University of Technology Sydney


The University of Technology Sydney is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Although its origins are said to trace back to the 1870s, the university was founded in its current form in 1988. As of 2018, UTS enrolls 45,930 students, including 33,070 undergraduate and 12,860 postgraduate students through its 9 faculties and schools.
The university is regarded as one of the world's leading young universities, ranked 1st in Australia and 11th in the world by the 2021 QS World University Rankings.
UTS is a member of the Australian Technology Network, the Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning and the Association of Commonwealth Universities.

History

The University of Technology Sydney originates from the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts, which was established in 1833. In the 1870s, the School formed the Workingman's College, which was later taken over by the NSW government to form, in 1882, the Sydney Technical College.
In 1940 the NSW Parliament passed an Act to establish an Institute of Technology, which in 1964 led to the establishment of the New South Wales Institute of Technology. In 1968, the NSW Institute of Technology amalgamated with the NSW Institute of Business Studies. In 1976 NSWIT established the first law school in NSW outside the university sector. The Haymarket campus officially opened in 1985.
On 8 October 1987 university status was granted to NSWIT, which was followed by the passing of the University of Technology, Sydney, Act 1987. It was reconstituted as the University of Technology Sydney in 1988, along with the incorporation of the School of Design of the former Sydney College of the Arts. In 1989, the University of Technology, Sydney, Act 1989 formed UTS by absorbing the Kuring-gai College of Advanced Education and the Institute of Technical and Adult Teacher Education of the Sydney College of Advanced Education. An academic Structure of nine faculties and 25 schools was established in 1991.
The School of Design was initially housed at a campus in Balmain, which closed at the end of 1994, with the school moved to a new building at the city campus. The environmental, biological and biomedical science schools were located on a campus at St Leonards, which was closed in 2006, which also relocated to the city campus following a redevelopment.
The Kuring-Gai campus closed at the end of 2015, with classes and facilities moved into the main Haymarket campus. This marked the consolidation of UTS into a single unified campus in the Sydney CBD.

Campus

The UTS city campus is located at the southern border of Sydney's central business district, close to Central Station and Railway Square. The UTS Tower is the nucleus of the city campus, fronting on to Broadway.
The campus consists of five distinct precincts. Broadway, Haymarket and Blackfriars are located at the city campus, while precincts at Moore Park and Botany integrate specialist facilities with surrounding industry organisations.
Broadway is home to the faculties of Science, Health, Arts and Social Sciences, Engineering and IT, and Design, Architecture and Building. Haymarket includes the faculties of Business, Law and Transdisciplinary Innovation, as well as the UTS Library, and two lecture theatres in the Powerhouse Museum. The Blackfriars precinct in Chippendale contains the Blackfriars Children's Centre and research and innovation teams while the Moore Park precinct features sports facilities within the Rugby Australia Building and the Botany precinct consists of the specialist research facility UTS Tech Lab.
The campus has been substantially transformed since 2008 by the university's City Campus Master Plan, a $1 billion-plus investment in new buildings and facilities, major upgrades and refurbishments.

Buildings and architecture

The UTS Tower on Broadway is an example of brutalist architecture with square and block concrete designs. Completed and officially opened in 1979 by then-Premier Neville Wran, the Tower initially housed the NSW Institute of Technology, which transformed to become UTS in the late 1980s. In October 2006, the UTS Tower was voted the ugliest building in Sydney in a poll hosted by The Sydney Morning Herald, receiving 22% of the total vote. The Tower is the largest campus building, in terms of both height and floor space.
Other notable buildings in the Broadway precinct include:
The Haymarket precinct includes buildings such as:
Additionally in the Moore Park precinct, the Rugby Australia Building contains specialist facilities for UTS students, staff and researchers working across sport and exercise science, physiotherapy and sport media. Designed by architects Populous, the building is also the headquarters of Rugby Australia and home to Australia's national rugby teams. The external fixed aluminium shading controls solar penetration, while internal spaces include the purpose-built laboratories of the Human Performance Research Centre.

Sustainability

A number of UTS campus buildings have received a certified Green Star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia. The Vicki Sara Building has been awarded a 6 Star Green Star Design and As-Built Rating, while the Faculty of Engineering and IT and Dr Chau Chak Wing Buildings has been awarded 5 stars. The newly constructed UTS Central is also targeting a 5 Star rating.

UTS Library

UTS provides services through the UTS Library and the UTS Reading Room in Building 2, UTS Central, as well as a range of online services on the UTS Library website.

Neighbouring organisations

The core of the UTS city campus is located close to many Sydney landmarks and notable organisations including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the Powerhouse Museum, TAFE Ultimo, the International Convention Centre Sydney, Darling Harbour and Chinatown.
Entities within the Central Park development, opposite the UTS Tower on Broadway, partner with the University on sustainability initiatives, which include a recycled water partnership and a district energy-sharing project commended at the 2018 Smart City Awards.

Organisation and administration

Faculties and schools

The university consists of 9 faculties and schools:
The UTS Academic Board is the principal advisory body to the UTS Council on academic matters.
The Academic Board is concerned with policy development as it relates to the University's academic programs in education, scholarship and research, and community service. It refers to policy recommendations to Council and discusses matters referred to it by Council.
Academic Board plays a key role in the UTS community in providing a forum for the discussion and debate of the academic directions of the University as well as the quality of its academic programs. The Board consists of academic staff members as well as student members elected for a general period of 1–2 years.
; List of Chancellors
; List of Vice-Chancellors

Admissions

Admissions is highly competitive with an offer rate of 19%. As of 2019, UTS had the third highest demand for places in NSW for university applicants. For domestic applications, an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank of at least 69 is required. Applicants may also be eligible for admission if they have completed a UTS foundation course or an AQF Diploma. Applicants applying with an IB Diploma will have their scores converted into a UAC Rank for admission.
In 2019, statistics by the Universities Admissions Centre revealed that the Bachelor of Business program at UTS was the second most in-demand course in the state with 1,211 applicants placing it as their first preference. The Bachelor of Nursing program was the ninth most in-demand course with 647 applicants.

Rankings

The 2021 QS World University Rankings ranked UTS 9th in Australia and 133rd in the world. UTS is ranked 11th in Australia and 194th internationally by the 2020 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. UTS is ranked 122nd in the 2017 CWTS Leiden ranking. The university is ranked in the 201st–300th bracket in the 2019 Academic Ranking of World Universities.
UTS ranked 1st in Australia and 15th globally in the 2017 Times Higher Education top 150 universities 150 Under 50 Rankings. Similarly, in the 2018 QS Top 50 Under 50 index of universities founded less than 50 years ago, UTS ranked 8th in the world and 1st in Australia.
The Times Higher Education Rankings in 2020 ranked UTS; 60th in Law, 77th in Education and 79th in Computer Science in the world. In Australia, UTS is ranked 7th in the subject areas of Law, 3rd in Computer Science and 7th in Education
In 2019, QS ranked UTS globally; 10th in Nursing, 23rd in Arts and Design and 24th in Sport and Exercise. UTS is ranked in the top 100 for Accounting and Finance, Architecture, Civil Engineering, Communication & Media Studies, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Law.
The 2019 QS Graduate Employability Rankings ranked UTS graduates 6th most employable in Australia, and 64th in the world.

Research

UTS is home to over 50 research centres and institutes. UTS mainly focuses its research in the areas of health, data science, sustainability, future work and industry and social futures.
Some of the major research centres include; the Centre for Artificial Intelligence, Centre for Autonomous System, Centre for Health Technology, Advanced Analytics Institute, Centre for Forensic Science, Centre for Quantum Software and Information Technology, the i3 Institute, Climate Change Cluster and the Institute for Sustainable Future.

Student body

In 2018, the university had an enrollment of 45,930 students. 33,070 are undergraduate students, 10,720 postgraduate students and 2,140 doctoral students. Of all students, 30,796 are Australian citizens or permanent residents and 15,134 are international students.
Students were enrolled in 9 schools or faculties: The largest being the School of Business at 23.7 percent followed by the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at 23 percent. Other faculties and schools by enrolment include; 11.3 percent in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences; 10.9 percent in the Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building ; 9.6 percent in the Faculty of science and 6.2 percent in the School of Law. Smaller number of students are enrolled in the Graduate School of Health and Faculty of Transdisciplinary Innovation.

Student life

Activate UTS is the peak service provider at the University of Technology Sydney. It operates a range of on-campus student services, including food & beverage outlets, cultural activities, fitness and catering services as well as clubs and societies, student publications and Orientation Day. The City Campus is home to two licensed bars, 'The Underground' and 'The Loft'.
Activate UTS is governed by a board of thirteen directors consisting of seven students, two staff members, the CEO of Activate UTS, the Chair, the Treasurer and one other director.
From the seven students elected, a President and a Vice-President is elected each year by the board. The Chair is responsible for the conduct of the board meetings.

Residential life

UTS Housing is also a great part of a student community within UTS with its on-campus accommodation. They have 4 residences within a 15-minute walk from the campus and is home to more than 1200 UTS students. Weekly events and excursions are also organised within the housing members ranging from social, academic and sports events.

Student media

UTS has its own community radio station on campus, 2SER FM. The studio is located on in building 18, known as the terraces, and broadcasts to the entire Sydney region. The station is jointly owned by UTS and Macquarie University, with a second studio at Macquarie University. UTS Journalism students help produce the station's news and current affairs programs including "The Wire" and "Razors Edge".
The UTS Students' Association is the representative student organisation at UTS. It publishes the student newspaper, Vertigo, runs the second hand bookshop, and advocates on behalf of students both individually and collectively.

Sport

UTS sports clubs include:
The general sporting colours at UTS are green and black.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of the University of Technology Sydney include actor, Hugh Jackman; the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Tanya Plibersek; former Premier of New South Wales, Morris Iemma; Vietnamese-born Australian actor and comedian, Anh Do; Australian actress and model, Charlotte Best; Australian television presenter and media personality, Sonia Kruger; former Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney, Henry Tsang; former 2GB and CNN news anchor, Joel Labi; Australian cricketer, Pat Cummins; Australian television presenter and sports journalist, Lara Pitt and Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor of New South Wales, Margaret Cunneen.