The verdant universities are an informal group of Australian universities. They comprised universities founded in the 1960s and 70s and are sometimes called 'gumtree' universities. These universities were established in their state capitals, often next to native bush land (now nature reserves), and have lush vegetative campuses - which the naming 'verdant' refers to.
They are predominantly the second or third established university in their state; the only exception is Macquarie, which is the third university is Sydney, but the fourth university in New South Wales. It follows the University of Sydney (1850), University of New South Wales (1949) and University of New England (1954).
La Trobe University is unique among the verdant universities in that it owns a 28-hectare wildlife sanctuary as well as managing the Gresswell Hill Nature Conservation Reserve, situated north of the Melbourne campus.
The verdant universities were part of a broader effort to expand and reform tertiary education in Australia based on similar UK reforms that led to the creation of Plate glass university. All of these universities went on to form Innovative Research Universities in 2003.
Potential verdants
While these five are considered the "main verdants" as they have the most in common, there are other universities that have been labelled as a verdant or gumtree university. These include: