University of Technology Sydney

University of Technology Sydney

The University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) was created at the beginning of 1988 from the former New South Wales Institute of Technology and the School of Design from the Sydney College of the Arts. It was restructured in 1990 with the merger of that 'old UTS', Kuring-gai College of Advanced Education and the Institute of Technical and Adult Teacher Education to create the current university.

UTS is focused on practice-oriented education, with strong links to industry, the professions and the community, and has a growing research reputation and a strong commitment to internationalisation. Its main campus is located at the southern end of Sydney's central business district.

There are three distinct phases in the history of UTS. Although its antecedent institutions are claimed to go back as far as the establishment of the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts in 1833, they took new shapes from the late twentieth century. In the first phase, effort was concentrated on achieving the amalgamation of institutions which were culturally different in their organisational structures and in their approaches to teaching and research. This necessitated movement of staff and programs between campuses, and staff development to strengthen the research culture and establish more consistent approaches to teaching and learning.

The second phase, beginning in the mid-1990s, was characterised by declining per capita government funding and the consequent need for entrepreneurship and diversification of revenue sources. This phase saw a strong focus on international student recruitment, combined with an expansion of full-fee professional postgraduate programs for domestic students. UTS also began a distinctive approach to internationalisation with the creation of the Institute for International Studies, sending many students abroad to gain experience in a language other than English and a culture other than Australian. Greater emphasis on both research and flexible learning was also prioritised during this period.

The third phase began in 2000 with a 10-year strategic vision – Setting the Pace: A Vision for the next Decade. An important facet of this vision was a significant upgrade of the city campus, including new buildings with major new student spaces and state-of-the-art technology, and student accommodation. These changes to promote student life on campus reflected the increasingly full-time profile of the UTS student population, and aimed to enhance the university's competitive position in an increasingly deregulated higher education environment.

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