Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about an important milestone in the life of the University of Tasmania, the only university in my home state. The university is this year celebrating its 125th anniversary, and there is much to celebrate and be proud of. At the weekend it was announced that the University of Tasmania has maintained its position as one of the world's top universities. The Academic Ranking of World Universities ranks the top 1,200 universities globally, and this year the University of Tasmania ranked at 305, up three places from last year. Vice-Chancellor Peter Rathjen welcomed the rise in rankings, from around 400 prior to 2010, as good news for the university and Tasmania. Professor Rathjen said:

Our intent is to be home to world-class teaching and globally impactful research because that is how we best serve our students and that is how we best serve our community … Rankings are important because they directly impact on our institution's reputation. In an increasingly global and competitive employment market … our reputation helps us to attract international students to Tasmania, which has significant economic and cultural benefits for the broader community.

The University of Tasmania has certainly come a long way in the past 125 years since fewer than a dozen students attended the first lectures and actually lived on campus at Domain House in Hobart. In the fifties the university moved to its Sandy Bay campus, and it now has campuses in Launceston and on the Cradle Coast and has joined forces with the Australian Maritime College in Launceston. The university is now a truly state-wide university, but who knows if that will be the case if the Abbott Government continues to proceed down its misguided path of deregulation of universities?

The University of Tasmania continues to go from strength to strength and makes an outstanding contribution to Tasmania's social, cultural, intellectual and economic development. As Professor Rathjen says, its reputation is important, and the university and its hardworking staff, students and researchers are establishing its reputation as a world-class international education hub. In its 125th year it is experiencing record student numbers. There are currently more than 34,000 students enrolled, including nearly 4,000 international students. The university has a vibrant student community, with a student union that was first formed in 1899 and has a long history of advocacy and supporting students.

The university also has a strong alumni network. Just this year the university has passed the 100,000 alumni mark. The alumni network spans over 120 countries, and as part of the 125-year celebration the university is running Welcome Home Week, believed to be the first of its type in Australia. Welcome Home Week is aimed at getting former students to come back to share in the 125th anniversary celebrations. The week-long celebration starts on 29 August and includes 150 different events, including sporting contests, workshops, school and faculty reunions, public lectures, and art and cultural exhibitions. It will give former students the chance to meet up, visit their old stomping ground and celebrate the anniversary of the fourth oldest university in Australia.

At the start of the year I was fortunate to join many others who came together to mark the beginning of this very significant year in the life of the university. I was pleased to talk to Her Excellency Professor Kate Warner, who last year was appointed Tasmania's first female Governor. A distinguished academic, Professor Warner is one of five governors produced by the university. At her appointment it emerged that she has taught around 50 per cent of all legal practitioners who are currently practicing in Tasmania. Professor Warner is one of the university's greatest minds and finest alumni. Three other Tasmanian governors—the Hon. Sir Guy Green AC, the Hon. William Cox AC and the late Hon. Peter Underwood AC—all graduated together on 11 May 1960. But it is not just servants of Tasmania who have studied at and graduated from the University of Tasmania. The university has announced that Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, a graduate of the university, has agreed to become the patron of the 125th anniversary.

It is the University's academics, researchers and students who have put Tasmania on the international stage. They have much to be proud of. I understand the challenges they face but hope that the next 125 years are as successful as the past 125 years.