Swinburne has a strong reputation in Australia and abroad as a provider of career-oriented education, and as a university committed to innovative research.

With a strong technology base and tight links to industry, Swinburne is complemented by innovative, internationally-recognised specialist research centres.

Many Swinburne undergraduate courses include applied vocational emphasis and direct practical application through Industry Based Learning (IBL) programs.

Swinburne was a pioneer of IBL, a program which places students directly in industry as an integral part of the course structure.

Swinburne is one of a few Australian universities whose responsibilities span programs ranging from apprenticeships to PhDs. In keeping with the sheer breadth of this involvement, the University plays a leading role in creating new ways to integrate the different parts of the education sector.

To give students greater flexibility in their tertiary studies, study pathways between sectors and courses are well in place. Such pathways include moving from either the TAFE sector into Higher Education or from TAFE-based VCE studies into full TAFE courses. Others even enable students to move from degree courses into TAFE studies.

Teaching and learning enhancement is a strategic priority for the University and Swinburne is committed to the transfer of life-long learning skills, and offers course structures which enable students to choose the time, pace, place and mode of learning which best suits their talents, circumstances and goals. As part of its commitment to flexibility in learning, Swinburne is a proud sponsor of Open Universities Australia and a supplier of content to our programs.

Swinburne was founded to provide broad educational opportunities to residents of Melbourne's eastern suburbs in 1908, and now occupies six Melbourne campuses: Croydon, Hawthorn, Healesville, Lilydale, Prahran and Wantirna.

While mindful of its regional responsibilities, Swinburne also plays a significant part in the internationalisation of Autralia's tertiary education system and has a campus in Kuching, Sarawak (East Malaysia). Swinburne's Melbourne campuses also host over 4,500 international students each year.

Swinburne is certainly one of the most respected Australian universities, best known for its single-minded insistence on 'education that works'.