[3] The university offered traditional programs, including business, information technology, building and construction, engineering, mining, education, social sciences, nursing, hospitality, and art.

[1] In 1970, Founders Theatre was built at the Mt Helen campus after an appeal was made to commemorate the opening of the school 100 years earlier.

[5][6] Redmond Barry was its first president,[7] and he was involved in the creation of university degree level courses for the school.

The Federal Government was lobbied and responded by sending three Vice-Chancellors (one of them, incidentally, being from the University of New England) to Ballarat to consider the matter.

[1][10] In 1998, the Ballarat School of Mines and Industries (1870) and the Horsham-based Wimmera Institute of TAFE merged into the university, expanding its curriculum.

[5] The Ballarat had five campuses, and it offered traditional university programs, including business, information technology, building and construction, engineering, mining, education, social sciences, nursing, hospitality, and art.

[citation needed] The school achieved a 5-star rating for teaching quality in the 2013 and 2014 edition of The Good Universities Guide.

[14][15] The name change was made as the result of the passage of the amended University of Ballarat Act 2010 bill through the state's parliament.

It also wanted to reflect its intention to continue offering education to domestic and international students.

Students who were enrolled at the time of the merger and name change were allowed to choose the name of the institution shown on their graduation documents.