The Australian University of Theology (AUT), formerly known as the Australian College of Theology (ACT), is a collegiate theological university based in Sydney, New South Wales. The university grants degrees in ministry and theology. It is one of two major consortia of theological colleges in Australia, alongside the University of Divinity. Over 23,000 people have graduated since the foundation of the institution. On 7 October 2022, it was granted university college status by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency and on 20 December 2024, TEQSA confirmed a decision to register the college as a university.
The current vice-chancellor is James Dalziel, and the deputy vice-chancellor (research) is Edwina Murphy.
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History
The organisation was established by the 1891 general synod of the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania. It was founded in order to provide for the "systematic study of divinity", especially among clergy and ordination candidates, there being no realistic opportunities for them to earn a Bachelor of Divinity (BD) degree at English universities and Australian universities refusing to offer theological education.
The AUT is a national consortium of affiliated colleges with 16 theological and Bible colleges approved to deliver its accredited courses. Around 2,500 individual active students and research candidates, are enrolled in courses each year.
The organisation became a higher education provider (HEP) under the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (Cth).
As of September 2007, the organisation is a company limited by guarantee.
In addition, as a HEP under the Higher Education Support Act, the organisation was required to undergo a quality audit conducted by the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA). In November 2006, the college was the first non-self-accrediting HEP to be audited. The AUQA audit report was completed in January 2007 and publicly released on the AUQA website in February 2007. The process was repeated in 2011 and the college underwent a Cycle 2 quality audit by AUQA. The report of the audit was publicly released on the website of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) in March 2012.
In 2010, the organisation received self-accrediting authority meaning it could accredit its own courses in theology and ministry within the scope of the self-accrediting authority specified by the Department of Education and Training in New South Wales. In 2016, ACT applied to become an Australian University of Specialisation which was refused by TEQSA. ACT appealed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) on 9 July 2021. During the appeal process, on 7 October 2022, TEQSA granted ACT university college status. In October 2024, the tribunal decision was that ACT met the requirements for registration as an Australian university, and the TEQSA Commission "confirmed the decision to register the Australian College of Theology in the Australian University category on 20 December 2024". Based on updates to its constitution in early 2025, it was renamed as Australian University of Theology. David Hurley became the inaugural chancellor.
Courses
The courses of the university are accredited by the Australian University of Theology, under approval as a self-accrediting provider.
List of heads
There have been nine heads of the institution, who were firstly known as the Registrar, then as the Dean, and now the Vice-Chancellor since 2025. The title of Registrar has been used since 2017 for a staff role (held by Simon Davies since 2017) but this is not a head of instituition position. Heads of the institution include: