Sydney College of the Arts (SCA)

On the 25 July 1975 the Sydney College of the Arts was established by the New South Wales Minister for Education as a College of Advanced Education. The establishment of the College arose from the Gleeson Report of 1970 and the Crafts in Australia - Australia Council Enquiry, 1973, which recommended that an Art College be established in Sydney. The College was constituted under Section 5 of the Colleges of Advanced Education Act, 1975, No 11 and operated under the NSW Ministry of Education. On the first of January, 1976 the College was given the responsibility for running design courses previously conducted by the Technical and Further Education Commission of New South Wales.

The College was initially allocated temporary premises throughout Sydney; Administration was housed in Walker Street, North Sydney; the Design School studios were at White Bay, Rozelle; and the Visual Arts Studios were based at Smith Street, Balmain. Campuses were later added at Barr Street and Evans Street, Balmain and administration moved to "Monteith", Allen Street, Glebe in 1980.

The Federal Government issued a Green paper outlining changes to higher education policies on the 27 February 1987 and on the 15 April 1987 the Council considered an invitation from the NSW Minister for Education to join the proposed NSW Institute of the Arts. On the 7th of June 1987 the Council resolved to inform the Minister that the College did not wish to join the Institute of the Arts and would explore other options for amalgamation. There were discussions with the major universities in Sydney and the Council resolved to recommend to the Minister for Education that a merger with the University of Sydney was the most preferred option. However, on the 14th of December 1987, the Minister for Education, Rodney Cavalier, announced that the Sydney College of the Arts would be dissolved.

The College was officially dissolved on the 25th of January 1988. The two schools were formally divided. The School of Design was transferred to the governance of the newly created University of Technology and on the 27th of January, the School of Visual Arts became a semi-autonomous component of the NSW Institute of the Arts, retaining the name and aims of the Sydney College of the Arts. The NSW Institute of the Arts had been established by the Minister for Education on the 16th of June 1987 under the Institute of the Arts Act, 1987, No 124. It was formed from the Institute of the Arts of the Sydney College of Advanced Education and National Art School of the New South Wales Department of TAFE (East Sydney TAFE) renamed as the City Art Institute.

As part of the reorganisation of higher education in the late 1980s Sydney College of the Arts became a college of the University under s. 42(1) of the University and University Colleges (Amendment) Act 1989. It was amalgamated with the University of Sydney and on 1 January 1990 becoming an academic college of the University under s.27 of the University of Sydney Act 1989 which repealed the earlier Act.

Under section 7 of the Higher Education Amalgamation Act 1989 the University Senate replaced the NSW Institute of the Arts Board of Governors as the governing body of the College. The College was given status equal to that of a university faculty and the College Academic Board was renamed the Sydney College of the Arts Board.

In 1996 the College moved from its temporary locations to permanent premises in the Rozelle Hospital grounds. The College is now housed in the refurbished Kirkbride buildings.