UoW’s vice chancellor will leave in June 21 after ten years in the job

Professor Wellings took over with the university in good-shape but needing to diversify its revenue base – the population of the Illawarra region it serves is growing slowly and is ageing (CMM April 22 2016).

So, he diversified it, adding colleges in Hong Kong, Penang and Kuala Lumpur to the 30-year old Dubai campus. Plus, there is now an expanding campus at Liverpool in southwest Sydney. There is also $50m over eight years from the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation to fund an undergraduate degree.

Wellings is also now perhaps the most policy-influential university leader in the country, appointed by Education Minister Dan Tehan to lead the working party which created the new undergraduate growth places model.

Before taking over Wellings told The Australian (April 26 2011) he wanted UoW to rank as one of the world’s top 200 universities and he nearly made it. Uni Wollongong is in the 201-250 bracket of the Times Higher Education institution ranking, =212 on QS, ranked in the 201-300 tier by the Academic Ranking of World Universities and 362 on the CWTS Leiden rank (scientific impact).