Editing Ballarat (section)

==Education==
{{Main|Education in Ballarat}}
[[File:University of Ballarat SMB Campus Lydiard Street Sth.jpg|thumb|[[Federation University Australia]]'s SMB campus is set among heritage buildings, including the former School of Mines and Industry (left).]]
[[File:Ballarat mechanics institute.jpg|thumb|Ballarat Mechanics' Institute]]
Ballarat has two universities, [[Federation University Australia|Federation University]] and a campus of the [[Australian Catholic University]].

Formerly the [[University of Ballarat]], Federation University Australia was opened in 2014. It originated as the Ballarat School of Mines, founded in 1870, and was once affiliated with the [[University of Melbourne]]. The main campus is located in Mount Helen, approximately {{convert|6|km|mi|abbr=off}} southeast of the city. The university also has campuses in the Ballarat CBD, [[Horsham, Victoria|Horsham]], [[Berwick, Victoria|Berwick]], Brisbane, [[Churchill, Victoria|Churchill]], [[Ararat, Victoria|Ararat]] and [[Stawell, Victoria|Stawell]].

The Australian Catholic University's Ballarat campus is located on Mair Street. It was formerly the Aquinas Training College, run by the Ballarat East [[Sisters of Mercy]] in 1909. It is ACU's only campus located outside of a capital city.

Ballarat has five State Government-operated secondary schools of which [[Ballarat High School]] (established in 1907) is the oldest. Ballarat High School and [[Mount Clear College]] are the only state school members of the [[Ballarat Associated Schools]]. The three remaining schools are [[Phoenix P-12 Community College|Phoenix College]] and the two newly formed schools Mount Rowan Secondary College and Woodmans Hill Secondary College which emerged from the old Ballarat Secondary College.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thecourier.com.au/story/5466929/the-ballarat-school-name-that-wont-exist-next-year/|title=The Ballarat school name that won't exist next year|date=14 June 2018}}</ref> Phoenix College was formed in 2012 as an amalgamation of Sebastopol College and Redan Primary School.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thecourier.com.au/story/60822/phoenix-college-a-new-name-change-for-sebastopol/|title=Phoenix College a new name change for Sebastopol|first=Jennifer|last=Greive|date=2 December 2011|work=thecourier.com.au}}</ref>

The city is well serviced by Catholic schools, with eight primary schools and three secondary colleges which include the all-boys [[St Patrick's College, Ballarat|St Patrick's College]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scotch.vic.edu.au/gscot/10sepgs/50.htm|title=Error – Scotch College|first=The ADWEB|last=Agency|work=scotch.vic.edu.au|access-date=3 September 2011|archive-date=11 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110411123756/http://www.scotch.vic.edu.au/gscot/10sepgs/50.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> the all-girls [[Loreto College, Victoria|Loreto College]] and the co-educational [[Damascus College]], which was formed by the amalgamation of St Martin's in the Pines, [[St. Paul's College, Ballarat|St Paul's College]] and [[Sacred Heart College, Ballarat|Sacred Heart College]] in 1995.

Ballarat has three other non-government secondary schools: Ballarat Christian College, [[Ballarat Clarendon College]] and [[Ballarat Grammar School]].
The later two schools are day and boarding schools who provide education from Preschool to Year 12. Both of these co-educational schools are classified as academically excellent as the only Ballarat schools to be ranked on the tables of the top 100 Victorian schools based on median VCE scores and percentage of scores of 40 and above. In 2015, Clarendon was placed at 9th best VCE results in the State, above [[Melbourne Grammar School|Melbourne Grammar]], [[The Geelong College|Geelong College]], [[Scotch College, Melbourne|Scotch College]], [[Trinity Grammar School (Victoria)]], [[Xavier College]], and [[Haileybury, Melbourne|Haileybury College]]. Ballarat Grammar was placed at 82nd, above [[Wesley College (Victoria)|Wesley College]], [[Geelong Grammar School|Geelong Grammar]] and [[Tintern Schools|Tintern]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bettereducation.com.au/Results/vce.aspx?yr=2015|title=VCE School Ranking – 2015|first=Wang|last=Family|work=bettereducation.com.au}}</ref>

The City of Ballarat has three public libraries, the largest and most extensive of which is the Ballarat Library, run by the City of Ballarat and located on Doveton Street North.<ref>{{Cite web|date=July 2024|title=Ballarat Library|url=https://libraries.ballarat.vic.gov.au/services/visit-us/ballarat-library|access-date=9 July 2024|website=Ballarat Libraries}}</ref> Another library service is provided by the Ballarat [[Mechanics' Institute]] in Sturt Street, which is the oldest library in the city and a significant heritage site; it contains a collection of historic, archival and rare reference material as well as more general books.

The [[Xin Jin Shan Chinese Library]] opened in 2022. It contains over 240,000 Chinese-language books, reportedly the largest collection in the [[Southern Hemisphere]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Yuan|first=Olivia|date=4 July 2022|title=New chapter: One of the largest Chinese libraries in the Southern Hemisphere opens in Ballarat|url=https://www.sbs.com.au/language/chinese/en/article/new-chapter-one-of-the-largest-chinese-libraries-in-the-southern-hemisphere-opens-in-ballarat/tsa97ol2i|access-date=5 February 2024|publisher=[[Special Broadcasting Service|SBS Mandarin]]}}</ref>