STATEMENT FROM CEO PROFESSOR SIMON HAINES
Sydney, Tuesday 07 July 2020: As part of a philanthropic gift to the Humanities, the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation has signed an agreement with Australian Catholic University (ACU) to fund a new BA degree in Western Civilisation and related scholarships, beginning in 2021.
This follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with ACU in February.
Worth upwards of $50 million over 8 years, the Philanthropic Agreement will enable ACU to offer at least 150 undergraduate scholarships and hire world-class educators to teach its western civilisation program.
This is the third university partnership for the Centre, following its partnership agreements with the University of Wollongong and the University of Queensland, which both welcomed students into their programs this year.
We are delighted to be partnering with ACU, which is ranked 12th in the humanities in Australia, and is highly regarded for both its student experience and ‘commitment to creating a supportive personalised learning environment.’ This is an extremely good fit for the Ramsay Centre which seeks to give students the opportunity to study the great texts of western civilisation in small group settings.
ACU has said the newly created degree will cover a structured and integrated humanities curriculum from antiquity to the present and include an optional honours year.
Students will draw on diverse, multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives to contextualise, critique and debate the themes, issues and ideas presented in the great books of the Western canon, to discuss their origins and lasting significance.
At this critical time for the Humanities we are excited about the wonderful opportunity for both students and teachers that this partnership presents.
The partnership is made possible through the extraordinary generosity of the late Paul Ramsay AO, founder of Ramsay Health Care.
Students interested in learning more about western civilisation study at ACU and the ACU Ramsay scholarships can find more information at acu.edu.au/western-civilisation
Media contact: Sarah Switzer 0407 816 098 / sarah.switzer@ramsaycentre.org
For more information on the centre please visit our website: www.ramsaycentre.org