University of Queensland

The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in Brisbane, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest university in Queensland and the fifth in the nation. The main campus is located in St Lucia, southwest of the Brisbane CBD. UQ is a member of the Australia's Group of Eight lobby group, and the Universitas 21, an international network of research-intensive universities, and is colloquially known as a "sandstone university".

UQ is ranked among the top universities, both in Australia and the world. In 2009, the Australian Cancer Research Foundation reported that UQ have taken the lead in numerous areas of cancer research, having awarded almost $10 million in grants over a three year period.

There are numerous collaborative research centres associated with the university. The Queensland Bioscience Precinct on the St Lucia campus houses scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB). The Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) are located close by and together these institutes form one of the largest biomedical research clusters in Australia.

History
The University of Queensland (UQ) was established on 10 December 1909 by the Queensland Parliament to mark the 50th anniversary of Queensland’s independence from New South Wales. The University's first classes in the Government house were held in 1911, with 83 commencing students. 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.

In 1927, Dr James O’Neil Mayne and his sister Mary Emelia Mayne, provided a grant of approximately £50,000 to the Brisbane City Council to acquire 274 acre of land at St Lucia and provided it to the University of Queensland as its permanent home. Lack of finance delayed development of the St Lucia campus. Hence, the construction of the University's first building in St Lucia only began in 1938. It was later named the Forgan Smith Building, after the Premier of the day and 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.

In 1990, Australia reorganized 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.

Rankings
According to the 2007 THE-QS World University Rankings, UQ is the only Queensland university in the top 50 (ranked 33rd along with the National University of Singapore), and one of only six Australian universities in the top 50. In 2009, the university was ranked 41st, after University of Melbourne (36), University of Sydney (36) and Australian National University (17). In 2010, QS World University Rankings placed the university in 43rd (in 2010 Times Higher Education World University Rankings and QS World University Rankings parted ways to produce separate rankings).

The Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Academic Ranking of World Universities also placed UQ among the top 10 universities in the Asia Pacific Region. UQ was also featured in 2006 Newsweek and 2009 Global University Ranking of the world's top 100 universities.

The following publications ranked universities worldwide. The University of Queensland ranked:

Academia and Research
UQ research led by Professor Ian Frazer pioneered a vaccine for cervical cancer. The vaccine Gardasil protects against an approximate 70 percent of human papillomavirus-related cervical cancers. Previously, more than 270,000 women died from the disease each year.

In 2009, UQ researchers led by Professor Scott O'Neill successfully infected aedes mosquito with a bacterium that halves the mosquitoes 30-day lifespan, thereby reducing its ability to transmit dengue fever to humans. The international research team at UQ was funded by a $9 million donation from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The HyShot Flight Program which involves the world's first flight tests of a scramjet using supersonic combustion was designed by UQ.

St Lucia campus
UQ was established on 10 December 1909, with Sir William MacGregor as first chancellor (with Reginald Heber Roe as vice-chancellor) and was originally situated in Brisbane's downtown area on George Street. 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 began at St Lucia in 1937.

The University has its main campus in the suburb of St Lucia in Brisbane. Its other campuses include Ipswich, Gatton, Herston, South Brisbane, Turbot Street and Moggill. It is situated on a point of the Brisbane River. At its centre is the heritage-listed Great Court — a 2.5 ha open area surrounded by sandstone buildings with grotesques of great academics and historic scenes, floral and faunal motifs and crests of universities and colleges from around the world. This central semi-circular quadrangle features a connected arcade so students could reach any section under cover.

The 274 acre also includes sporting fields, gardens, duckponds, and cycling tracks. The athletics centre features 21 floodlit tennis courts and Olympic-standard swimming pool, a three-level gymnasium and a multi-purpose indoor centre.

The university is served by a CityCat wharf, two bus stations and is also served by the Eleanor Schonell Bridge providing pedestrian and bus access across the river to Dutton Park.

2009 saw the opening of the $2.5 million Advanced Concepts Teaching Space (ACTS) lecture theatre which enable students to use mobile technology to aid classroom learning.

Gatton campus
Located in Gatton, Queensland about 90 km west of Brisbane on the Warrego Highway. UQ Gatton, formerly the Queensland Agricultural College, was opened in 1897 as a combined agricultural college and experimental farm. The QAC amalgamated with UQ in 1990. UQ Gatton is serviced by the UQ Gatton Student Association and remains affiliated with the UQ Student Union.

UQ Gatton offers courses in agriculture, animal science, environmental management, agronomy/agribusiness, equine studies, wildlife and bushland studies and other fields relating to natural and rural environments. Its facilities include over 1000 ha of agricultural land, animal production operations, a recently redeveloped equine centre, and facilities for wildlife studies, facilities and laboratories, and a branch of the UQ Library. Some of the original QAC buildings are still standing, such as the Foundation Building.

2010 saw the relocation of the Vet School to the UQ Gatton Campus achieving a single-site strategy for all UQ animal production and health activities. There are new facilities for animal science, health, welfare and production along with the combination of the relocated School of Veterinary Science, and the newly completed Centre for Advanced Animal Science (CAAS). There are currently plans to possibly move plant scientists to the Gatton campus, thereby boosting its research profile as well as ensuring both plant and animal scientists are co-located at the one campus.

Ipswich campus
The Ipswich campus, opened in 1999, after State and Federal government backing is the newest campus, made up of nearly 20 buildings and more than 4000 students on nearly 25 ha Courses offered include: arts, business and social sciences as well as Interaction design. In 2009, a cohort of 39 students became the pioneers to undertake medicine at the Ipswich campus.

It is located near central Ipswich, Queensland, just south of the CBD. Nearby landmarks include Limestone Park, The Workshops Railway Museum and the RAAF Base Amberley.

The site dates back to 1878 with the opening of the Ipswich branch of the Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum. Operations continued until 1910 when it became the Ipswich Hospital for the Insane. In 1938 it was renamed the Ipswich Mental Hospital and in 1964 it was renamed again as the Ipswich Special Hospital. It was finally named the Challinor Centre in 1968 in honour of Dr. Henry Challinor, the ships surgeon on the Fortitude. From 1968 to 1997 the Challinor Centre served as an institution for people with intellectual disabilities. In late 1997 the Challinor Centre began its first stage of transformation as the new UQ Ipswich campus.

Other facilities
There are other research and education facilities not attached directly to the 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.
 * Turbot Street — Turbot Street is the University's dentistry education facility. It comprises two large buildings and one small building at the junction of Turbot and Albert Streets in the Brisbane inner city area. The older of the two larger buildings is the former Brisbane College of Dentistry which is connected via a second-storey walkway to the newer building.
 * UQ Regiment Indooroopilly — A counterpart to the St Lucia Campus's Regiment in Indooroopilly.
 * Herston — Situated next to the hospital complex at Herston, UQ's School of Medicine occupies the Mayne Medical Building. The location also accommodates UQ teaching facilities in and around the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital and the Brisbane Royal Children's Hospital. The Queensland Institute of Medical Research also holds strong links to UQ.
 * Pinjarra Aquatic Research Station — located at Pinjarra Hills, Brisbane. The Aquatic Research Station investigates aquaculture and inland ecology.
 * Heron Island Research Station — Situated on Heron Island, 72 km north-east of Gladstone. Its primary use is for coral reef ecology research and teaching. It consists of over thirty buildings situated on a two hectare lease.
 * Moreton Bay Research Station and Study Centre — located on North Stradbroke Island, Moreton Bay Research Station provides the base to research North Stradbroke Island's many and varied ecosystems.

Organisation
The university has six faculties. These include the Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Business, Economics and Law, Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences.

Research institutes and Centres
The University of Queensland with support from the Queensland Government, the Australian Government and major donor The Atlantic Philanthropies has developed eight major research institutes. There are the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The Diamantina Institute for Cancer, Immunology and Metabolic Medicine, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, Institute for Social Science Research, Sustainable Mineral Institute, Global Change Institute (GCI), Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) and the Queensland Brain Institute.

Other notable institutes and facilities include the Co-operative Research Centre for Enterprise Distributed Systems Technology and NICTA – National Information and Communication Technology Research Centre, co-supported by University of Queensland, and the Centre for the History of European Discourses (CHED).

The International Water Centre (IWC) is a joint venture between UQ and three other Australian Universities. The focus of the IWC is leadership in the area of Integrated Water Management.

Residential colleges
The University of Queensland has 11 residential colleges with 10 of these located on its St Lucia campus and one on its Gatton campus:


 * Cromwell College is a co-ed college founded in 1950. It is affiliated with the Uniting Church and accommodates 190 students.
 * Duchesne College is a women's only college founded in 1937 in Toowong, moving the university in 1959. It is affiliated with the Society of the Sacred Heart and accommodates 200 students.
 * Emmanuel College is a co-educational college founded in 1911. It accommodates 350 students.
 * Gatton Halls of Residence was established in 1897 and has 440 residential students, making it by far the largest and oldest college at the University.
 * Grace College is a women's college founded in 1970. It accommodates 180 students.
 * International House is a co-educational college for International and Australian students founded in 1965.
 * King's College provides accommodation for 260 male students of the University.
 * St John's College is a co-educational college founded in 1911. It is administered by the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane.
 * St Leo's College is a men's college affiliated with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.
 * Union College is a co-educational college named after the student union.
 * Women's College is an independent college for female students.

Notable alumni and staff
The University of Queensland has produced a number of notable alumni including a Nobel Laureate, an Oscar winner and Governors-General of Australia.