| As the centenary of the medical school approached in 1962, considerable expansion was taking place in tertiary education in Australia. In terms of total student numbers, the State Government had requested that the University of Melbourne consider expansion to 18,000 students by 1969. The establishment of a second medical school in Melbourne, at Monash University in 1960, with the transfer of the use of Alfred Hospital and Prince Henry's Hospital as teaching hospitals to Monash, produced serious overloading of the teaching facilities at the Royal Melbourne and St Vincent's Hospitals that remained with the University of Melbourne. With a shortage of doctors in Victoria, the Victorian government was keen on establishing a third medical school, however, the dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Professor Sydney Sunderland, managed to convince the Premier, Sir Henry Bolte, to instead expand medicine at the University of Melbourne. The aim was to increase first year student numbers from a quota of 180 in 1963 to 240 by 1966-1967. Sunderland was instrumental in the expansion of the Medical Faculty during his eighteen years as Dean. The increased number of students in the Faculty of Medicine resulted in an expansion in both academic and non-academic staff, with staff numbers growing from 69 to 87 and £290,000 extra needed for salaries (circa 1963). During Sunderland's 18 year period as Dean, the number of professors was increased from 6 to 24, mainly in the clinical departments, and a Clinical Sciences Block was built in each teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Melbourne. The Austin Hospital became an important addition to the teaching hospitals of the Medical School of the University of Melbourne. Sunderland was also an influential member of the Australian Universities Commission (AUC): they provided significant grants to enable the faculty's expansion, with £30,000 of funds in 1965 and £130,000 in 1966. The AUC also provided £3,463,000 for building works for 1967-1969, with the result that a new medical building was constructed to cope with the influx of so many additional students. Work on the "Triradiate" building on Grattan and Elizabeth Streets commenced in 1965 with completion in 1967, along with the Brownless Medical Library. In addition to the AUC funds, on 21 December 1966, Melbourne University's Council committed $1.5 million in funds to assist with the Medical Faculty's expansion. The records in this series include the following types of documents, as relevant to the Medical Faculty's expansion: Memos and correspondence from / to the Vice-Principal and the Heads of Medical Departments / Professors; Tables, calculations, estimates, departmental costs and projections regarding increasing salaries and positions; Summary of Costs, Increased Academic Staff; Salaries for Non-Academic staff; Salary projections and submissions to AUC; Tables, calculations and projections regarding increasing student numbers; Extracts from minutes, Medical Faculty Expansion Vote; Transcripts of discussions; Overtime allocations; Discussions on the implications on other Faculties due to Medical expansion, e.g. Science; Expansion of Medical Faculty Enrolments, Austin Hospital; Staffing of the Medical Library etc. etc. |