Secondly, the rationale related to the adjacent location of the VCA campus to the National Gallery of Victoria and the Victorian Arts Centre.

It represents a simple, readily achievable and highly effective means of creating a substantial milieu of continuous professional activity of the highest standards.

[14] With the university requiring the VCA to introduce its Melbourne Model course structure,[15] necessitating a reduction in the amount of hands-on arts training that students receive, critics feared that future students might be unable to find employment upon graduation.

[17] Students were also fearful a reduction in the quality of education and programs on offer whilst the school remained under the University of Melbourne.

Supported chiefly by the Victorian Government and the University of Melbourne, the initiative aimed to both "ensure that the VCA maintains its high standards in arts training and research" and "open up the campus to the wider community".

A portion of the funding was to be spent acquiring and redeveloping the nearby Dodds Street Stables of the Victoria Police mounted branch.

[citation needed] The policy of the VCA has always been to enrol only those students who demonstrate the talent and dedication essential for courses as practising artists and performers.

Similarly, members of the academic staff, including the director and the dean of each school, have themselves been accomplished and practising artists.