University of Adelaide (1875 engraving) The history of the
University of Adelaide dates back to the Union College established in 1872 to provide education to aspiring
Protestant ministers who were previously required to travel to the
United Kingdom. The college approached
Scottish-born pastoralist Walter Watson Hughes with the proposal for a South Australian university with a request for endowment towards its creation. and
Bonython Hall, its two
great halls, in 1936The University of Adelaide, which is named after its founding city namesake to
Queen Adelaide, was formally established on 6 November 1874 following the passage of its founding legislation through the
South Australian parliament. The parliament also provided a 2 hectare (5 acre) land grant for a campus. Its early benefactors, many of whom
Scottish immigrants, made large donations to develop the university. in 1905 It was founded with the backing of its first benefactor Walter Hughes and
Thomas Elder, also a Scottish-born pastoralist and another founder of the university, who each donated £20,000 towards the association. The university initially occupied the
South Australian Institute Building prior to the construction of the University Building which housed the entire campus at the time. Elder also bequeathed an additional £65,000 in his will following his death in 1897 of which £20,000 were allocated to set up the
Elder Conservatorium of Music. Other donors include
William Mitchell and
Robert Barr Smith, also from
Scotland and early leaders of the university. grant by
Queen Victoria allowed women to study at the
University of Adelaide The institution was the third of its kind on the Australian continent after the Universities of
Sydney and
Melbourne, which then educated solely men. The university, which allowed women to study alongside men since its commencement soon became the second university in the
English-speaking world following the
University of London in 1878 to formally admit women on equal terms as men in 1881. This was following a
royal charter granted by
Queen Victoria that year, which allowed for women to be conferred degrees. This has contributed to
a number of firsts in the history of
women's education in Australia. The university also graduated Australia's first female surgeon
Laura Margaret Fowler in 1891.
Ruby Claudia Davy was the first Australian woman to receive a doctorate in music in 1918. Other notable firsts also include
Winifred Kiek,
Margaret Reid and
Janine Haines. In 1914, the university was also the first to elect a woman,
Helen Mayo, to a university council in Australia. It is also the alma mater of
Roma Mitchell who was Australia's first female judge, the first woman to be a
Queen's Counsel, a chancellor of an Australian university and the
governor of an Australian state. Australia's
first female prime minister Julia Gillard had also studied at the university and the first
Aboriginal Rhodes Scholar Rebecca Richards in 2010. established in 1883 In 1991, it formally opened two additional campuses in Greater Adelaide outside of the city centre. These included the
Waite and
Roseworthy campuses, though the university operated at the Waite site since at least 1924 as the Waite Agricultural Research Institute. Additionally, the university previously operated research facilities across in
Thebarton approximately north of the campus until 2020.
University of South Australia in 1885 The
SA School of Art, the earliest antecedent institution of the
University of South Australia, was established in 1856 at the former
Royal South Australian Society of Arts. The independent art school, which went through many name changes, resided for most of its history at the
Jubilee Exhibition Building which was later transferred to the
University of Adelaide in 1929. It remained on the campus until 1962 when the building was demolished to make way for several university buildings. |alt=This is a 1903 photograph of the Brookman Building, the ancestral home of the University of South Australia, shortly following its construction. The Jubilee Exhibition Building was also the birthplace of the
South Australian Institute of Technology which was established in 1889 as the SA School of Mines and Industries. It moved to the neighbouring Brookman Building in 1903, named after the
Scottish-born businessman
George Brookman who contributed £15,000 towards its construction. The institute maintained strong ties with the neighbouring University of Adelaide that included the co-ordination of teaching, laboratories and examinations across fields of engineering and sciences. Despite the university later establishing its own faculty of engineering in 1937, the reciprocal relationship remained intertwined to the University Council and studies completed at the institute were recognised as equivalent studies eligible for credit towards university courses. The institute later expanded to the regional city of
Whyalla in 1962 and to the Adelaide suburb of
Mawson Lakes in 1972 as
The Levels. The Adelaide Teachers College, which changed names and shifted locations multiple times throughout its existence, was established in 1876. The Hartley Building was built as its permanent home in 1927. The combined institution continued its presence alongside the University of Adelaide with which it maintained joint teaching, facilities and committees. Stronger demand for
advanced college places throughout the country resulted from a broadening appeal of higher education beyond the traditionally elite education provided by the universities.
Advanced colleges were originally designed to complement universities, forming a binary system modelled on that of the
United Kingdom. It was originally created by the
Menzies government following
World War II on the advice of a committee led by physicist
Leslie H. Martin, during a period of high population growth and corresponding demand for secondary and tertiary education. This sector ceased to exist when, between 1989 and 1992, the
Hawke-Keating government implemented the
sweeping reforms of Education Minister
John Dawkins that dismantled the binary system. The states, eager for increased education funding, merged the colleges either with existing universities or with each other to form new universities. Following its expansion and increasing autonomy from the university, the South Australian Institute of Technology was given the option to merge with either TAFE South Australia or the South Australian College of Advanced Education. on the west end|alt=This is a photograph of the Hawke Building, which is the chancellery of the University of South Australia on the west end. The
University of South Australia became the state's third public university, a continuation of the former
South Australian Institute of Technology that merged with most of the SACAE, and maintained their historical presence next to the
University of Adelaide, in the suburbs of
Mawson Lakes and
Magill and in the regional city of
Whyalla. Its expansion over the next few decades, including to sites on the west end of
North Terrace, and broadening fields of studies contributed to its status as the state's largest university by student population. It also became the second-largest university nationally by number of online students, either in the state or from other parts of the country, and expanded to
Mount Gambier in 2005.
Merger progression Adelaide Medical School (left) and
University of South Australia City West (right) In June 2018, the
University of Adelaide and
University of South Australia began discussions regarding the possibility of a merger. The proposition was dubbed a "super uni" by then South Australian premier,
Steven Marshall, and
Simon Birmingham, but the merger was called off in October 2018 by the University of South Australia, which was less keen. Brookman Building adjacent to
Bonython Hall|alt=This is a photograph of the Brookman Building of the University of South Australia through which both universities have had an intertwined history. In early 2022, the topic of a merger was raised again by the new state government led by premier
Peter Malinauskas, which proposed setting up an independent commission to investigate the possibility of a merger between the state's three public universities should they decline. He had made an election promise to take a heavy-handed approach towards the merger to reduce students departing to higher-ranking institutions on the east coast and to improve the state's ability to attract international students and researchers. Following the appointment of merger advocate
Peter Høj as University of Adelaide vice-chancellor, both universities announced that a merger would once again be considered. The invitation to merger negotiations was rejected by
Flinders University, the state's third public university. (right) is set to merge with the
University of South Australia (left) by 1 January 2026|alt=This is a photograph of two neighbouring buildings, each belonging to the University of South Australia and the University of Adelaide respectively. The agreement for the merger was reached on 1 July 2023 by the two universities, which then accounted for approximately two-thirds of the state's public university population, in consultation with the
South Australian Government. The rationale for the amalgamation was a larger institutional scale may be needed in order to increase the universities' ranking positions, ability to secure future research income and a net positive impact on the state economy. The two universities argued that by combining their expertise, resources and finances into a single institution, they can be more financially viable, with stronger teaching and research outcomes. An application for self-accreditation authority was submitted to the
Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) on 15 January 2024, which was needed for the institution to offer courses that issue qualifications. Following approval on 22 May 2024, students starting studies at the pre-merger institutions from 2025 onwards will be issued degree certificates from Adelaide University. Students enrolled on or prior to 2024 will also be able to opt in adding antecedent institutions' names and logos on their parchments. It is projected to have 70,000 students at launch, with one-in-four students being international students, and contribute approximately to the Australian economy annually. The amalgamation has been
subject to mixed reactions. In June 2025,
Nicola Phillips, previously
provost and professor of
political economy at the
University of Melbourne, was announced as
vice-chancellor and president of the new university.
Official opening On 29 January 2026 Premier
Peter Malinauskas unveiled the plaque at the university's official opening, with vice chancellor Nicola Phillips and chancellor
Pauline Carr alongside him. ==Campuses and buildings==