Oxford and Australia
Australia is a source of great talent for Oxford, providing both high-quality students and distinguished academic staff. It is also a country with which the University collaborates academically on a range of projects in law, chemistry, physics and medicine, in fields as diverse as neuroscience, astrophysics and sustainable chemistry.
Particularly popular programmes with Australian graduate students are in the areas of: Law, Business and Finance, Geography and the Environment, and Classical Languages and Literature.
Popular Programmes
Law
Business and Finance
Geography and the Environment
Classical Languages and Literature
There are 270 Australian graduates currently studying at Oxford, making Australian students the sixth largest group of graduate students at Oxford.
Many of Oxford’s 127 Australian academics are teaching and research staff; a number of which came to the UK to study and have stayed in Oxford as academics. Oxford’s Australian academics and scientists are active in all of the University’s divisions and are pioneering cutting-edge research using Oxford’s world-class facilities. Current Oxford academics from Australia include Professor Peter Donnelly, Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics and Professor of Statistical Science, and Dr Stephen Hicks, a researcher in Clinical Neurology at Oxford.
Rhodes and Australia
The first Australian Rhodes Scholars took up residence in Oxford in 1904, and since then, many hundreds of Australians have been awarded this prestigious scholarship. Scholars have pursued a variety of careers in public service, academia, business, law, and medicine, amongst others. Many have achieved notable distinction, including:
- Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke
- Former Governor-General Sir Zelman Cowen
- Opposition Leaders Kim Beazley (now Australian Ambassador to the US), Malcolm Turnbull, and Tony Abbott
- Nobel Prize winners Sir John Eccles and Lord (Howard) Florey
- Pioneer in evidence-based medicine Anna Donald
- Justices Hayne and Heydon of the High Court of Australia
- Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth of the Supreme Court of Victoria
Main photograph by Joseph Caruana, DPhil Astrophysics (Christ Church College)