University of Queensland

Coordinates: 27°29′50″S 153°0′47″E / 27.49722°S 153.01306°E / -27.49722; 153.01306
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The University of Queensland
Latin
: Terrae Reginae Universitas
Motto
  • Scientia ac Labore (Latin)
Motto in English
By means of knowledge and hard work
Vice-Chancellor
Deborah Terry[6]
Academic staff
3,057 (FTE, 2022)[7]
Administrative staff
4,354 (FTE, 2022)[8]
Total staff
8,776 regular (2022)[9]
1,249 casual (2022)[10]
Students42,680 (2023)[11]
Undergraduates27,494 (2023)[11]
Postgraduates11,419 coursework (2023)
3,360 research (2023)[11]
Other students
407 (2023)[11]
Address
Sir Fred Schonell Drive
, , ,
4072
,
27°29′50″S 153°0′47″E / 27.49722°S 153.01306°E / -27.49722; 153.01306
CampusMetropolitan and regional with multiple sites[13]
ColoursPurple White[14]
Sporting affiliations
MascotVarious
Websiteuq.edu.au

The University of Queensland (UQ or Queensland University[15][16][17]) is a public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone universities, an informal designation of the oldest university in each state.[18] UQ is also a founding member of edX, Australia's leading Group of Eight and the international research-intensive Association of Pacific Rim Universities.[19]

The main St Lucia campus occupies much of the riverside inner suburb of St Lucia, southwest of the Brisbane central business district. Other UQ campuses and facilities are located throughout Queensland, the largest of which are the Gatton campus and the Mayne Medical School. UQ's overseas establishments include UQ North America office in Washington D.C., and the UQ-Ochsner Clinical School in Louisiana, United States.

The university offers associate, bachelor, master, doctoral, and higher doctorate degrees through a college, a graduate school, and six faculties. UQ incorporates over one hundred

scanning of human limbs.[23]

UQ counts two

Andrew N. Liveris, and current director of multiple organisations including IBM
.

History

Foundation of the university

The University of Queensland's former main campus

According to the Queensland Government's Heritage Register's History section:[26]

Proposals for a university in Queensland began in the 1870s. A

Cambridge and proposed instead a model derived from the mid-western states of the U.S.A. A second Royal Commission in 1891 recommended the inclusion of five faculties in a new university; Arts, Law, Medicine, Science, and Applied Science. Education generally was given a low priority in Queensland's budgets, and in a colony with a literacy rate of 57% in 1861, primary education was the first concern well ahead of secondary and technical education. The government, despite the findings of the Royal Commissions, was unwilling to commit funds to the establishment of a university.[26]

Bertram Dillon Steele
(chemistry).

In 1893, the Queensland University Extension Movement was begun by a group of private individuals who organised public lecture courses in adult education, hoping to excite wider community support for a university in Queensland. In 1894, 245 students were enrolled in the extension classes and the lectures were described as practical and useful. In 1906 the University Extension Movement staged the University Congress, a forum for interested delegates to promote the idea of a university. Opinion was mobilised, a fund was started and a draft Bill for a Queensland University was prepared. Stress was laid on the practical aspects of university education and its importance for the commerce of Queensland. The proceedings of the Congress were forwarded to Premier [of Queensland] Kidston. In October 1906, sixty acres in Victoria Park were gazetted for university purposes.[26]

A group of Queensland University students in 1912

The University of Queensland was established by an

Old Government House ... [then Government House] in George Street was set aside for the university following the departure of the governor to the Bardon residence, Fernberg..., sparking the first debates about the best location for the university.[26]

In 1910 the first teaching faculties were created. These included Engineering, Classics, Mathematics[,] and Chemistry. In December of the same year, the Senate appointed the first four professors;

BD Steele in chemistry, JL Michie in classics, H. Priestley in mathematics and A Gibson in engineering. In 1911 the first students enrolled.[26]

The university's first classes in the Government House were held in 1911 with 83 commencing students and Sir William MacGregor is the first chancellor (with RH Roe as vice-chancellor). The University of Queensland began to award degrees to its first group of graduating students in 1914.[27]

1920s to 1990s

Construction of the Forgan Smith Building began in 1938.

The development of the university was delayed by

premier of the day and it was completed in 1939. During World War II, the Forgan Smith Building was used as a military base and it served first as advanced headquarters for the Allied Land Forces in the South West Pacific.[18]

Victor and Evelyn Lewis Fountain, in the main lake at the St Lucia campus. This is a 2012 replica, which replaced the 1960s
fibreglass original, designed by Kelvin Crump.[29]

The first Doctor of Science was awarded in 1942.[30] The first PhD was awarded in 1952.[31][32]

1990s to present day

In 1990, Australia reorganised its higher education system by abolishing the binary system of universities and colleges of advanced education. Under this transition, the university merged with Queensland Agricultural College, to establish the new UQ Gatton campus. In 1999, UQ Ipswich began operation as one of the completely web-enabled campuses in Australia.[18][33]

In 2010, The University of Queensland was a recipient of the Queensland Greats Awards.[34]

In May 2013, UQ joined

MOOCs). From May 2014, the initial four UQx courses cover hypersonics, tropical coastal ecosystems, biomedical imaging and the science of everyday thinking.[35]

Organisation and administration

TC Beirne School of Law
Steele Building, St Lucia campus

The University of Queensland is organised into a number of divisions for academic, administrative and logistical purposes.[36]

Governance

The senate is the governing body of The University of Queensland and consists of 22 members from the university and community. The senate is led by the chancellor and deputy chancellor, elected by the senate. The University of Queensland Act 1998 grants the senate wide powers to appoint staff, manage and control university affairs and property and manage and control finances to promote the university's interests.[37][38]

  • Vice-Chancellor and President
  • Provost
  • Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic)
  • Deputy Vice-Chancellor (External Engagement)
  • Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)
  • Pro-Vice-Chancellor
  • Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Advancement)
  • Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Engagement)
  • Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research)
  • Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research Infrastructure)
  • Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research Training)
  • Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning)
  • Chief Operating Officer
  • President of the Academic Board

The academic board is the university's senior academic advisory body. It formulates policy on academic matters including new programs, teaching, learning and assessment, research, promotions, student academic matters, prizes and scholarships. An academic board member is elected annually as its president. The president is assisted by a half-time deputy president.[39]

Academic faculties

The university has six faculties to support both research and teaching activities.

UQ has a semester-based modular system for conducting academic courses. The Australian higher education model features a combination of the British system, such as small group teaching (tutorials) and the American system (course credits).[citation needed]

Finances

Over a decade, UQ received more than $200 million in additional revenue from billionaire

Beattie government’s Smart State program.[40]

Academic profile

Rankings

University rankings
Global rankings
QS[41]=40
THE[42]70
ARWU[43]47
U.S. News & World Report[44]36
Australian rankings
QS[45]6
THE[46]5
ARWU[47]2
U.S. News & World Report[48]3
ERA[49]2
AFR[50]1

Overall

Some of UQ's rankings are 36th in the world by the 2022 U.S. News,[53] 47th in the world in the Academic Ranking of World Universities 2022,[54] joint 40th in the world in the 2025 QS World University Rankings,[55] 70th in the world in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024,[56] 37th in the world in the CWTS Leiden Ranking 2022,[57] and 33rd in the world in the 2022 NTU rankings.[58]

UQ was the 42nd best-ranked university worldwide in 2022 in terms of the aggregate performance across QS, THE, and ARWU, as discovered by Aggregate Rankings of Top Universities published by UNSW.

Subject

Overall,

Australian Financial Review.[60] UQ is also the top Australasian institution for life sciences in the U.S. News & World Report and the Academic Ranking of World Universities.[61][62]

The university is also highly ranked in various engineering disciplines. In mining and minerals engineering, it stands in 3rd worldwide, in chemical engineering 76–100th worldwide, in civil engineering 76–100th worldwide, in material science and engineering 101–150th worldwide, and in electrical and electronic engineering it is ranked within 101–150th worldwide.[63]

In the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) inaugural world subject rankings, UQ ranked first in Biodiversity Conservation,[64] and top 10 in 13 subjects[65] based on the numbers of research articles published in top-tier journals.[66]

In the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021, UQ ranked in the top 50 in the world in 20 subjects,.[67] UQ is first in Australia, second in the world, for Sports-Related Subjects,[68] and second in Australia, third in world, for Mineral & Mining Engineering[69].

Research

Queensland has a strong research focus in science, medicine and technology. The university's research advancement includes pioneering the development of the cervical cancer vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, by UQ Professor Ian Frazer.[70] In 2009, the Australian Cancer Research Foundation reported that UQ had taken the lead in numerous areas of cancer research.[71]

In the Commonwealth Government's Excellence in Research for Australia 2012 National Report,[72] UQ's research is rated above world standard in more broad fields than at any other Australian university (in 22 broad fields), and more UQ researchers are working in research fields that ERA has assessed as above world standard than at any other Australian university. UQ research in biomedical and clinical health sciences, technology, engineering, biological sciences, chemical sciences, environmental sciences, and physical sciences was ranked above world standard (rating 5).

In 2015, UQ is ranked by Nature Index as the research institution with the highest volume of research output in both interdisciplinary journals Nature and Science within the southern hemisphere, with approximately twofold more output than the global average.[73]

In 2020 Clarivate named 34 UQ professors to its list of Highly Cited Researchers.[74][75]

Aside from disciplinary-focused teaching and research within the academic faculties, the university maintains a number of interdisciplinary research institutes and centres at the national, state and university levels.

Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, the University of Queensland Seismology Station, Heron Island Research Station and the Institute of Modern Languages
.

With the support from the

The Atlantic Philanthropies
, The University of Queensland dedicates basic, translational and applied research via the following research-focused institutes:

The University of Queensland plays a key role in

Mater Health Services, Metro North Hospital and Health Service, Metro South Health, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Queensland University of Technology, The University of Queensland and the Translational Research Institute.[81]

International partnerships

UQ is a partner of McDonnell International Scholars Academy - an international network of research universities and scholars comprising 28 university partners, including

Commercialisation and entrepreneurship

UniQuest is the main commercialisation company of The University of Queensland and specialises in global technology transfer and facilitates access for all business. UniQuest has created over 100 startups from its intellectual property portfolio, and since 2000 UniQuest and its start-ups have raised more than $700 million to take university technologies to market. UQ technologies licensed by UniQuest include UQ's cervical cancer vaccine technology, image correction technology in magnetic resonance imaging machines, and the Triple P Positive Parenting Program.[83]

Student life

The University of Queensland maintains a number of support and student services. The campuses at St Lucia and Gatton have Student Centres which provide information and support services.[84]

UQ Union

The

UQ Union
is the peak student representation body that coordinates various student services and activities, including over 190 affiliated clubs and societies, some of whom are listed below.

UQ Sport

UQ Sport offers a wide range of sport, fitness and recreation opportunities at the St Lucia and Gatton campuses of the University of Queensland. Its facilities and services are open to students, staff, alumni, and the general public.[86]

The UQ Aquatic Centre is operated by UQ Sport and consists of three pools; 50-metre and 25-metre outdoor heated pools and a small enclosed heated teaching pool. The main pool is a 50m lap pool with a minimum of three lanes dedicated to public lap swimming throughout the opening hours.[citation needed]

The UQ Athletics Centre maintains an Olympic standard 8 lane synthetic track and grandstand able to accommodate up to 565 spectators.[87] The UQ Sport and Fitness Centre is a multi-purpose indoor facility.[88]

The UQ Tennis Centre is the largest tennis centre in both Brisbane and Queensland.[89] The UQ Playing Fields and Ovals is also managed by UQ Sport, home to a total of eight oval fields at the St Lucia campus. The majority are designated for use by particular sports including cricket, rugby and soccer. These ovals are also used for recreational activities and lunchtime social sport.[90]

Australia's largest university based sailing club, The University of Queensland Sailing Club, also operates under UQ Sport. However, the sailing club mainly operates off-site at a private facility in Redcliffe.[91]

Events and traditions

Great Court, University of Queensland

Great Court Race

Inspired by the

Great Court Run of the University of Cambridge, the University of Queensland organises an annual 636m sprint race around the UQ sandstone Great Court.[92][93]

Three Minute Thesis

In 2008, the university originated the Three Minute Thesis competition for students completing a higher degree by research. Three Minute Thesis is now held annually at universities across Australasia. It challenges participants to present their research in just 180 seconds, in an engaging form that can be understood by an intelligent audience with no background in the research area. This exercise develops presentation, research and academic communication skills and supports the development of research students' capacity to explain their work effectively.[94]

Market Day During Orientation week and the first week of each semester, Market Day is organised throughout Campbell Place and the Great Court at the St Lucia Campus. The UQ Union and clubs and societies have stalls and organises social activities.[95] Several clubs also organize large displays. For example, the University of Queensland Sailing Club is known for placing a sailing boat in the Great Court.[96]

Careers Fair The UQ Careers Fair is an annual event that brings together university students and major employers from across the country.[97] Degree-specific Careers Fairs are also held annually or bi-annually, such as the Engineering Careers Expo.[98]

Residential colleges

The University of Queensland has 11

University of Queensland Intercollege Council is the organisational and representative body for the residential colleges which coordinates sporting and cultural events and competitions.[99]

Campuses and facilities

Queensland campuses and locations of The University of Queensland

The University of Queensland maintains a number of campuses and facilities throughout Queensland.[102][103] UQ has its main campus in the suburb of St Lucia in Brisbane, bordered by a meander in the Brisbane River to the north, east, and south. UQ's main campus has been recognised for its beauty by a number of sources.[104][105] Its other campuses include Gatton and Herston.

St Lucia campus

UQ St Lucia

In 1927, the land on which the St Lucia campus is built was resumed by the Brisbane City Council using money donated by James O'Neil Mayne and his sister Mary Emelia Mayne to replace the less spacious city campus. The city campus is now home to the Gardens Point campus of the Queensland University of Technology. Construction of the new university at St Lucia began in 1937.[106]

Great Court

At its centre is the

heritage-listed Great Court – a 2.5 hectares (6.2 acres) open area surrounded by Helidon sandstone buildings with grotesques of great academics and historic scenes, floral and faunal motifs and crests of universities and colleges from around the world.[106] This central semi-circular quadrangle features a connected arcade so students could reach any section under cover. The Great Court was added to the Queensland Heritage Register in 2002.[107]

Museums

UQ Art Museum – James and Mary Emelia Mayne Centre
UQ St Lucia [108]

The University of Queensland Art Museum is located in the James and Mary Emelia Mayne Centre on the St Lucia campus. The Art Museum was established in the Forgan Smith Tower in 1976 to house the artworks collected by The University of Queensland since the 1940s, relocating to its present site in 2004. Today, with more than 4,400 artworks, the University's Art Collection is Queensland's second largest public art collection.[109]

The university also houses the R.D. Milns Antiquities Museum[110] in the Michie building (bldg 9, level 2) which contains Queensland's only publicly accessible collection of antiquities from ancient Rome, Greece, Egypt and the Near East. The museum supports research and teaching at the university.[111] The UQ Anthropology Museum (also in the Michie Building on level 1) contains a significant collection of ethnographic material. It is also open to the public.[112]

Gatton campus

The UQ Gatton Campus covers 1068 ha at Lawes, near the town of Gatton, Queensland, about 90 kilometres (56 mi) west of Brisbane on the Warrego Highway. The campus was opened in 1897 next to the site of the Queensland Agricultural College which was then amalgamated with UQ in 1990.[18] UQ Gatton is the core campus for research, learning and teaching activities and facilities in agriculture, animals, veterinary science and the environment.[113]

In 2008 the Centre for Advanced Animal Science (CAAS) was opened at the Gatton campus – a collaborative venture between UQ and the Queensland Government.[114]

Herston campus

UQ Mayne Medical School, Herston campus

Queensland Institute of Medical Research
.

It is home to the Faculty of Medicine, the School of Population Health, the Herston Health Sciences Library, the Centre for Clinical Research and clinical research and learning activities of the School of Nursing and Midwifery. The Herston campus also houses other key facilities such as the Oral Health Centre and the purpose-built Herston Imaging Research Facility. The medical school building was added to the Queensland Heritage Register in 1999.[115]

The Marks-Hirschfeld Museum of Medical History is in the Mayne Medical School at the Herston campus. Operated by volunteers and supported by The University of Queensland Alumni, it has a collection of over 7,000 items of medical memorabilia, medical and surgical instruments. The focus is on the study of medical history in Queensland, but the collection includes items with broader significance to Australia and internationally.[116][117]

Overseas clinical schools
  • Louisiana, United States – the UQ-Ochsner Clinical School operates at Ochsner Medical Center, New Orleans and Baton Rouge, allowing medical school students from the UQ-Ochsner program to receive two years of overseas clinical experience, contributing towards their UQ Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree.[118]

Ipswich campus

In 2014, UQ sold the Ipswich Campus to the University of Southern Queensland, believing that this regional teaching campus would be better used by USQ.[119]

The campus was made up of nearly 20 buildings and more than 5001 students on nearly 25 hectares (62 acres).[120] Courses offered included: arts, business, medicine and social sciences as well as Interaction design. It is located near central Ipswich, Queensland, just south of the CBD. Nearby landmarks include Limestone Park, Workshops Rail Museum and RAAF Base Amberley.

The site dates back to 1878 with the opening of the Ipswich branch of the

intellectual disabilities. In late 1997 the Challinor Centre began its first stage of transformation as the new UQ Ipswich campus.[120]

Satellite teaching and research centres

UQ has other research and education facilities not directly attached to its three campuses. These locations are primarily for research, which cannot be undertaken in the campus locales but also represent buildings which established pre-eminence in education before the creation of the current campuses.

Customs House
Queen Street

UQ Business School
Downtown is an inner-city corporate education, meeting and dining venue and facility which is on Level 19 of Central Plaza One in the Brisbane central business district.

Indooroopilly

Indooroopilly.[122] Acquired in 1951 by the School of Mining Engineering under the leadership of Frank T. M. White, Foundation Professor (appointed 1950), this mine (formerly Finney's Hill United Silver Mines Limited) then became known as the Queensland University Experimental Mine. It promptly became an integral part of the teaching and research capacity of the School,[123] which in 1952 expanded to become the Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering.[124][125][126]

JKMRC, incorporating the Experimental Mine, was officially established as a University Centre in 1970, with a goal to develop practical technical solutions for large-scale mining and minerals industry challenges.[127] It is named after Julius Kruttschnitt, the chairman of Mount Isa Mines and a board member of the university's Faculty of Engineering.[128][129]

The

Indooroopilly.[citation needed
]

Other locations

UQ has a research station at Heron Island.
  • Pinjarra Hills – the Pinjarra Hills Research Station, the Veterinary Science Farm and the Pinjarra Aquatic Research Station are located in Pinjarra Hills, Brisbane. The Aquatic Research Station investigates aquaculture and inland ecology.[130]
  • Heron Island – the
    Heron Island, 72 kilometres (45 mi) north-east of Gladstone. Its primary use is for coral reef ecology research and teaching and is an integral component of the Great Barrier Reef Ocean Observations System and the national Integrated Marine Observing System. It consists of more than 30 buildings on a two hectare lease.[131]
  • Moreton Bay – the Moreton Bay Research Station and Study Centre is in Dunwich on North Stradbroke Island and researches the ecosystems.[132]
  • Mt Nebo – The University of Queensland operates an International Seismograph Station on Mt Nebo.[133]
  • Charters Towers – The University of Queensland operates an International Seismograph Station at Charters Towers.[134]
  • Dayboro – the Dayboro Veterinary Surgery was bought by the university in 1987 as a teaching clinic for fifth year veterinary students in their dairy cattle medicine rotation. Later, separate brick accommodation was built for student accommodation. Research projects into practical aspects of dairy production are frequently carried out by clinic staff. There is a full range of veterinary services and pet care for dogs, cats, horses, cows, alpacas, goats, and all manner of other small and large animals.[citation needed]

Library

University of Queensland Library

The University of Queensland Library was founded in 1910. It developed from a small provincial university library into a major research library.[135] It consists of 11 branches.[136][137]

  • Architecture and Music Library (ARMUS)
  • Biological Sciences Library
  • Central Library
  • Dorothy Hill Engineering and Sciences Library (DHESL)
  • Duhig Tower
  • Fryer Library
  • Gatton Library (J.K. Murray Library)
  • Herston Health Sciences Library
  • Pharmacy Australia Centre of Excellence Health Sciences Library (PACE)
  • Rural Clinical School Library (RCS)
  • Walter Harrison Law Library

Transport and other amenities

Chancellor's Place Bus stop, Institute for Molecular Bioscience

The university is served by the

.

There are 3 refectories that provide food for students. These are the Main Refectory in the Student Union Complex, the Biological Sciences Refectory under the Biological Sciences Library, and the Physiology Refectory under the Physiology Lecture Theatres.[138] The Student Union Complex houses the Student Union and other student services.

Publishing

University of Queensland Press publishes academic works, as well as, non-fiction works and has launched the careers of noted authors.

Academic journals

The university publishes several academic journals through its various schools and faculties and in association with publishers:

Notable alumni and faculty

UQ has produced numerous distinguished alumni. Several notable examples include recipient of a

Seven Brisbane
and former Australian soldier.

Controversies

Relationship with the Confucius Institute

Apparent links with the Confucius Institute, a Chinese government-supported international education partnership program, have been controversial for UQ. The university offers 13 courses co-funded by the institute, mainly around Chinese arts, media and language. Critics of these courses have claimed Chinese government influence on the course content, while UQ has contested that they have been developed by university academics without external contribution.[152]

Student suspensions

On 29 May 2020, the UQ disciplinary board issued a two-year suspension to activist Drew Pavlou for alleged bullying, discrimination and harassment of university students and staff.[153] Pavlou has contested the reasoning describing in a statement released on Twitter that his suspension was "to silence [him] for [his] political activism", something denied by both the university, and the disciplinary and appeals boards.[154][155] Pavlou has admitted to swearing at other students on Facebook and an online university forum.[156] An appeal to the UQ Senate Disciplinary Appeals Committee resulted in the committee endorsing two counts of serious misconduct, however reducing the suspension from two years to one semester.[157]

In June 2020, Pavlou launched a second lawsuit in the Supreme Court seeking A$3.5 million in damages from the university for alleged defamation and a breach of contract.[158] In September 2020, the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission declined a request by Pavlou to investigate UQ Chancellor Peter Varghese and former Vice-Chancellor Peter Høj, citing that there was "insufficient evidence to suggest anyone who was subject of the complaint had engaged in corrupt conduct.[159]

Sexual assaults

Between 2011 and 2016 there were 38 reported cases of sexual assault and harassment on campus, resulting in 1 expulsion and 2 one-week suspensions. This included a report in 2015 where a staff member "filmed someone in the shower".[160] These figures are lower than the 2017 Australian Human Rights Commission report on sexual assault and harassment.[161] The vice-chancellor responded "there is no place for sexual assault or sexual harassment at UQ. Such behaviour is never the victim’s fault, and it will not be tolerated here" and introduced a number of new initiatives to address sexual assault problems.[162]

Divestment