university of queensland

The University of Queensland (commonly referred to as UQ) is an Australian public research university primarily located in Brisbane. Founded in 1909, UQ is the oldest, most selective and comprehensive university in the Australian state of Queensland.^[1] The main campus is located in the suburb of St Lucia, southwest of the Brisbane City Central Business District, with other major UQ campuses in Gatton, Herston and Ochsner Medical Center's clinical school atNew Orleans, United States of America. The University of Queensland is a member of the Australia's research-intensive Group of Eight, the global network of research universities Universitas 21 and a founding charter member ofEdX, an online higher education consortium led by Harvard and MIT.

UQ is a sandstone university, which is well regarded^[2][3] and is consistently ranked within the top 1 percent worldwide along with other prestigious research universities across all international universities rankings — the QS World University Rankings, the Academic Ranking of World Universities, the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities, Times Higher Education World University Rankings, University Ranking by Academic Performanceand the U.S. News & World Report.^[4][5][6][7] UQ Business School's flagship MBA program is also ranked first in Australia and the Asia Pacific by The Australian Financial Review and The Economist.^[8]

The University of Queensland has produced numerous alumni with significant contributions to science, arts, medicine, education, business, politics and law in Australia and throughout the world. Several notable examples include the Nobel Laureate winning scientist Dr Peter Doherty, Oscar-winning artist Geoffrey Rush, former Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia Sir Gerard Brennan, Chancellor of University of California, San Francisco - Dr Sam Hawgood,^[9] Principal and President of King's College London - Dr Edward Byrne, CEO of Dow Chemical the second-largest chemical manufacturer in the world by revenue - Andrew N. Liveris, first female Governor-General of Australia Dame Quentin Bryce, former Singapore's Minister for Defence, Minister for Manpower, present Chairman of Keppel Corporation andSingapore Press Holdings (SPH) - Dr Lee Boon Yang, consecutive Olympics gold medal winner David Theile and global top three most cited academic and world-renowned clinician Dr Graham Colditz.

Proposals for a university in Queensland began in the 1870s. A Royal Commission in 1874, chaired by Sir Charles Lilley, recommended the immediate establishment of a university. Those against a university argued that technical rather than academic education was more important in an economy dominated by primary industry. Those in favour of the university, in the face of this opposition, distanced themselves from Oxford and Cambridge and proposed instead a model derived from the mid-western states of the USA. 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.^[10]

history:

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 toQueensland Premier William Kidston. In October 1906, sixty acres in Victoria Park were gazetted for university purposes.^[10]

The University of Queensland was established by an Act of State Parliament on December 10, 1909 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Queensland's separation from the colony of New South Wales. The Act allowed for the university to be governed by a senate of 20 men and Sir William MacGregor, the incoming Governor, was appointed the first chancellor with Reginald Heber Roe as the vice chancellor. Government House (now Old Government House) in George Streetwas 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.^[10]

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; Bertram Dillon Steele in chemistry, John Lundie Michie in classics, Henry James Priestley in mathematics and Alexander James Gibson in engineering. In 1911 the first students enrolled.^[10] 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 Reginald Heber Roe as vice-chancellor). The development of the University was delayed by World War I, but after the first world war the university enrollments for education and research took flight as demand for higher education increased in Australia. Thus, in the early 1920s the growing University had to look for a more spacious campus as its original site at George Street, Brisbane has limited room for expansion.^[1]