The University of New South Wales is a university in Sydney, Australia. It is composed of several campuses; the central campus being located in Kensington just South-East of the Sydney CBD.
UNSW was founded in 1949 as the "New South Wales University of Technology". Initially concentrating on engineering and science, it changed its name to the University of New South Wales in 1958, and adopted a wider offering of studies. The University now has ten Faculties; Arts and Social Sciences, Built Environment, the College of Fine Arts, Commerce and Economics, Engineering, Law, Medicine and Science. Additionally, UNSW also administers the tertiary education component of the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) and, in conjunction with the The University of Sydney operates a business school, the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM).
UNSW currently has approximately 40,000 students studying in 600 undergraduate and postgraduate academic programs. Over 5,000 full-time staff work in it's 76 schools, 69 research centres, 6 institutes, 4 teaching hospitals, 8 residential colleges and many administrative departments.
UNSW is well known for it's engagement with primary and secondary education, administering several national and international academic competitions for school age children. These include, among others, the Australian Schools Science Competition and the Australasian Schools Mathematics Assessment, in which many thousands of students in the Australasian area, the Pacific and South Africa participate each year. UNSW, through the Gifted Education Research Resource and Information Centre (GERRIC), also administers the Australian Primary Talent Search (APTS) test to explore and assess the abilities of gifted children.
UNSW is a member of the Group of Eight Australian "sandstone" universities, including it's cross-town rival, the University of Sydney. In terms of it's academic work in teaching and research, UNSW is considered one of the better universities in Australia and in the Asia-Pacific region.
UNSW's current Vice-Chancelor is Professor Rory Hume.
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