Macquarie University is distinctively Australian, thoroughly international

Australia hosts more than 500,000 international students seeking not only top-quality education, but challenging, rewarding programmes that promote creativity, independent thinking and innovation. One university, however, stands out as distinctively Australian yet thoroughly international.

A bold experiment in higher education, Macquarie University was founded in 1964 with a mission to serve the needs of industry and community while pioneering interdisciplinary research and innovations. The first Australian university to provide special entry provisions for mature-age students, Macquarie offered the world's first externally taught science degree and the first external law degree in the country. It also established the first actuarial studies degree in the English-speaking world outside of the United States.

"Fifty years on, Macquarie's distinction has grown to attract nearly 45,000 students - more than 12,000 of whom are from 120 countries," says Professor S. Bruce Dowton, vice-chancellor and president. "About 9 per cent of mainland Chinese and 14 per cent of Hong Kong students coming to the country find home in our 126-hectare parkland campus at the heart of Sydney."

Protected by award-winning sustainability practices, the campus features multibillion-dollar investments in infrastructure and facilities, including the most hi-tech university library in Australia showcasing a robotic book storage and retrieval system.

Highlighting its intensified focus on the health sciences is Macquarie University Hospital, the first and only private not-for-profit teaching hospital on a university campus in Australia. The most technologically advanced hospital of its kind, the 183-bed facility uses groundbreaking medical equipment and procedures, including the country's only Gamma Knife radio surgery for brain cancer treatment.

In addition to providing a superior learning environment, Macquarie's strategic location enables convenient integration with industry, which gives students maximum exposure to internship and job opportunities. CEOs around the world rank Macquarie in the top 100 universities for graduate recruitment, according to The New York Times' Global Employability Survey. 

"With graduate outcomes in mind, we design our programmes to give students an edge in the global job market," Dowton says. "More than acquiring the vital skill set for successful careers, our graduates gain the global outlook, leadership skills and self-confidence that they will find valuable throughout their lives."