for Melbourne model under fire |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/ad-budget-for-melbourne-model-under-fire-20081011-4ysn.html |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=The Age |language=en}} The university's "Dream Large" slogan has since been a source of ongoing ridicule by some University of Melbourne students{{Cite web |title=Dream on |website=YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lv2h9rklYU |access-date=2023-01-16 |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=7 May 2008 |title=Spark: Volume 3 |url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Spark-3_2007.jpg |access-date=15 December 2008}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|fix-attempted=yes}}{{Cite web |year=2008 |title=Crunch 08 Presents Melbourne Model: The Musical |url=http://www.melbournemodelthemusical.com/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326081343/http://www.melbournemodelthemusical.com/ |archive-date=26 March 2009 |access-date=15 December 2008}} and students have even called for the sacking of Davis as Vice-Chancellor over the curriculum changes.{{Cite web |date=27 July 2007 |title=Students demand sacking of VC |url=http://www.greenleft.org.au/2007/719/37339 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120801052529/http://www.greenleft.org.au/2007/719/37339 |archive-date=1 August 2012 |access-date=14 October 2008 |website=Green Left Weekly |issue=71}} Students initially disrupted the official 2007 launch of the Melbourne Curriculum{{Cite web |last1=Tomazin |first1=Farrah |last2=Morton |first2=Adam |date=2007-04-18 |title=New model could cut academic jobs |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/new-model-could-cut-academic-jobs-20070418-ge4otl.html |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=The Age |language=en}} which has been followed by various demonstrations and student occupations against the Melbourne Model and the university in general.{{Cite web |title=Melbourne Model Protest 26th July #3 |website=YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA5t6jV7Zdo |access-date=2023-01-16 |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=13 May 2008 |title=Students in protest raid over cuts to arts staff |url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23688820-5013945,00.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120913233508/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23688820-5013945,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 September 2012 |access-date=15 December 2008 |website=The Australian}}{{Cite web |title=Student Housing Activism in Australia |date=November 2008 |author=neily |url=http://www.nasco.coop/node/1936 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212232507/http://www.nasco.coop/node/1936 |archive-date=February 12, 2012 |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=NASCO |language=en}} However, data show that since the consolidation of the Melbourne Model, the university has been placed top in Australia and 33rd in the world in the Times Higher Education ranking.{{Cite web |date=30 September 2015 |title=World University Rankings 2015-2016 |url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2016/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25 |website=Times Higher Education}}

National Tertiary Education Union accused the university of "PR spin" over the decision to address media over the potential loss to 130 jobs in the Arts Faculty before speaking to staff or the union.{{Cite web |date=10 July 2007 |title=NTEU {{title case|CONDEMNS UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE'S CONSULTATION SHAM OVER ARTS RENEWAL STRATEGY}} |url=http://www.nteu.org.au/news/2007/2007/16462 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080729225956/http://www.nteu.org.au/news/2007/2007/16462 |archive-date=29 July 2008 |access-date=3 May 2008 |website=NTEU}} The union also criticised Melbourne over their call for voluntary redundancies after the union released results of a survey finding "more than 90% of staff said their workload had increased" since 2007 and the same percentage of respondents "reported having concerns about restructuring or changes to their area..."

National Union of Students Education Officer, Colleen Bolger, stated that staff "are being told they will need to front up at McCarthy-style "trials" to plead the case for their subjects over their colleagues'" criticising the university's Dean of Arts Belinda Probert and the "business mentality of those who run universities", many of whom, she claims, also sit on company boards.{{Cite web |title=No course cuts! Oppose the new assault on education |url=http://www.sa.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1404&Itemid=1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208021725/http://www.sa.org.au:80/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1404&Itemid=1 |access-date=2023-01-16 |archive-date=December 8, 2008 |first=Colleen |last=Bolger |date=August 2007 |website=Socialist Alternative}}

Australian Law Students' Association Vice President (Education), Mitch Riley, conceded the pedagogical benefits of the Melbourne Model but claimed students from low socioeconomic, rural and indigenous backgrounds would not be able to study at Melbourne with the high fees involved.{{Cite web |year=2007 |title={{title case|EQUITY AND THE MELBOURNE MODEL}} |url=http://www.alsa.net.au/education/submissions/doc_download/135-article-on-the-melbourne-model.pdf |access-date=14 December 2008 |website=ALSA}}

University of Melbourne Student Union President, Libby Buckingham, claims Melbourne are spending too much money on "capital works, advertising and the transition to the Melbourne Model..." and that "the future of the (arts) faculty is being shaped by voluntary redundancies rather than … consultation about the curriculum."{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Bridie |date=2008-04-11 |title=Cuts take toll on 'overworked' Melbourne Uni staff |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/cuts-take-toll-on-overworked-melbourne-uni-staff-20080411-ge6ycd.html |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=The Age |language=en}}

Victorian College of the Arts Student Union accused the University of Melbourne's restructuring as a pretext for shutting down political representation for Victorian College of the Arts students. Victorian College of the Arts became a faculty of the University of Melbourne in 2007 and the student union has argued the university's plans have been about rationalisation{{Cite web |date=23 April 2008 |title=Arts college to follow US model |url=http://www.vcasu.org.au/2008/04/24/arts-college-to-follow-us-model-2/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720032744/http://www.vcasu.org.au/2008/04/24/arts-college-to-follow-us-model-2/ |archive-date=20 July 2008 |access-date=26 December 2008 |website=The Age}} as opposed to genuine expansion and conclude the university's refusal to discontinue the student union funding is politically motivated.{{Cite web |date=29 April 2008 |title=Vice Chancellor Lies About Introduction of Melbourne Model at VCA |url=http://www.vcasu.org.au/2008/04/29/vice-chancellor-lies-about-introduction-of-melbourne-model-at-vca/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720033033/http://www.vcasu.org.au/2008/04/29/vice-chancellor-lies-about-introduction-of-melbourne-model-at-vca/ |archive-date=20 July 2008 |access-date=3 May 2008 |website=VCASU}}

Sydney University Postgraduate Representative Association accuses University of Melbourne of exploiting its postgraduates through the Melbourne Model as undergraduates cannot be charged full fees, assuming the university's "prime motivation for moving to the new Model is better business and more income."{{Cite web |year=2008 |title=Is Sydney Choice the Melbourne Model? |url=http://www.usyd.edu.au/supra/Pub/Honi_PG/documents/SUPRAHoni18.pdf |access-date=14 December 2008 |website=The SUPRA |issue=18}}

University Council member Tammi Jonas resigned from the UoM Council on Monday 7 Dec 2009 "in protest against the University’s exploitation of its casual labour force, which is largely made up of postgraduate students."{{Cite web |date=2009-12-09 |title=Why I resigned from Melbourne Uni Council |url=https://www.crikey.com.au/2009/12/09/why-i-resigned-from-the-university-of-melbourne-council/ |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=Crikey |language=en-US}} This issue links with the SUPRA statement noted above, which directs blame at finances underpinning the Melbourne Model. Tammi Jonas' response to the university's reaction to her resignation was published later on her blog.{{Cite web |date=2010-01-21 |title=Tammi Tasting Terroir: The University of Melbourne's Response to my Resignation from Council |url=http://tammijonas.blogspot.com/2010/01/university-of-melbournes-response-to-my.html |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=Tammi Tasting Terroir}}

University of Melbourne Australian Studies senior lecturer, Graham Willett, while arguing for Victorian academics to pursue industrial action over redundancies, also suggested the university could save money by cutting Vice-Chancellor Davis' salary, which stood at AU$610,000 in 2007,{{Cite web |date=4 July 2007 |title=Survey finds big rewards for VCs |url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,22013394-12332,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081008075326/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,22013394-12332,00.html |archive-date=8 October 2008 |access-date=27 December 2008 |website=The Australian}} and getting rid of the new position of Provost previously held by Peter McPhee.{{Cite web |date=2008-10-14 |title=Action can stop job cuts at Melbourne Uni |url=https://solidarity.net.au/unions/action-can-stop-job-cuts-at-melbourne-uni/ |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=Solidarity Online |language=en-AU}}

University of Melbourne Department of History Associate Professor, David Phillips, called the Melbourne Model a "nightmare for the Arts Faculty" and that the "entire Australian university community should be worried about what is involved" with the direction the University of Melbourne was steering higher education.{{Cite web |date=July 2007 |title='Dreamlarge' a nightmare for the Arts Faculty |url=http://www.nteu.org.au/publications/advocate/vol14no2/pdf?file=Advocate%2014%2002%20WEB.pdf&friendly= |access-date=26 October 2008 |website=Advocate |volume=14 |issue=2}}

University of Melbourne Department of Science and Mathematics Education staff member, Ted Clark, blamed the university for using the Melbourne Model transition as an excuse to implement cuts to staff jobs: "It is now impossible to argue that there is a separation... between cost cutting or staffing requirements from the introduction and implementation of the Melbourne Model."{{Cite web |date=July 2007 |title=The Melbourne Model: The jury is still out |url=http://www.nteu.org.au/publications/advocate/vol14no2/pdf?file=Advocate%2014%2002%20WEB.pdf&friendly= |access-date=26 October 2008 |website=Advocate |volume=14 |issue=2}}

University of Melbourne Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning Professor, Miles Lewis, attacked the university's demotion of Dr. Paul Mees{{Cite web |last=Lucas |first=Clay |date=2008-05-20 |title=Melbourne Uni demotes transport dissident |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/melbourne-uni-demotes-transport-dissident-20080520-ge73h2.html |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=The Age |language=en}} – a former senior lecturer in transport planning who subsequently resigned, taking up a position at RMIT University – over Mees' criticism of the government's privatisation of public transport. Lewis argued that the Melbourne Model "requires the relentless pursuit of mediocrity and the routing out of any independent intellects from the university", blaming Melbourne for catering to the agendas of government and wealthy industry bodies.{{Cite web |year=2008 |title=Letters reprinted from The Age online 21 May 2008 |url=http://www.publicuni.org/documents/News_files/AgeLetters21may.pdf |access-date=8 August 2008 |website=Association for the Public University}}

University of Melbourne staff member and education activist, Melanie Lazero, in a public debate between the University of Melbourne Student Union and the university described the Melbourne Model as "shallow" and "a neoliberal idea of education", claiming the model limited students choices.{{Cite web |title=Melbourne Model Debate video |url=http://union.unimelb.edu.au/ed-academic/melbourne-model-debate-video|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090127070233/http://union.unimelb.edu.au/ed-academic/melbourne-model-debate-video |date=20 May 2008|archive-date=27 January 2009|access-date=8 August 2008 |website=MU Student Union Online |language=en-AU}}

University of Melbourne staff member known only as "SP", described her/himself as "a victim of "Growing Esteem" at Melbourne", accusing VC Davis of continuing former VC Alan Gilbert's role of being financially driven: "Restructuring needs to be fully participatory, democratic, and transparent. It is not. Possibly the worst restructuring I have seen in 15 years."{{Cite web |last=Norton |first=Andrew |date=2007-04-17 |title=The Melbourne Model |url=https://andrewnorton.info/2007/04/17/the-melbourne-model/ |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=Andrew Norton |language=en}}

University of Melbourne academic staff member known only as "BRY" is, like "SP" above, also a victim of "Growing Esteem", and has criticized "the immense damage that Vice-Chancellor Glyn Davis has caused to the university"{{Cite web |date=20 November 2009 |title=Waning mystique |url=http://blogs.theage.com.au/thirddegree/archives/2009/11/waning_mystique.html |access-date=10 February 2010 |website=Third Degree}}

University of Melbourne's current and former staff have also been quoted anonymously as saying that the cuts to arts at the university were significant while in relation to the workload: "Everyone is running around in shock saying we've got so many students we've got no idea what to do about it."{{Cite web |last=Bachelard |first=Michael |date=2008-10-04 |title=Search for a super model |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/search-for-a-super-model-20081004-4tyk.html |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=The Age |language=en}}

Victorian College of the Arts Director, Professor Andrea Hull, announced her retirement in 2008 shortly after The Age published a leaked email from Hull to Victorian College of the Arts staff stating that she and her colleagues disagreed to further compromises over the implementation of the Melbourne Model at the arts college, "nor to a name that wipes out the VCA's prestige and history...". Ironically, Hull had been repeatedly criticised by the Victorian College of the Arts Student Union over perceived inaction in relation the Melbourne Model,{{Cite web |date=19 April 2007 |title=Andrea Hull Addresses Students regarding the Melbourne Model |url=http://www.vcasu.org.au/2007/04/19/andrea-hull-addresses-students-regarding-the-melbourne-model/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720031812/http://www.vcasu.org.au/2007/04/19/andrea-hull-addresses-students-regarding-the-melbourne-model/ |archive-date=20 July 2008 |access-date=14 November 2008 |website=VCASU}}{{Cite web |date=6 May 2008 |title=Andrea Hull lies… again! |url=http://www.vcasu.org.au/2008/05/06/andrea-hull-lies-again/ |access-date=15 December 2008 |website=VCASU}} yet Hull denied that her retirement was related to Melbourne's overruled decision to change the college's name.{{Cite web |date=2008-05-28 |title=Andrea Hull prepares to leave the VCA |url=https://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/andrea-hull-prepares-to-leave-the-vca-20080528-ge74gk.html |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=The Age |language=en}}

Monash University Communications lecturer and Herald Sun journalist, Dr Caron Dann, said: "I like the idea of the University of Melbourne model in theory. HOWEVER (and it's a big however), I am suspicious because all around me I see universities behaving like profit-making businesses and using management models that do not help academics provide the best education for students."{{Cite web |date=2008-10-30 |title=Melbourne model in vogue |url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/comment/letters/melbourne-model-in-vogue/404147.article |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=Times Higher Education (THE) |language=en}}

La Trobe University School of Business Professor of Economics, Harry Clarke, speculated the Melbourne Model "will reduce numbers seeking to utilise its programs" and "programs will become more expensive in time and aggregate tuition charges" accusing their scholarship program of being "distributionally regressive" aimed at mainly well-off private-school-trained students.{{Cite web |last=Clarke|first=Harry|website=kalimna.blogspot.com |date=2007-04-18 |title=University of Melbourne model |url=http://kalimna.blogspot.com/2007/04/university-of-melbourne-model.html |access-date=2023-01-16}}

Swinburne University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ian Young, argued that University of Melbourne students would have to study for five years, as opposed to three to get a vocational qualification: "There's no doubt that the model actually increases the cost of education, either to the student or to the nation or both, by some 60 per cent. So it is a more expensive form of education. It may well be an excellent education, but it is undoubtedly a more expensive form of education."{{Cite web |date=20 April 2007 |title=Melbourne University makes its pitch for the next generation of students |url=http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/vic/content/2006/s1902794.htm |access-date=14 November 2008 |website=Stateline}}

Queensland University of Technology economist, Paul Frijters, pointed to the Melbourne Model's "risk that there will be a dumbing down of content" in degrees taught and the fact that many UoM undergraduates come from private high schools "offering them scholarships will have a fairly limited effect."

University of Sydney Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Don Nutbeam, expressed concern the Melbourne Model would end up devaluing or giving less importance to new high school graduates.{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2006/s1680821.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108132842/http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2006/s1680821.htm |archive-date=8 November 2012 |date=6 July 2006 |first=Tom |last=Iggulden |title=Melbourne Uni to undergo bold overhaul |website=Australian Broadcasting Company - Lateline.}}

File:Melbourne Model Protest 26th July -3.jpg of the Philosophy building during the university's Academic Board meeting in 2007.]]

University of Melbourne Arts student, Ben Coleridge, admitted that while the university's "vision is attractive... the Melbourne Model rhetorically espouses flexibility, (but) so far it has often been experienced as inflexible. Some students have begun to think of it as a strategy to disguise retrenchment and diminution."{{Cite web |date=2008-12-11 |title=Why the Melbourne Model is failing students |url=https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/why-the-melbourne-model-is-failing-students |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=Eureka Street |language=en}}

University of Melbourne Creative Arts student, Rosalie Delaney, claimed the university was censoring students' artworks critical of the Melbourne's new teaching model, saying universities should "be a bastion of free speech and critical thought and questioning of structures and authority", describing their alleged actions as "appalling"; actions which the university administration deny."{{Cite web |date=7 June 2008 |title=Express yourself, but steer clear of politics |url=http://www.vcasu.org.au/2008/06/12/express-yourself-but-steer-clear-of-politics/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720025839/http://www.vcasu.org.au/2008/06/12/express-yourself-but-steer-clear-of-politics/ |archive-date=20 July 2008 |access-date=8 August 2008 |website=The Age}}

University of Melbourne Creative Arts group, Crunch, produced Melbourne Model: The Musical, a humorous critique of the university's restructuring of the arts faculty, where Vice-Chancellor Davis is depicted as "a nymphomaniac rock star",{{cite web |url=http://union.unimelb.edu.au/theatre/melbourne-model-the-musical|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091007035336/http://union.unimelb.edu.au/theatre/melbourne-model-the-musical |archive-date=7 October 2009 |title=Melbourne Model: The Musical |first=Fregmonto |last=Stokes |date=Spring 2008 |website=MU Student Union Online}}{{additional citation needed |date=September 2024}} who eventually relocates to Canberra, thus abandoning the university, alluding to Davis' close relationship with Labor Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.{{Cite web |date=15 July 2008 |title=Melbourne University reappoints Glyn Davis as VC |url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24025442-12332,00.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120917213337/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24025442-12332,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 September 2012 |access-date=8 August 2008 |website=The Australian}} Fregmonto Stokes, the musical's writer, was inspired by what he described as "the cutting of a significant number of subjects for economic reasons". The musical was the last production for the 15-year-old arts group Crunch which was wound up by the end of 2008 due to University of Melbourne's cuts to the arts faculty.{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Birdie |date=2008-07-28 |title=Crunch time for uni arts troupe in protest swansong |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/crunch-time-for-uni-arts-troupe-in-protest-swansong-20080727-3lqx.html |access-date=2024-01-11 |work=The Age}} On retirement in 2018, Davis did indeed move to ANU.

Victorian College of the Arts student, Chloe Greaves, complained to the Victorian College of the Arts Faculty Board that there was confusion and resentment amongst the student body around the Melbourne Model and merger of the arts college with the University of Melbourne. She criticised the lack of student consultation, citing an [https://web.archive.org/web/20080720032744/http://www.vcasu.org.au/2008/04/24/arts-college-to-follow-us-model-2/ article] in The Age as the first many students had heard of any changes to the curriculum.{{Cite web |date=30 April 2008 |title=Undergraduate Student Report – Chloe Greaves – VCA Faculty Board |url=http://vcastudents.com.au/archives/8 |access-date=25 December 2008 |website=VCA Students}}

Prospective high school graduate students also expressed criticism of the University of Melbourne, seeing the Melbourne Model as "a grab for cash" or "a shameless bid to make university careers longer and win lucrative fees from overseas students and wealthy locals."{{Cite news |last=Morton |first=Adam |date=2007-09-29 |title=Testing school of thought on Melbourne model |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/testing-school-of-thought-on-melbourne-model-20070929-ge5xq0.html |access-date=2024-01-11 |work=The Age}} One year 12 student was reported as saying: "Far from offering students a genuine choice, this model dictates that we must now study an extra two or three years, whether we want to or not."{{Cite web |date=21 May 2007 |title=Degrees of doubt |url=http://www.education.theage.com.au/pagedetail.asp?intpageid=1813&strsection=students&intsectionid=0 |access-date=30 October 2008 |website=The Age}}

Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals' President, Brian Burgess, charged the University of Melbourne with "elitism" and put forward that the number of students who would have access to the university's courses would be minimal and for those that could, the courses would take longer than normal.

Corporate lawyer and company director, Adam Schwab, linked the University of Melbourne's move to a postgraduate emphasis and the newly elected Labor Government's plan to scrap full fee paying places for domestic students in 2009 being "remarkably well timed",{{Cite web |date=19 June 2008 |title=Is Monash Uni introducing the "Melbourne Model" by stealth? |url=http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20080618-Is-Monash-Uni-introducing-the-Melbourne-Model-by-stealth.html |access-date=14 October 2008 |website=Crikey}} also insinuating a close relationship between Vice-Chancellor Davis and the Labor Government.

• Bologna Process
• Bologna declaration

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.unimelb.edu.au/ University of Melbourne]

{{University of Melbourne}}

Category:University of Melbourne

Category:Students' unions in Australia