Monash University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state of Victoria. The university has a number of campuses, four of which are in Victoria (Clayton, Caulfield, Peninsula, and Parkville), and one in Malaysia. Monash also has a research and teaching Centre in Prato, Italy, a graduate research school in Mumbai, India and a graduate school in Suzhou, China. Monash University courses are also delivered at other locations, including South Africa.
Monash is home to major research facilities, including the Monash Law School, the Australian Synchrotron, the Monash Science Technology Research and Innovation Precinct (STRIP), the Australian Stem Cell Centre, Victorian College of Pharmacy, and 100 research centers and 17 co-operative research centers. In 2016, its total revenue was over $2.2 billion (AUD), with external research income around $282 million. In 2016, Monash enrolled over 50,000 undergraduate and over 22,000 graduate students. It has more applicants than any other university in the state of Victoria.
Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight research universities, a member of the ASAIHL, and is the only Australian member of the M8 Alliance of Academic Health Centers, Universities and National Academies. Monash is one of the Australian universities to be ranked in the École des Mines de Paris (Mines Paris Tech) ranking on the basis of the number of alumni listed among CEOs in the 500 largest worldwide companies. Monash is consistently ranked among the world's top 55-70 universities in the QS World University Rankings.
In recent years, the university has been prominent in medical research. A highlight of this came in 2000, when Alan Trounson led the team of scientists, which announced to the world that nerve stem cells could be derived from embryonic stem cells, a discovery which led to a dramatic increase in interest in the potential of stem cells. It has also led to Monash being ranked in the top 20 universities in the world for biomedicine.