The Committee of Convocation of The University of Melbourne

The Committee meet every two months and these meetings have been held at Graduate House for the last few years. One feature of the Committee meetings for at least the last 60 years (and this practice still continues) is its guest speakers who are usually academic staff of the University whose topics are about their teaching, research and community service activities. The Committee is unfailingly impressed by their dedication to their role in the University and is looking at ways to make these guest speakers’ talks more widely available to graduates. Another feature of the Committee meetings (for at least 60 years) has been that most members stay for dinner afterwards, originally at University House but now at Graduate House, which they find most enjoyable for the informal discussion and as a social gathering.

Whilst the Committee of Convocation can no longer claim to be representative of graduates, it does from time to time make respectful representations to the University and the government on issues which it thinks are important.

The term ‘convocation’ means any gathering of people, but in academia it usually means a gathering of academics or graduates having some role in university governance or a graduation ceremony.

A quick Google search shows that The University of Western Australia and The University of New England have a formal convocation, and that universities in the United States, Canada and India, for example, also have formal convocations. In some universities the term is applied to graduation ceremonies. For example, the web site of Arcadia University in Canada (https://convocation.acadiau.ca/ history.html) states :

Convocation reaches back to the earliest days of university history when scholars and masters were summoned together for a legislative or deliberative assembly. The granting of degrees is an honour bestowed by the assembled university on those whom it wishes to distinguish for a variety of reasons.

Oxford has a Convocation House, where the annual Vice-Chancellor's Oration is usually delivered.

At The University of Melbourne, the present Committee of Convocation has its origins in the University Senate, constituted by the University

Act 1853 which established ‘An University consisting of a Council and Senate...’. That Senate consisted of all graduates who first met in 1867 when they first numbered 100. From that date, the Senate had to approve every new amended or repealed statute or regulation made by the University Council. The Senate also appointed the members of the University Council.

The University Act 1881 changed the membership of the Senate to just male persons with Masters or Doctors degrees, and reiterated that members of the Council were to be appointed by the Senate.

The University Act 1913 removed the requirement that members of the Senate be male persons.

The University Act 1923 stated that ‘The University of Melbourne shall consist of a council and convocation’.

The number of members of the University Council was increased to a maximum of 36, of which 10 were to be appointed by convocation. It also explicitly stated that ‘Convocation shall consist of all graduates’, and established a ‘Standing Committee of Convocation” of not less than 40 persons who are members of Convocation, and was to meet at least annually. Hence the Senate ceased to exist.

The University of Melbourne Act 2009 stated that the University consisted of essentially the Council, the staff, the graduates, the students, some staff members of affiliated colleges, and Emeritus Professors. It did not mention convocation or the Standing Committee of Convocation. This meant that the Committee of Convocation ceased to have any role in University governance.

However, the Committee of Convocation is still recognised as a graduate association, operating quite independently of the University, and its members retain their deep interest in, is concern for, and desire to contribute to the University, arising from their appreciation for what the University has done for them. They regard their time at the University as a privilege rather than as a right, and perhaps have a somewhat old-fashioned idea of how the University should be serving the Victorian community.