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The Melbourne School of Land and Environment (MSLE) was a faculty of the University of Melbourne and an important provider of Australian agricultural and rural industry education, the largest of its type in that country, as well as a node for research and teaching on environmental issues more broadly.
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History
The Institute of Land and Food Resources, as it was then known, was officially created on 1 July 1997 as a combination of most of the agricultural, forestry, horticulture and food science higher education sector in Victoria, Australia. Its founding brought together the Victorian College of Agriculture and Horticulture (Dookie, Longerenong, Burnley and Glenormiston Agricultural Colleges, Gilbert Chandler Food Technology College, McMillan Education Centre, the School of Forestry, Creswick) and the University of Melbourne's departments of Agriculture and Forestry.
In 2005, the University divested itself of the Longerenong, Glenormiston and McMillan sites. It also began to outsource much of the training provided at the other sites. Also in 2005, the Institute of Land and Food Resources was renamed to the Faculty of Land and Food Resources.
In 2008, after the introduction of the "Melbourne Model", the Faculty of Land and Food Resources was renamed Melbourne School of Land and Environment, providing "new generation degrees". The most important one for MSLE was the interdisciplinary Bachelor of Environments. MSLE, headed by a new Dean, plant biotechnologist Professor Rick Roush, taught across the animal and agricultural sciences, forestry, and geography and environmental studies. The geography discipline has preciously been in the Faculty of Arts. MSLE also operated a a wide range of postgraduate degrees, some of which it inherited from the Institute of Land and Food Resources, and hosted 350 or more Master of Environment students. This degree is operated by the Office for Environmental Programs (OEP), an interdisciplinary teaching-focused centre.
Closure
The closure of MSLE was controversial. A review of biological science teaching at the University of Melbourne was carried out by an external team in 2013. The Review team went beyond their remit and in a short section of their document suggested more comprehensive change to the teaching of science could be possible, and this was used by the then Provost, Prof Margaret Sheil, as the basis for amendment to the University's structure of 11 faculties. The document never recommended closure of MSLE, but the university management made this their preferred option. The idea was sold on efficiency grounds, but actually it meant cost savings by limiting many administrative and academic posts in MSLE, at a time when the University was dealing with a financial deficit. Other faculties were in favour because they would obtain MSLE's research and staff. By the middle of 2014, it was clear MSLE was to be dissolved. There was a backlash from some rural industries in Australia but the decision was implemented and the Dean, Rick Roush was forced to announce the change to students in March 2014. He later resigned, but became Dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State University.
MSLE was disestablished on the first of January, 2015. Its agriculture and food systems department moved alongside veterinary science to form the Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences (placating the rural industry lobby), while other areas of study, including horticulture, forestry, geography and resource management, moved to the Faculty of Science in two new Departments. Almost all academics were retained, but the professional staff had to apply for positions in other faculties and several were lost to the university.
In 2016, the University also announced suspension of the Bachelor of Environments, the core environmental degree at the university that MSLE had been involved with from the start. As of 2017, the university has no identifiable degrees or academic units teaching and researching environmental issues except the OEP and the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute (MSSI), with specialist research and teaching spread among staff in different units.