Were you a student at Monash in the 1990s?
1992. Dean of Engineering Professor Peter Darvall and students celebrate completion of the engineering building and examination halls. Image courtesy of Monash University Archives. Photographer unknown.
The 1990s were a time of enormous change for tertiary education in Australia. The introduction of HECS in 1989 heralded the end of free university education, and the impact of government reforms saw many universities grow larger through mergers and the increased participation of international students.
Shifts towards part-time study and more dependence on part-time work impacted on student culture and campus life, and new technologies changed the nature of teaching and learning.
Were you a student at one of Monash’s campuses in this important period?
If so, Professor Graeme Davison and Dr Kate Murphy of the School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies in the Faculty of Arts would like to hear your story.
Davison and Murphy are writing a history of Monash University, to be published next year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first intake of 347 students at Clayton in 1961. The history will span the founding of Monash in post-war prosperity; the baby boom and growing demand for higher education; the student revolt of the late 1960s and early 70s; and the reforms that have transformed Monash into Australia’s largest and most international university.
The authors are seeking written contributions, in the form of memoirs, short or long, suggestions on sources, and photographs from alumni of the 1990s.
Contributors will be asked to write in an informal and candid manner and in as much detail as they choose.
“We would like to know what you recall as most significant: how Monash influenced your life as well as how your experience may illuminate the history of the University,” Dr Murphy said.
For more information and guidelines for written submissions contact Graeme Davison or Kate Murphy at historyofmonash@arts.monash.edu.au or phone +61 3 9905 1184.