The best universities in the world are residential universities

At the 2008 National Association of Australian University Colleges Conference, Professor Don Markwell, Deputy Vice Chancellor of The University of Western Australia highlighted that “the leading universities of the United States and Britain- universities such as Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Oxford and Cambridge- are residential universities”.

Professor Markwell then referred to a resurgence in residential colleges internationally as part of a renewed focus on the quality of undergraduate education over the last decade or so.

Professor Markwell’s comments however stand in contrast to some trends, particularly in Australia of outsourcing all or some of university housing.

The removal of “non core” business has lead in part to the erosion of something that was at the heart of the original concept of a university- a community of scholarship. Communities of residential scholars however must be recognised as “core business” of a university.

At the University of Wollongong, as at other universities, students who live in residence perform better academically and have higher retention rates at the university. Moreover, in terms of student experience, for those who live in residence, memory of university is fully coloured by the residential experience. University alumni often identify as strongly with the university residence/colleges as strongly as they do with the Faculty, discipline or University as a whole.

A further important role of modern university residences is the cultural adjustment and intercultural skills gained by people from diverse nations living in close proximity.

It is not just employers that want graduates with the ability to operate in multicultural contexts, the world’s most significant social, economic and environmental problems are international in nature. The health of international universities can be gauged in part by the number and health of their residential communities.

I concur with Professor Markwell, the best universities in the world are residential universities.

Last reviewed: 15 September, 2008