Founded in 1850, the University of Sydney is Australia’s first university and its leading research institution. It is one of the largest universities in Australia with around 47,000 students, including nearly 10,000 international students from more than 100 different countries. The University has a global reputation for high-quality teaching and is consistently ranked among the top universities in the Asia-Pacific. It is a member of the Group of Eight (made up of Australia’s major research universities) and is one of only two Australian members of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) – a prestigious group of universities with members from Asia, the US and the Americas.

The University was recently ranked number 36 in the world in the annual World University Rankings from The Times Higher Education Supplement in the UK.

Eight reasons why students choose to study at Sydney…

• Quality. The University is renowned for the high standard of its teaching. Courses combine essential theory with the latest practice, producing students with a richer understanding of their chosen subjects. It also has an exceptional staff/student ratio.
• Success. Sydney graduates are much sought after by employers and attract top starting salaries. Famous alumni include five Australian prime ministers, three Nobel Prize winners and a host of international leaders in arts, politics and business.
• Resources. Sydney’s academic and teaching resources are outstanding. They include the largest university library in Australia and state-of-the-art technical, computing and research facilities.
• Choice. With 16 faculties, there’s something for everybody at Sydney. Exciting new degrees in human rights, sustainability, brain and mind sciences, and political economy are just a sample of what’s on offer.
• Support. A full range of services are provided to support international students during their time at the University, from initial application through to graduation and beyond.
• Location. The main campus is ten minutes from the centre of the city and twenty minutes from stunning beaches. The historic buildings and spacious lawns on campus create an atmosphere conducive to learning.
• Lifestyle. Recreational and sports facilities are second to none. Being based in Sydney means students have direct access to Australia’s commercial capital, its most internationally connected city and the country’s top destination for international tourists.
• Clubs and societies. University clubs cover a wide range of interests, both sporting and social, from archery to snow boarding and from meditation to politics.

FOCUS: Research at Sydney – The Greater Angkor Project (GAP)

The great temple complex of Angkor Wat in Cambodia is a magnet for tourists from all over the world. Its past, however, has long puzzled archaeologists.

At its height, the kingdom of Angkor ruled most of modern-day Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Laos and Vietnam. Between the 9th and 16th centuries, it instigated a vast building programme. The most famous surviving example is the temple complex.

But why did such a powerful civilization collapse? The GAP project, based at the University of Sydney, may have solved the mystery. Using remote-sensing radar data from NASA and aerial surveys, the GAP team gradually compiled a detailed map which shows that Angkor was once the largest pre-industrial urban settlement in the world, stretching over 1,000sq km and home to some 750,000 people. It was the size of modern-day Los Angeles.

Supporting such a huge city required incredible feats of civil engineering from the Angkor people. According to University of Sydney archaeologist Damien Evans, Angkor became an artificial landscape, stripped of forest cover and completely remodelled – to the extent of moving entire rivers. It was also totally dependent on an elaborate irrigation scheme.

GAP’s findings suggest that the kingdom was brought down by the ecological consequences of altering the landscape on such a dramatic scale. Researchers believe problems with Angkor’s vast, complex water system, compounded by a series of droughts and flooding, eventually caused the kingdom’s downfall.

It may be investigating the fall of a civilization over 500 years ago, but GAP’s findings have important messages for climate change today.

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