Uni status pioneers

Alumnus honours those who “helped us come this far”

I’ve been fortunate to play a small part in the seemingly elusive effort to gain academic recognition for the institution that began as the Avondale School for Christian Workers in 1897.

As a teenager in the late 1940s, family and friends discouraged me from studying at the then Australasian Missionary College. Their reason: any academic award from Avondale would not be recognised outside the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Things began to change with the appointment of Dr William Murdoch as principal in 1947. With a PhD in Semitic languages from London University, he revived a pre-World War II plan for external recognition of Avondale’s awards. As an interim move, he promoted a new venture in which Avondale students would register for London’s external Bachelor of Science. Three students, Eric Magnusson, Ken Thomson and me (pictured, left to right), were the first to do so. Our graduation in the mid-1950s demonstrated that this small, isolated and insignificant educational institution could achieve quality tertiary standards.

Little came of this achievement until the 1960s. The three of us, now with PhDs in science from Australian universities, were called by principal Dr Gordon McDowell to form a Science Department that would again offer access to London’s external degree but now with on-site lectures and laboratory facilities. Over the next 12 years, more than 50 students completed the degree, many with honours. Several later graduated with PhDs from Australian universities.

At about the same time, Avondale offered bachelor degrees in education and theology through an affiliation with Pacific Union College in California, but these were recognised only in the United States for progress to higher degrees.

Then came a major change to the tertiary education sector in Australia. The so-called Martin Report commissioned by the Australian Government in 1964 recommended breaking up the monopoly of universities and promoting Teachers and Technical Colleges to full tertiary autonomy with the authority to award bachelor degrees. These new institutions were to be known as Colleges of Advanced Education (CAE). Avondale could not become a CAE and receive government funding but some of its courses were recognised, under strict external academic scrutiny, as courses of advanced education. These courses received a National Registration Certificate, making them indistinguishable from degree courses offered in other recognised institutions. Avondale issued its graduates testamurs with this registration. The registration also meant students could apply for financial support under the Australian government CAE scholarship scheme.

The scrutiny of Avondale’s courses included enlisting qualified people from appropriate disciplines in established universities to assess: entry requirements; content; qualifications of lecturers; examination papers; marking procedures, and; the results of student examinations in each subject area. The advice received from these academics accelerated the necessary lift in education standards at Avondale.

The announcement on July 1, 2021, of Avondale’s registration as an Australian university is an opportunity to honour the people whose efforts have helped us come this far. I think of my two friends and colleagues, Eric and Ken, who didn’t live to see this day. It’s a privilege to have been with them and the many others who, over more than 70 years and under God’s providential leading, “made it happen.”