The university also operates campuses in Central Coast, Singapore, Newcastle City in the Hunter as well as Sydney.

According to unverified sources, official autonomy was marked on 1 January 1965 with a "symbolic ceremonial bonfire held at the site of the Great Hall".

[12] This celebration is said to have been officiated by Professor Godfrey Tanner who is said to have poured wine libations onto the ground as to "sanctify the land upon which the University rests".

The Hunter Institute was located in a series of buildings on land immediately adjacent to the University at Callaghan and amalgamation expanded the campus to some 140 hectares.

Under the reforms, the university also gained the Newcastle branch of the NSW Conservatorium of Music located in the city's central business district.

In 2002, Ian Firms, a lecturer, failed a large number of student papers from Wira for academic dishonesty, but his actions were reversed by the Newcastle administration and he was discharged.

He then appealed to the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption, which made a finding of corruption against Dr. Paul Ryder, a failure by Vice Chancellor Roger Holmes in the execution of his duty and recommended disciplining the deputy vice chancellor, Professor Brian English.

[24] On 30 July 2015, Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete was the first head of state to be awarded an honorary degree (Doctor of Laws) by the university.

[25] The university offers online, face-to-face, or a mix of the two, with campuses at Callaghan, Ourimbah, Port Macquarie, Singapore and Sydney CBD.

[26] The land is traditionally owned by the Pambalong clan of the Awabakal people,[27] a connection which has been developed by the university and is seen as a selling point for academics.

[32] The Bachelor of Commerce program offered by Newcastle Business School via the Ourimbah campus is accredited by AACSB International.

The University of Newcastle Sydney CBD campus provides a number of postgraduate degree programs from the Faculty of Business and Law and the English Language and Foundation Studies Centre.

[34] The postgraduate programs offered by Newcastle Business School via the Sydney CBD campus are accredited by AACSB International.

University House is a landmark Art Deco sandstone building directly opposite Civic Park.

In mid-2017 NUspace (X) opened to staff and students on the corner of Auckland and Hunter Streets, accommodating the Faculty of Business and Law and the School of Creative Industries.

From 2001 to 2018, GradSchool was responsible for online learning, offering graduate students from around the world convenient access to more than 60 postgraduate qualifications delivered by the University of Newcastle.

Since 2018, postgraduate degrees are now delivered directly by the University of Newcastle through their Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), known as UONline (including Blackboard),[37] as well as through face-to-face teaching.

[63][64] The centre was opened in March 2021, with the inaugural John Maynard Aboriginal history lecture given by Larissa Behrendt.

The largest of these is the Auchmuty library on the Callaghan campus, which holds a significant traditional collection, including rare books and archives.

Auchmuty holds a broad collection supporting a number of schools, including education, nursing, and fine arts.

[66] In recent years the library has created interdisciplinary learning environments such as a Micro Studio for multimedia production[67] and a Maker Space to engage students in creative problem solving.

[69] The School of Humanities and Social Science, within the faculty of Education and Arts published the Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies (JIGS) from 1996 to 2007.

[90] The Australian Government's QILT[b] conducts national surveys documenting the student life cycle from enrolment through to employment.

[91] These surveys place more emphasis on criteria such as student experience, graduate outcomes and employer satisfaction[91] than perceived reputation, research output and citation counts.

Yak TV is produced by a student media production team and reports on upcoming university events, gigs and services.

[106] The university works with partners including CRCC Asia and The Intern Group to arrange internship placements outside of Australia for its students.