THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY: AN OVERVIEW

The University of Sydney, founded in 1850, is Australia's first university, and has an international reputation for outstanding teaching, as a centre of research excellence and as an active and engaged community leader.

In 2006, the University of Sydney had 45, 039 students and 2, 940 (full-time equivalent) academic staff making it the second largest in Australia.

Centred on the Oxbridge-inspired grounds of the University's Main Campus on the south-western outskirts of Sydney's CBD, the University has a number of campuses as a result of mergers over the past 20 years.

As of 2007, the campuses are:

1. Camperdown/Darlington (Main Campus)

   The Camperdown/Darlington campus houses the headquarters of the University, and the Faculties of Arts; Architecture; Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources; Economics and Business; Education and Social Work; Medicine; Pharmacy; Science; and Veterinary Science. This is also where the NAPSA congress will be hosted.

   The 72-hectare site, located near the junction of Parramatta and City Roads, features landscaped grounds, sports ovals and centres, museums, galleries, two major complexes devoted to student recreation and services, and of course the famous Quadrangle and many other beautiful modern and historic buildings.

   The main campus is the focus of student life at campus, with the student-run University of Sydney Union (often known simply as the Union) in possession of three buildings on-site - Wentworth, Manning and Holme Buildings. These buildings house a large proportion of the university's catering outlets, and provide space for gaming rooms, bars and function centres.

2. Cumberland Campus

   With spacious landscaped grounds and ultra modern facilities, Cumberland Campus, 16 Kilometres west of the main campus at Lidcombe, is home to the Faculty of Health Sciences.

3. St James Campus

   In the heart of Sydney's legal district - just near the Supreme Court in Phillip Street - this campus is the home of Australia's first and most prestigious law school.

4. Mallett St Campus

   One block from the main campus, this campus houses the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, which has courses that lead to registration with the NSW registration Board and to other qualification in a range of nursing specialisations. The Faculty has access to 300 clinical centres where trainee nurses can gain practical experience. Also located on this campus is the University's Center for English Teaching and NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre.

5. Sydney Conservatorium of Music Campus

   The Sydney Conservatorium of Music ('the Con') is one of the world's finest music schools and is set in the Royal Botanic Gardens near the Opera House.

   The Con was reopened in 2001 after extensive modernisation and expansion. Its award-winning new structures blend with the renovated original heritage buildings. The main concert hall holds 600, and the complex has recording studios and performance and practice spaces featuring the very latest in acoustic technology.

6. Rozelle Campus

   Sydney College of the Arts is the visual art College of the University and occupies historic sandstone buildings which are set in beautiful and spacious grounds on the edge of the harbour at Rozelle. The visual art, media and design students on this campus enjoy individual studio spaces and world-class facilities for creating contemporary art within the studio areas of ceramics, film & digital art, glass, jewellery & object, painting, printmedia, photomedia, and sculpture.

7. Surry Hills Campus

   The recently refurbished campus houses the main offices of the Faculty of Dentistry, the Dentistry Library, teaching, seminar and recreation facilities and also the extensive clinical facilities of the Sydney Dental Hospital. Sydney University's Faculty of Dentistry is the largest school of dentistry in Australia and the only school of dentistry in NSW. The campus is excellently located - right next to Central Station in the heart of the city. Teaching also takes place at the Westmead Centre for Oral Health - about 45 minutes away near Parramatta.

8. Burren Street Campus

   Home to the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies (Economics and Business)