The Student Precinct Project is central to delivering the University’s ambition for a world-class campus-based student experience. The Project presents a co-located solution that will bring together the services, infrastructure and amenity of the University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU) including UMSU International, the Graduate Student Association (GSA) and key services offered by Academic Services. It will emphasise student engagement, social inclusion and diversity, and will actively deliver the University’s vision for campus spaces and places to work as living laboratories.

Students have told us that the defining element that improves their sense of satisfaction, wellbeing and overall experience is a sense of genuine connection. Their definition of connection is made up of the experiences which enable and facilitate an integrated experience, bringing together learning, living, academic growth and development.

The Vision for student experience which will be delivered through the Precinct is one of easily-accessible services, an environment that supports individual and group learning, a landscape that speaks to our complex and multiple histories, and a focus on engaged communities through arts, culture and music. Importantly, it will give students ‘permission to play’: to engage in extra and co-curricular opportunities that enable learning and creative growth that supports their future careers.

It includes an activated campus environment for student communities to come together around shared experience. Locating creativity at the centre of this community-building agenda, the arts and cultural programming of the Precinct will provide the conditions necessary for social and cultural inclusion and to build a safe student environment including diverse creative place-based practice, performance and events. Acting as a central hub, the Precinct will also support student experience activities to be extended to other parts of the campus and scaled to the University’s other campuses.

In addition to spaces and places, the site will provide the conditions for students to create their own path through the many opportunities that the University provides outside the classroom. A place where students and academics meet as equals, the site will embody a philosophy of inclusion that encourages and enables interaction at all levels and of all groups.

The site is located on the corner of Grattan and Swanston Street, and is defined by Monash Road to the north and the Melbourne School of Engineering Precinct to the west.

The site is at the centre of the University's traditional and new student accommodation hubs, making it an ideal location for our 60,000 students to connect. It will also neighbour the University's innovation precinct, Melbourne Connect, and is conveniently located close to public transport links, including the new Melbourne Metro Rail station on Grattan Street.

To learn more about the Precinct's location, follow this link.

The Student Precinct Project has been designed with students at the heart of its thinking. It will deliver the co-location of students services, convenient access to public transport, new Arts and Cultural facilities, increased study space and outdoor space, and will deliver on several key University of Melbourne Strategies.

To learn more follow this link.

The Student Precinct Project will deliver on a range of University-wide commitments and contribute to the University’s broader campus strategy development. The Project’s objectives are situated within the broad ambition of Growing Esteem 2015 – 2020 and the University's new strategy, Advancing Melbourne, to deliver a quality campus-based student experience.

Through ongoing collaboration with the University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU), Murrup Barak, Graduate Student Association (GSA), in addition to student representatives across campus, the University is committed to co-creating a space that will accommodate the changing necessities of an evolving student population. This will be ensured by co-locating essential student amenities, providing vibrant arts and cultural programming and significantly enhancing the student experience in the new heart of the Parkville Campus.

The Student Precinct Project was designed by a consortium of architects led by Lyons Architecture. Each team was responsible for a different aspect of the design, bringing an eclectic and inventive approach to the whole of Precinct design.

Learn more about our design team and the design and development of the project.

The majority of the Precinct construction is scheduled for completion by late 2022.

See the latest construction updates.

The Project is committed to co-creating the site with students as partners, the approach driven by design thinking methodology. Co-creation requires a commitment from both parties to engage in a real partnership to ensure mutually beneficial outcomes and benefits are achieved. The co-creation of the Project will enable students to be part of the governance, design and activation of the space, and to be consulted throughout the life of the Project to ensure their views inform decision-making, governance and the overall design. Since its inception, the project team have conducted multiple co-creation activities and events, engaging over 15,600 students to date.

The Student Precinct Project comprises three key decision making and advisory bodies: the Steering Committee, Project Control Groups, and various student advisory groups throughout the project's life cycle.

To learn more about the role of each group and to view the list of members, follow this link.

As a signature project of the University’s Reconciliation Action Plan, the Project aims to achieve deep cultural engagement by celebrating the multi-faceted aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. In order to facilitate meaningful connections with first nations cultures, it is paramount that the completed spaces provide cultural safety for Indigenous students and staff, and disseminates cultural knowledge with the permission and guidance of relevant communities and leaders . On-site, these aims will be realised through initiatives including indigenous-led place-based cultural expressions and interpretive signing which emphasises the centrality of traditional owners’ stories to the land which the Project is built on.

The Project's co-creation research has demonstrated that students regard climate change and sustainability as highly important issues. To address these concerns and meet the University’s sustainability targets, all buildings on the site will receive a 5 or 6 Green Star Rating from the Green Building Council of Australia. This means that these buildings are adopting industry best-practice protocols which reach an Australian (5 star) or global (6 star) standard of excellence. In addition to these certifications, Kane Constructions, the project builder, are implementing a variety of sustainable initiatives on-site designed to minimise waste. To learn more about these initiatives, follow this link.