History of the Faculty of the VCA and Music
In 1988 the Federal Minister for Employment, Education and Training introduced a proposal to establish a unified national system of higher education with membership of the proposed system limited to institutions of a particular size. The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), which had been established by the Victorian Order in Council in 1972 and then reconstituted under The Victorian College of the Arts Act, 1981 (Vic), was not able to participate in the proposed national system in its own right. To enable it to participate in the unified national system, the VCA entered into an Affiliation Agreement with The University of Melbourne on 16 November 1988.
With the Victorian College of the Arts (Amendment) Act 1991 (Vic), which established a more extensive relationship between the University and the VCA, the affiliation came to an end. A key feature of the relationship was that the University assumed responsibility for the academic programs of the VCA, and students at the VCA who were enrolled in degree programs became students of the University.
In 2003, under the Higher Education Support Act 2003, the Federal Government’s reforms to higher education introduced a consistent funding model for the academic clusters, which came into effect in 2005. This resulted in the removal of the special funding support that the VCA had previously received, representing a 35% reduction in revenue.
The University and the VCA commenced discussions in early 2005 about the possibility of full integration. In November 2005, the parties signed a heads of agreement which provided for integration with effect from 1 January 2007. This integration enabled the VCA to become a Faculty of the University. The integration terms included annual operational funding arrangements for the first five years designed to bridge the funding gap that had arisen as a result of the 2003 reforms.
On 1 January 2007, as a consequence of the Melbourne University (Victorian College of the Arts) Act 2006 (Vic), the VCA was integrated with the University and the Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts was established.
The integration of the VCA resulted in further music related programs being offered by the University, in addition to those already available in the Faculty of Music. With the introduction of the Melbourne Model from 2008 in which music is one of the six core undergraduate degrees, a further review of the overall programs within both faculties has been undertaken to provide greater synergies.
In May 2008, the University Council resolved that the Faculty of Music and the Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts would be amalgamated from 6 April 2009. Accordingly, the Faculty of Music was disestablished and the name of the Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts changed to the Faculty of the VCA and Music, within which three schools have been established: the School of Art, School of Music and School of Performing Arts.
The Faculty of the VCA and Music comprises over 1,700 full time equivalent students in three schools: Art, Music and Performing Arts, as well as offering programs in Film and Television. The School of Music is the largest (approximately half of the new Faculty) and the most comprehensive music school in Australia.