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The Institute of Melbourne School of Land and Environment came into being on 1 July 1997, upon the successful merging of the Victorian College of Agriculture and Horticulture, with the University's departments relating to Agriculture and Forestry (refer to diagram Coalescing the Forces). With its creation, the Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Horticulture which had been created to allow the full merger to take place, disappeared through the passing of new University regulations under the relevant statute by the University Council on 5 May 1997. The Victorian State Parliament passed legislation during April 1997 with an effectivity date of 1 July 1997. The intensive discussions and planning surrounding the merging of institutions, and the involvement of stakeholders in determining an appropriate means of governance in the food and related environmental areas of the University, had been productive and catalytic in allowing the full merger to occur. At the same time as creating the mechanisms for full partnership with stakeholders, the University Council approved a change in name for the entity reflecting its changed charter and special nature. The new name is Institute of Melbourne School of Land and Environment.
The link between users of knowledge in agricultural education has long been a subject of interest to industry and other stakeholders. Regular suggestions of greater levels of ownership by industry and others have been expressed as a means of promoting contact, enhancing the flow of information between users of knowledge, and information and those which created or imparted knowledge, and in terms of joint activities in research and educational fields. In recent times, the external environment in which universities operate in Australia has changed significantly as part of the general changes in society's understanding of government investment in services. As a consequence of these shifts in attitude, there has been a growing feeling that there should be increased levels of communication between all stakeholders in agriculture and related environmental areas of education which in many cases would lead to joint funding of agreed activities.
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Through the period leading to the full merger, the University's strategy with respect to agriculture and related industries had been clear, as described in Chapter 12. The University sought to strengthen its offerings in these fields and to enhance services through the merger with the six colleges of the VCAH in a period of major changes in fiscal arrangements for education and training. This strategy appears to have been prescient, because it anticipated changes in government policy, acknowledged rising interest in industry and other sectors in closer working relationships, and acknowledged the applied nature of agriculture and related education and research. The need for common goals and values in a partnership was recognised in the new University regulation which provided stakeholder ownership of the Institute of Melbourne School of Land and Environment. This was seen to meet the expressed needs of those who recalled the days when industry suggested that University activities were not relevant unless they were practical and immediately able to be applied, and some academics who claimed that industry was not well enough informed to comment on their work. The partnership aims to increase stakeholder knowledge of the University's activities in these sectors and to so increase understanding about the relevance of science, education and research, and to similarly inform academics as to the needs and perceptions of stakeholders. In taking this path, the University also acknowledged that agriculture and related education represented an area of the application of natural and social sciences, as distinct from an area of pure scientific investigation which could otherwise take place in a Faculty of Science.
The University has created a Board to oversee the Institute of Melbourne School of Land and Environment comprised of nine external stakeholders, a University Council representative and the Dean of the Faculty. Stakeholder representatives are selected on the basis of:
'persons who together possess outstanding expertise in the fields serviced by the Institute including food and agriculture, agribusiness, forestry, resource management and conservation, horticulture, education, training and research and corporate governance'.
Within the new regulation the Dean also assumes the role of Chief Executive Officer reporting to the Board. The Board accepts the responsibility for establishing policy and monitoring management. The Dean is responsible for carrying forward that policy through agreed plans.
Also included is the creation of a position of Deputy Dean (Vocational Training) to ensure that the importance of vocational education and training within the Institute of Melbourne School of Land and Environment is continually recognised.
The suite of offerings of the Institute of Melbourne School of Land and Environment is the widest offered in Australia and incorporates the ethos that education and training should be made available in the form appropriate for those persons wishing to improve their knowledge base. Accordingly, strong higher education and research activities, including research degrees, are complemented by vocational certificates and diplomas, short courses and outreach activities. Outreach activities include some aspects of what has otherwise been termed extension in agricultural fields, consulting services, community services and support to the professions served by the organisation. The Institute of Melbourne School of Land and Environment similarly links closely with other offerings of the University, accessing them for the benefit of agricultural, food, natural resource management, forestry, horticultural and related education. Important faculties of the University contributing to these sectors include: Education; Economics and Commerce; Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences; Engineering; and Veterinary Science.
With the formation of the Institute of Melbourne School of Land and Environment, it was important to consider an appropriate structure to reflect the future functions of the organisation. These had been determined from a corporate planning process involving stakeholders, staff and others over a period of more than one year. It was therefore logical to propose that departmental structures reflect the strengths which were agreed through the corporate planning process. This represents some shifts in current offerings and structure. The new structure to be introduced in 1998 reduces duplication common in the merging of institutions, accommodates changes in the nature of courses, and highlights critical areas of food and fibre production, including animal and plant sciences, forestry and amenity horticultural industries, natural resource management, dairy foods and agribusiness.
The important regional responsibilities of rural colleges will also be highlighted in the structure while the two-city based colleges will integrate more closely with the main University campus.
The Institute of Melbourne School of Land and Environment was named in recognition of the descriptive inadequacy of the long title of Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Horticulture, and to symbolise the significant shifts in governance arrangements for the new organisation. In considering the services which the organisation would provide, it was clear that these related to the agricultural industries and their strong association with the land for food production as well as natural resource management.
The name of the Institute of Melbourne School of Land and Environment was arrived at after lengthy discussions involving staff, student representatives, persons outside what is now the Institute of Melbourne School of Land and Environment including in the University and elsewhere, industry and others. The Steering Committee formed to oversee the integration of systems of VCAH and the University invited the VCAH Council to suggest some names through it to the University Council. The VCAH Council determined that there were a number of key principles including:
After considering various titles based around functions, popular words and other options, the name, Institute of Melbourne School of Land and Environment, was selected. It was titled an Institute rather than a Faculty in keeping with the advice of the VCAH Council and with the support of the University. The word Land was seen to be important in meeting the requirements for those on the land which, in Australia, has a special meaning wider than the word agriculture. It also embraces the concept of landcare relating as an aspect of natural resource management, as well as implying the whole biota supported by soil and water. Land management similarly was seen to represent an important aspect of the management stream of courses. Land was also seen by foresters and horticulturists as being the uniting resource on which their practices were based. Food was seen to embrace food production, processing and marketing, and to have an appeal beyond rural areas. This was considered important as both small and large food agribusiness companies reside in south-eastern Australia, and urban dwellers increasingly understand the importance of food safety and quality. Food was also seen as one of the primary outputs of land based activities. Resources was included in preference to science as it included a natural resource connotation while also referring to other resources which contribute to food and other products from the land. Resources was seen to embrace both science and management approaches to land and food education and research, and to thereby be an accurate descriptor of the activities of the Institute of Melbourne School of Land and Environment.
With more than 400 staff, nine locations around the State, more than 6,500 ha of land under its management and courses in the informal, vocational and higher education sectors, Land and Food is a major asset of the University of Melbourne and is the largest such entity in Australia. Its corporate objectives are to provide international leadership of relevance to the local industries especially dairying, grains and oil seeds, forest industries, food production horticulture and ornamental horticulture. In so doing, it takes a strong focus on the business of agriculture, forestry, food and horticulture within an integrating and over-arching emphasis on natural resource management and conservation.
