One of the privileges of being Vice-Chancellor of Monash University is the opportunity to meet with, and thank our inspiring donors and bequestors who are members of the Matheson Society, and share with you just some of the fantastic and critical work you make possible.
In this edition of the Matheson Society newsletter, I would also like to warmly welcome to our community our new bequestors. By leaving a bequest to Monash, you are playing a significant role in shaping a better future by supporting excellence in education and research long into the future and joining like-minded people who value life-long learning.
Your generosity enables students to study who would otherwise never have a reasonable chance of coming to our University. A quarter of Monash’s domestic students are from a disadvantaged background and they achieve results comparable to their peers. Since 2019, our cohort of Indigenous students has grown by almost 75 per cent, to 445 enrolments in 2024. You are all helping to make this difference.
This summer, more than 2000 first-year students, regardless of means, will fan out across the Indo-Pacific as part of our Global Immersion Guarantee, affording them the transformational opportunity to undertake field work overseas. A further 4000 Monash undergraduate and postgraduate students will travel internationally through Monash Abroad.
Our donor community plays a crucial role in helping us to support our students. More than 1300 students have received a donor-funded scholarship since the start of our philanthropic campaign in 2013, and in this edition of the Matheson Society newsletter, you will read about two bequests we have received during the campaign and the difference they are making.
Mr Brian Frary’s bequest has enabled two students to receive scholarships named in honour of his parents. Your support allows us to support our students and take the measured risks that are essential to the big research discoveries that can change and save lives.
Mr Gregory Dean Campbell left a gift towards postgraduate studies in glaucoma and other eye diseases causing gradual loss of sight. To be named the Campbell Bursary, it will make a transformational impact across the Monash network of eye and vision research. We are incredibly grateful for his gift and understanding the importance of studies in this multidisciplinary field.
The scale of the challenges we now set ourselves is why philanthropy is so enormously important to us and make initiatives like these possible.
It was wonderful to see and meet so many of you at the Matheson Society lunch last year and talk about the Monash Virtual School and its work with the Invergowrie Foundation in bringing STEM education to girls from low-income or rural areas.
Last year, we celebrated many achievements across the University. Monash climbed two places to rank 35th among 2250 institutions in the 2024-25 US News and World Report Best Global Universities, further bolstering our top-50 performance in global rankings following our outstanding result in the QS World University Rankings 2025, in which we placed 37th globally.
A frequent annual lunch attendee and supporter of the Society and its bequestors, our Chancellor of the past eight years Simon McKeon AO stepped down in July and was succeeded by Dr Megan Clark AC who has served on the Monash University Council since 2015, becoming Deputy Chancellor in 2021.
We have also paid tribute to prominent contributors of our University community who passed away last year. You will read about Ms Valerie Constable OAM in this newsletter, whose legacy and generosity will impact generations of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences students.
Monash’s success today is grounded in the vision and work of my predecessors over the last 10-20 years. My focus is to continue to build on these achievements and ensure the excellence of success of our remarkable University in the decades to come. By supporting Monash through a gift in your Will, or donating, you are helping to enable the opportunities ahead of us to be achieved.
My sincere thanks for your continued support and friendship, and our shared vision of Monash as a unique place of transformational education and research, delivered at scale and pace for the benefit of our communities.
I hope you have had a safe and restful holiday period, and look forward to connecting with you in person in 2025.
Professor Sharon Pickering
Vice-Chancellor and President