Edith Cowan University
Edith Cowan University (ECU) is a public research university in Western Australia.[8] It is named in honour of the first woman to be elected to an Australian parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Australian university named after a woman.[9] It is the second-largest university in the state with over 30,000 students in 2023.[4] Gaining university status in 1991, it was formed from an amalgamation of tertiary colleges with a history dating back to 1902 when the Claremont Teachers College was established,[10] making it the modern descendant of the first tertiary institution in Western Australia.[11]
Former names
- Claremont Teachers College
(1902–1981) - Western Australian College of Advanced Education
(1982–1990)
- Claremont Teachers College
- 1902 (tertiary college)
- 1991 (university status)
30,135 (2023)[4]
18,048 (2023)[4]
9,573 (2023)[4]
654 (2023)[4]
1,860 (2023)[4]
Lavender, orange, navy and white[6]
Various
Ernie the Emu[7]
It offers study programs in healthcare, biomedicine, computer science, education, engineering, psychology, sports science, law, aeronautics and the performing arts.[12] It also offers a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) research program and various majors of study in commerce, the arts and sciences.[13] The university has a partnership with the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom, with which it offers dual-enrolled programs with integrated overseas study, and the University of Tasmania for naval engineering.[14][15] ECU also has a notable cybersecurity research program being one of two universities operating federal Academic Centres of Cyber Security Excellence (ACCSE)[16] and the only Australian member university in the InterNational Cyber Security Center of Excellence (INCS-CoE).[17]
It has two metropolitan campuses in Perth (Joondalup and Mount Lawley) and a regional campus in Bunbury.[18] The main Joondalup campus forms the flagship institution of the Joondalup Learning Precinct and features a pine park and pond in the university quadrangle.[19] The Mount Lawley campus, which is home to its Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts among other schools, is re-locating to the Perth CBD in late 2025 as part of a new city campus to be built in Yagan Square.[20][21] The Bunbury campus is located in bushland adjacent to the St John of God Bunbury Hospital which is home to a diverse range of native wildlife including cockatoos, possums, quolls, kangaroos and wallabies.[22][23]
The university has produced some of Australia's most prominent figures in the performing arts, operates a large nursing school,[24] has a long history of teacher education[10] and has a significant presence in cybersecurity research.[16][17] It is also notable for achieving the highest student satisfaction rate nationally among the 37 public universities that participate in the federal government's QILT Student Experience Survey.[25] It has retained the position annually from 2020 to the latest survey in 2022.[26][27] As of the Good Universities Guide 2024, it is also one of two national universities to have maintained a 5-star student satisfaction rating for teaching quality for 17 consecutive years.[28]
Organisation[edit]
Teaching schools[edit]
The university has eight teaching schools, each with their own school colours.[47]
School of Business and Law
The School of Business and Law was established during 1975 in Churchlands as the School of Business Studies and originally offered majors in accounting and administrative studies before expanding to other fields and campuses. The inaugural Head of School was Dr Valentine M Pervan, who assumed the role in 1 July 1975, and courses started the following year with an initial enrolment of 224 students. The school provided the college's first courses in computing studies, which used PDP 11 and IBM 4331 computers. The school received a donation of one IBM System/82 from International Business Machines (IBM) in November 1982/1983, which was installed at the Mount Lawley campus. The school later became centralised at the newly-built Joondalup campus but continued offering programs at other campuses.[39]
The school provides education and research programs in various fields of commerce and law. These include double degree undergraduate programs with each other, engineering, psychology, criminology and various fields in the arts.[48] The school is accredited by Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (ACCSB), an accrediting body for business schools.[49]
ECU plans to shift the school to the planned Perth CBD campus, which is projected to open in 2026.[49]
University rankings
516
351–400
601–700
495
29
25
27–28
27
32
6
