Melbourne School of Land and Environment

The Melbourne School of Land and Environment (MSLE) was a faculty of the University of Melbourne and an important provider of Australian agricultural education, the largest of its type in that country.

History

The Institute of Land and Food Resources, as it was then known, was officially created on 1 July 1997 as a combination of most of the agricultural, forestry, horticulture and food science higher education sector in Victoria, Australia. Its founding brought together the Victorian College of Agriculture and Horticulture (Dookie, Longerenong, Burnley and Glenormiston Agricultural Colleges, Gilbert Chandler Food Technology College, McMillan Education Centre, the School of Forestry, Creswick) and the University of Melbourne's departments of Agriculture and Forestry.

In 2005, the University divested itself of the Longerenong, Glenormiston and McMillan sites. It also began to outsource much of the training provided at the other sites. Also in 2005, the Institute of Land and Food Resources was renamed to the Faculty of Land and Food Resources.

In 2008, after the introduction of the "Melbourne Model", the Faculty of Land and Food Resources was renamed Melbourne School of Land and Environment, providing "new generation degrees" Bachelor of Environments, while other undergraduate degrees formerly provided, including Bachelor of Food Science, Bachelor of Agricultural Science, Bachelor of Natural Resource Management and Bachelor of Animal Science were merged into the Faculty of Science, although many of the subjects are still provided by MSLE. MSLE still provides a wide range of postgraduate degrees that were provided before as Institute of Land and Food Resources.

Closure

The closure of MSLE was controversial. A review of science teaching at the University of Melbourne was carried out by an external team in 2013. The Review team when beyond their remit and in a short section of their document suggested more comprehensive change, and this was used by the then Provost, Prof Margaret Scheil, as the basis for amendment to the University's structure of 11 faculties. Teh document never recommended closure of MSLE, but the university management made this their preferred option. The idea was sold on efficiency grounds, but actually it meant cost savings by limiting many administrative and academic posts in MSLE, at a time when the University had identified a financial deficit. Other faculties wee in favour because they would obtain MSLE's research and staff. By the middle of 2014, it was clear MSLE was to be dissolved. There was a backlash from some rural industries in Australia but the decision was implemented and the Dean, Rick Roush was forced to announce the change to students in March 2014.

MSLE was disestablished on the first of January in 2015. Its agriculture and food systems department moved alongside veterinary science to form the Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, while other areas of study, including horticulture, forestry, geography and resource management, moved to the Faculty of Science. The professional staff had to apply for positions in other faculties and several were lost to the university.

In 2016, the University also announced suspension of the Bachelor of Environments, the core environmental degree at the university.

External links

• Official website

References

• Lindsay Falvey and Barrie Bardsley (1997) 'Land and Food: Agricultural and Related Education in the Victorian Colleges and the University of Melbourne'. Institute of Land and Food Resources, University of Melbourne, 266pp