Australian Catholic University
Australian Catholic University (ACU) is a public university in Australia. It has seven Australian campuses and also maintains a campus in Rome.[13]
Former name
- Mount Saint Mary College
(1908–1982) - Catholic Teachers’ College
(1971–1982) - Catholic College of Education[1]
(1982–1990)
- Mount Saint Mary College
Zlatko Skrbis[7]
Julie Cogin[8]
32,958 (2022)[5]
25,930 (2022)[5]
5,888 coursework (2022)
278 research (2022)[5]
862 (2022)[5]
Purple, red and white[12]
Varies by campus
Australian Catholic University was opened on 1 January 1991 following the amalgamation of four Catholic tertiary institutions in eastern Australia:[14]
These institutions had their origins in the mid-1800s, when religious orders and institutes became involved in preparing teachers for Catholic schools and, later, nurses for Catholic hospitals. Through a series of amalgamations, relocations, transfers of responsibilities and diocesan initiatives, more than 20 historical entities have contributed to the creation of the university.[15]
Governance[edit]
ACU's vice-chancellor and president, Zlatko Skrbis, is responsible for representing the university both nationally and internationally and for providing strategic leadership and management. He holds a PhD in Sociology.[16]
Deputy vice-chancellors have delegated responsibility for assigned areas of policy. These areas are academic, administration and resources, and research.
Each faculty is headed by an executive dean and supported by a number of associate deans and heads of schools.
Student life[edit]
Each ACU campus has a student representative council and there is a national student body called the Australian Catholic University National Students' Association (ACUNSA), which advocates on behalf of students both individually and collectively.
The university hosts an annual national sporting event – the ACU Games – and students also compete in Australia's largest annual multisport event, the Australian University Games.
HDR students have objected to a change plan introduced in September 2023 that would eliminate positions occupied by their supervisors leaving them without supervisors with the relevant expertise for their projects.[19]
Recent media attention[edit]
In March 2023, controversy broke out on campus when librarians were ordered to remove the rainbow flags that had been displayed across campuses. Staff and students wrote an open letter to the university's Vice-Chancellor Zlatko Skrbis claiming that his acts were "a direct affront to ACU's mission to act in truth and love in the pursuit of knowledge, the dignity of the human person, and the common good".[20] The university's position appeared consistent with its earlier refusal to allow the Gay and Lesbian Teachers and Students Association to establish an LGBT+ support group on its Strathclyde campus,[21] but to depart from Pope Francis' increasingly affirming stance on LGBT topics.
In July 2023, ACU launched an internal investigation into its contracts with Asset Group Solutions. AGS had provided security and cleaning services to ACU but its founder had been charged with corruption. Stephen Weller (Chief Operating Officer and Deputy-Vice Chancellor) had been warned in 2018 about AGS's conduct but did not act on those warnings.[22] ACU responded by denying knowledge of AGS’s criminal activities and has launched an internal investigation.[23]
In September 2023, ACU announced plans to cut 113 full-time jobs, most of which were at the Melbourne campus. This was part of spending cuts intended to reduce a forecast $30 million deficit and respond to shrinking enrollments. The cuts were announced as a $250 million campus building, which was constructed to accommodate student and staff growth, neared completion.[24] This has produced an international response in which many academics denounced the university. Timothy Williamson, a professor of philosophy at Oxford and Yale, told reporters that ACU's meteoric rise to the pinnacle of research in philosophy was "unprecedented" but that cuts would give ACU the reputation "as a Mickey Mouse university ... damaging the good international standing of the Australian university system as a whole".[25]