Key 9: Matriculation

Formal enrolment at the University of Melbourne began with a student’s signing the University Matriculation Roll Book and thereby agreeing to obey the statutes and rules of the University. Although in the mid 1850s students at universities in Great Britain were not universally required to have passed some form of qualifying examination, the founders of the University of Melbourne, especially those who had experience of Irish and Scottish Universities, decided to make it a requirement for admission for the purpose of taking out a BA degree. The ‘chief object’ of the Matriculation examination was ‘to ascertain that each student is possessed of a sufficient amount of preliminary knowledge to enable him to attend with advantage to himself the University lectures’. It would also serve to set curriculum guidelines for schools preparing students to attend the university.