is an
Australian public university with four campuses in
Brisbane and one at the
Gold Coast . It currently has 27,000 students and 6000 staff. Griffith University has more campuses than any other Queensland university, two of which are in close proximity to each other (i.e. the
Nathan campus and the
Mount Gravatt campus - which are approximately 3 kilometres apart).
The Griffith University campuses are: Nathan Campus, located in the suburb of
Nathan , which was the first Griffith University campus to be established in Queensland. There are also campuses at
Mount Gravatt ,
Logan City , two at
Southbank (the
Queensland Conservatorium Of Music and the
Queensland College Of Art ), and at the
Gold Coast . The
Gold Coast campus is the largest in Queensland.
Recent projects have been given the stamp of approval by some famous names such as;
Kim Phuc ,
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter ,
Ray Charles , and
Bob Geldof . They were promoting centres for photojournalism arts, assisting the wrongly accused, educating blind children and promoting responsible ecological practices, respectively.
The university was founded in 1971 with the opening of the
Nathan campus, known for its peaceful and nature based setting. The expansive cluster of buildings, sports facilities, forest reserves and recreational areas are all connected by an integrated network of walking paths. The university soon became famous for its modern environmental science, Asian studies and international business courses. It has since created campuses at Logan, the Gold Coast, Mt Gravatt, the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, the Queensland College of Art, and Southbank. The Gold Coast campus is the largest of all Griffith's campuses. The university now boasts a full suite of award winning programs including arts, education, medicine, dentistry, engineering, business, science and law.
The University is named after the former premier of Queensland, and High Court of Australia judge,
Sir Samuel Griffith. Sir Samuel was also the principal author of the
Australian Constitution .
In 2004 Griffith University made the controversial decision to abandon its traditional shielded coat of arms for a red and white book motif, symbolising Grififth’s strong connections with corporate enterprise. Many were quick to criticise the change, but given its continued rise in popularity, the university's reputation has not diminished.
The Griffith University Law School (GULS) has been ranked as No. 1 in the country by the respected publication, the "
Good Universities Guide ", both in 2005 and 2006.
The network was launched in October 2005 and includes Griffith alumni from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Brazil, Thailand and UK. Several more countries are expected to join the network in the future. The network has a website
{Link without Title} that enables alumni to stay in touch when they go home to their respective countries and exchange information for prospective students. The website is multi-lingual, written in the native language of each of the participating countries.
Griffith University boasts a wide array of cultural, intellectual, sporting and social groups. Griffith's Student Guild is an organisation within the university who takes care of these clubs, as well as student issues, accommodation, employment,publication, events, sport and recreation.
Established in 1981 the Griffith University Aikido Club was one of the first aikido dojos established in Brisbane. Today it is active at Nathan Campus, Logan Campus and at South Brisbane with over 100 members.
GU also boasts the Greendoggs basketball club. The Greendoggs were runners up in 2005 at the Australian University Games. The female basketball club is called the Foxes and placed 3rd last year at Australian University Games.
Further, Griffith University is the only university in Australia to have a cheerleading club, established on the Gold Coast campus.
The Griffith Organised Debating Society (GODS) is another notable extra curricular club, winning the River Debates in 2002-2005.
Griffith University students are uniquely represented by three statutory embedded student organisations as a legacy of both political differences and campus amalgamations. The
Griffith University Student Representative Council (GUSRC) and Griffith University Post-graduate Students Association (GUPSA) represent undergraduate and post-graduate students respectively in all campuses apart from the Gold Coast. GUPSA is a constituent member of the
Council Of Australian Postgraduate Associations . Unique to the Gold Coast is The Student Guild (GUSG) which represents all students from this campus and holds an administrative structure that is apparently independent to the university.
Leon Bertrand currently holds the position of GUSRC President. Past Presidents and Chairpersons include Glen Chatterton (2005 - resigned due to corruption), David Allen (2005, resigned), Monique Bielanowski (2004), Merric Foley (2002), Edwin Michael (2002, resigned), Duncan Pegg (2001) and Michael O'Reilly (1998).
Most recent past Presidents of the SRC are members of the Labor Club, with that Club having won five out of the previous six elections (four in landslides) including the most recent three in a row.
The main rivals to the Labor Club, the Trotskyist Broad Left had a history of being successful throughout the 1990s but, by the early 2000s, their grip on power had begun to wane. The only victory they have achieved in the last six years was the close-run 2003 election but were subsequently defeated the next year in a then-record victory to the Labor Club.
Some argue that the SRC became increasingly controversial when students voted to abolish the position of Women's Officer, replacing the position with a Male and Female Equity Officer. However, this came about as part of a wholesale rewrite of the Constitution, undertaken by the University administration concerned at irregular procedure in successive administrations. Despite opposition from the Broad Left, the rewrite was endorsed electorally by students. As well as the formation of an Equity Committee to ensure an equal voice for minority students, the rewrite moved the SRC to a 'federal' system of administration, giving greater power to each campus.
The SRC is affiliated to the national union of students, however have failed to pay their affilliation fees to NUS over the past three years. The SRC dominated by labor students continues to send delegates to NUS igniting a lot of contorversy as the organisation refuses to hold democratic elections for the positions of those delegates, and refuses to pay its fees.
On
1 March 2004 , like nearly all other Australian universities, the university's administration agreed to raise the tuition fees (except for nursing and education courses) by 25% and accept full-fee-paying domestic students, in line with Federal Government tertiary education reforms. Opponents of the fee-hikes suggested that Griffith University could instead save money on its
Advertising campaigns. However, the university viewed this decision as a necessary step towards ensuring Griffith retain its edge in the marketplace as being one of Australia's leading tertiary institutions for both student demand, quality and research excellence.
The latest information on Griffith's academic and administrative elements is available online at http://www.griffith.edu.au/elements/
- School of Arts
- School of Arts, Media and Culture
- School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
- School of Languages and Linguistics
- School of Theology
- Griffith Film School
- Queensland College of Art
- School of Cognition, Language and Special Education
- School of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning
- School of Education and Professional Studies
- School of Vocational, Technology and Arts Education
- Griffith Law School
- Griffith Business School
- Graduate School of Management
- School of Science
- Griffith School of Engineering
- School of Aviation
- School of Information and Communication Technology
- Australian School of Environmental Studies
- School of Environmental and Applied Science
- School of Environmental Planning
- School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science
- School of Medicine
- School of Pharmacy
- School of Dentistry and Oral Health
- School of Anatomy
- School of Human Services
- School of Medical Science
- School of Nursing and Midwifery
- School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science
- School of Psychology
- School of Public Health
- Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Research Centre
- Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture
- Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention
- Centre for Applied Language, Literacy & Communication Studies
- Centre for Aquatic Processes and Pollution
- Centre for Forestry and Horticultural Research
- Centre for Governance and Public Policy
- Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Management
- Centre for Innovative Conservation Strategies
- Centre for Learning Research
- Centre for Organisational Governance & Performance Management
- Centre for Public Culture and Ideas
- Centre for Quantum Dynamics
- Centre for Environmental Systems Research
- Centre for Riverine Landscapes
- Centre for Wireless Monitoring and Applications
- Centre for Work, Leisure & Community Research
- Eskitis Institute for Cell and Molecular Therapies
- Forensic Science Research and Innovation Centre
- Genomics Research Centre
- Griffith Asia Institute
- Griffith Centre for Coastal Management
- Griffith Islamic Research Unit
- Griffith Medical Research College
- Griffith Psychological Health Research Centre
- Heart Foundation Research Centre
- Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law
- Institute for Integrated & Intelligent Systems
- Institute for Glycomics
- International Centre for Ecotourism Research
- International Fruit Fly Research Centre
- Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance
- Nanoscale Science and Technology Centre
- Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre
- Queensland Microtechnology Facility
- Research Centre for Clinical Practice Innovation
- Service Industry Research Centre
- Socio-Legal Research Centre
- Software Quality Institute
- Urban Research Program
