The Victorian College of Agriculture & Horticulture, abbreviated VCAH, was a grouping of the agricultural colleges of the State of Victoria in Australia. Formed in 1983, it was later incorporated as a company limited by guarantee in 1991. It provided a coordinated framework for the five colleges of Burnley, Dookie, Gilbert Chandler, Glenormiston and Longerenong, and the McMillan Rural Studies Centre to form a single institution. Separation from the Victorian Department of Agriculture had been a dream for decades and in becoming a reality created an innovative and flexible institution which enlivened Victorian agricultural education, creating real competition with the two university providers (University of Melbourne and Latrobe University).
In 1997, the College merged with similar departments at the University of Melbourne to form that university's Institute of land and food resources (later Faculty of Land and Food Resources).
In a hostile funding period, VCAH proved an essential component to the preservation of practically oriented education for the primary industries sector. A thorn in the side of other institutions, it provided the reminder of the need for relevance and the strength of industry as a partner. Such resilience should not have surprised the universities or the Department of Agriculture, for it was an institution conceived in conflict and born strong after a difficult birth.
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