Murdoch University
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Murdoch University is a university with its main campus at Murdoch, 14km south of Perth, Western Australia, along the Kwinana Freeway. It commenced operations as WA's second university in 1973, and opened its doors to its first students in 1975. Its name is taken from Sir Walter Murdoch (1874-1970), a prominent Australian academic and essayist famous for his intelligence, wit and humanity.
Murdoch University is home to 13,000 students, of which over 2,000 are international students. There are three main divisions at Murdoch: Arts (which includes Humanities, Social Sciences, IT, Law and Business); Health Sciences and Science and Engineering.
Murdoch has Australia's geographically largest campus at 2.27 square kilometres, necessary in order to accommodate Western Australia's only veterinary and chiropractic school. Most of the southern part of the university consists of paddocks of livestock, farm and renewable energy facilities.
The original group of University buildings surround an open court, known as "Bush Court", on an elevated site in the northern part of the campus. The buildings are linked on the court's sides by broad colonnaded verandahs in a compact design which aims at encouraging a sense of community. Features around campus include the Chinese garden and the Joglo Rahayu (Peace Pavilion).
The University has three major campuses. Aside from Murdoch, there is the Rockingham Regional Campus, opened in 1996 alongside Rockingham's TAFE campus, which features dedicated facilities for Engineering, an Arts and Commerce building as well as a community library; and the Peel Campus in Mandurah, which opened in 2004 for nursing and life science students.
Murdoch University was initially intended to cater predominantly to mature-aged students. As a result, many courses are available externally and an increasing number are available online. It is home to several disciplinary schools: law, arts, information technology, science, psychology, engineering, veterinary studies, chiropractic, postgraduate pharmacy, education, mass communications and commerce.
Murdoch University particularly prides itself on its high standard of teaching and focus on students' needs. It is widely seen as one of Australia's most liberal campuses and has strong representation for gay and lesbian people.
Murdoch University is a member of Innovative Research Universities Australia (IRU Australia).
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Merger plans
Curtin University of Technology and Murdoch University have recently agreed (June 2005) to undertake a feasibility study on merging. On November the 7th, 2005, both institutions issued a press release that such a merger will not be undertaken.
Murdoch College
On the north east corner of the South Street campus, Murdoch College was established by the university and the Alexander Education Group in 2000 to cater for secondary students in a university environment and to enrich their academic, social and personal potential. It is the only secondary school on a univeristy campus in Australia and students have the opportunity to experience university facilities often. It offers a full compliment of Year 8 - 12 subjects across the 8 learning areas. Many students from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Korea enrol at Murdoch College and enhance its strong multicultural ethos. It has a postive and growing profile in the community.
Interesting points on campus
Interesting places on campus recommended to students include:
Food
- The Ref (Food Court);
Located on the western side of Bush Court, the Food Court contains several cafes, a kebab shop and Asian food.
- Sir Walter's Cafe;
Located on the 2nd floor of the Library, it's a popular spot for coffee or even just relaxing in the outdoor seated area.
- The Tavern;
Located past the ECL buildings at the lower end of campus, and with an attached cafe, The Tavern is always popular with students and has a range of entertainment at different times during the year.
Also, various Asian food caravans exist around campus courtesy of the Guild and are cheap - well-established ones (since at least 1998) are at The Lunchbox at ECL level 2, and "Campus Asian Food" near the Science & Computing building.
Library
- Murdoch Campus Library
- The main library on the Murdoch campus is located at the south end of Bush Court. It is made up of a North Wing (3 levels), a Link (2 levels) and a South Wing (4 levels). It contains collections in many areas, such as the sciences, humanities, social sciences, commerce and the Murdoch Law Library. The Teaching and Learning centre, where academic assistance in many forms is available to students is located in the library building (North Wing Level 4). Many items from the university's art collection are on show around the library, especially in the North Wing Level 4 Art Gallery. As well as Murdoch students and staff, students from other WA universities and members of the public may apply to borrow from the library. For more info, see the Library web site.
- The veterinary and biomedical sciences library is a smaller facility located in the Veterinary Clinical Sciences building, southeast of the main library.
Computer Labs
- GCL1
- General access labs located just off Bush Court near the Kim E Beazley Lecture Theatre.
- Provides PCs running Windows XP and printing stations.
- See Student IT website for more info.
- See Service Desk website for more info
Various faculty and department-specific computing labs also exist, and a large number of computers are available in the library.
Student Guild
The Murdoch University Guild of Students is the student representative association at Murdoch University. All students automatically become members of the guild under current universal student membership legislation, though they are able to opt-out of membership if they so choose. As well as handling student representation and assistance with eduction and welfare issues, the Guild manages two food outlets on campus, runs the tavern, sports and recreation centre and the second hand bookshop. The guild partially finances many of the student associations on campus and run specific guild events of their own. Finally, the guild publishes Metior, the campus magazine.
For more information, see the Guild website.
Student Clubs
- MSLS (Murdoch Student Law Society)
Murdoch Student Law Society is a student organisation that represents students studying law at Murdoch Universty. In addition to organising some great social events, MSLS also organise educational seminars and legal competitions such as Mooting, Negotiation, Trial Advocacy, Client Interview and Paper Presentation. MSLS also co-host the semester ending event, Triple Crown. For more information, see the MSLS Website.
Transportation
Murdoch campus
- Car
There are several car parks around the campus, for staff and student use. For more info, see the Parking and Traffic web site.
- Public transport
Transperth provides several bus services to and from Murdoch and Rockingham. The 98/99 Circleroute service has two stops outside the Murdoch campus on South Street, which also runs to the nearby Murdoch Park 'n' Ride station on Kwinana Freeway with regular services to Perth. A bus stop on Campus Drive near the gymnasium accommodates buses to Perth, Bibra Lake and Booragoon.
