The verdant universities, also referred to as the gumtree universities, are a group of Australian universities founded in the 1960s and 1970s.
These tertiary institutions were established in their respective state capitals, often next to native
bushland
In Australia, bushland is a blanket term for land which supports remnant natural area, remnant vegetation or land which is disturbed but still retains a predominance of the original floristics and structure.
Human survival in bushland has a wh ...
(today’s
nature reserves
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geolog ...
), and were usually centred around lush vegetative campuses, to which the term
verdant refers. The verdant universities often stand in contrast to the older and ostensibly more prestigious
sandstone universities
The sandstone universities are an informally defined group comprising Australia's oldest tertiary education institutions. Most were founded in the colonial era, the exceptions being the University of Queensland (1909) and University of Western Au ...
.
They are predominantly the second or third established university in their state; the only exception is
Macquarie, which is the third university in
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
, but the fourth university in
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
.
La Trobe University takes "verdant" a step further by owning a 28-hectare wildlife sanctuary and managing the Gresswell Hill Nature Conservation Reserve north of the Melbourne campus.
The verdant universities were part of a broader effort to expand and reform
tertiary education in Australia
Tertiary education in Australia is Tertiary education, formal education beyond high school in Australia, consisting of both government and private institutions and divided into two sectors; Higher education, Higher Education (provided by univer ...
, based on similar reforms that led to the creation of the
plate glass universities group in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.
All these universities went on to form
Innovative Research Universities
Innovative Research Universities (IRU), formerly Innovative Research Universities Australia, is a network of eight comprehensive universities in Australia.
The main purpose of the group is to undertake advocacy on issues related to higher edu ...
in 2003.
Potential verdants
While these five are considered the "main verdants" as they have the most in common, other universities have been labelled verdant or "gumtree".
They include:
*
University of Newcastle (1965)
*
James Cook University
James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cair ...
(1970)
*
Deakin University
Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974 with antecedent history since 1887, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia and a founding father of Australian Fede ...
(1974)
*
University of Wollongong
The University of Wollongong (UOW) is an Australian public university, public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately south of Sydney. , the university had an enrolment of more than 33,000 s ...
(1975)
See also
*
Plate glass university
A plate glass university or plateglass university is one of a group of universities in the United Kingdom established or promoted to university status in the 1960s. The original plate glass universities were established following decisions by ...
*
Robbins Report
The Robbins Report (the report of the Committee on Higher Education, chaired by Lionel Robbins) was commissioned by the British government and published in 1963. The committee met from 1961 to 1963. After the report's publication, its conclusions ...
*
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...
*
Russell Group
The Russell Group is a self-selected association of twenty-four public research universities in the United Kingdom. The group is headquartered in Cambridge and was established in 1994 to represent its members' interests, principally to governme ...
*
Association of American Universities
The Association of American Universities (AAU) is an organization of predominantly American research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education. Founded in 1900, it consists of 69 public and private ...
*
Red brick university
A redbrick university (or red-brick university) normally refers to one of the nine civic universities originally founded as university colleges in the major industrial cities of England in the second half of the 19th century.
However, wi ...
References
{{Australian university groups
College and university associations and consortia in Australia
Colloquial terms for groups of universities and colleges