Pro vice-chancellor (rural and regional) Sue Kilpatrick (pictured, left) joined Warrnambool mayor Jacinta Ermacora (right) and staff and students to mark the event at a low-key gathering.

Professor Kilpatrick said Deakin had been awarded a citation from the federal government’s Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workforce Agency for the sixth consecutive year as an employer of choice for women.

She said the university recorded 98th place out of 2537 organisations that reported their employment statistics, putting it in the top four per cent across the nation.

Thirty-five per cent of Deakin’s staff at the level of associate professor or above are women while the average in the university sector is only 25 per cent.

Fifty per cent of non-academic staff at a senior level are women, while the national average is 44 per cent.

Professor Kilpatrick said female students at the Warrnambool campus represented 67 per cent of enrolments last year.