Ormond's "Working Men's College"
During his first four trips to Europe, Ormond visited a number of technical colleges, to examined their methods and practices. He set out to apply the best of these methods and practices to a model for a similar college in Victoria. One result of this was his conviction that a working men's college would serve a very useful purpose, and he intimated that if the government would provide a site he would give £5000 towards the building. He met with no encouragement, and the scheme was temporarily dropped.
In May the question of a Working Men's College was revived. He again offered £5000 and, after some preliminary difficulties had been disposed of, the college was at last opened in June 1887. There were 320 students on the opening night, within 12 months the number had risen to over 1000. The number of students reached nearly 10,000 in 1938. Later known as the Royal Melbourne Technical College and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, it's known today as RMIT University and is one of Australia's largest and leading universities.
Read more about this topic: Francis Ormond
Famous quotes containing the words working, men and/or college:
“I tell you the solemn truth that the doctrine of the Trinity is not so difficult to accept for a working proposition as any one of the axioms of physics.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (18381918)
“The traveller who has gone to Italy to study the tactile values of Giotto, or the corruption of the Papacy, may return remembering nothing but the blue sky and the men and women who live under it.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)
“No girl who is going to marry need bother to win a college degree; she just naturally becomes a Master of Arts and a Doctor of Philosophy after catering to an ordinary man for a few years.”
—Helen Rowland (18751950)