The University of Queensland

Since it was founded in Brisbane in 1909, The University of Queensland (UQ) has provided exceptional study experiences, research excellence and collaborative partnerships, coupled with an unforgettable lifestyle and stunning climate, to deliver knowledge leadership for a better world.

With 3 campuses and more than 40 teaching and research sites, UQ is the perfect place to teach, research and study. Take advantage of our extensive features including the largest research library in Queensland, hundreds of quality study spaces, several museums, a theatre, 11 college residences, and magnificent sporting facilities, such as gymnasiums, swimming pools, sports fields, Olympic-standard running tracks, and tennis, basketball and volleyball courts.

Our high-quality range of around 390 undergraduate and postgraduate programs is one of the most comprehensive in Australia, providing students with the latest and most advanced disciplinary knowledge and industry placements informed by UQ’s world-leading research. UQ’s 6 faculties, 8 globally recognised research institutes and 100+ research centres attract an interdisciplinary community of more than 2,000 scientists, social scientists and engineers, who continue UQ’s tradition of research leadership.

As you enjoy Queensland’s stunning campuses and climate, you can also make the most of the University’s proximity to many natural wonders – including beautiful beaches, lush rainforests, outback deserts, the Great Barrier Reef, as well as the largest sand island in the world – and visit stunning tourist attractions within an hour’s drive, such as the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, Byron Bay, Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, and the world-famous ‘Australia Zoo’. Within Australia, Brisbane is renowned as a friendly and affordable city, with plenty of dining and entertainment attractions, and was ranked by The Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2022 Global Liveability Index as the world’s 27th most liveable city.

With the motto Scientia ac Labore (Latin for 'by means of knowledge and hard work'), UQ has built on a foundation of tradition and history to create innovations that have had real impact in global society. Some achievements to date include:

• developing jet biofuels from sugarcane, and cheap pharmaceuticals – and food – from algae
• applying a biological-based alternative to chemical fungicides – using BioClay technology to protect Australia’s food and agribusiness sector
• helping prevent destructive outbreaks in the Great Barrier Reef of the crown-of-thorns starfish – through bio-controlled baits that use natural attractants
• developing new materials that will lead to cheaper and better battery storage – for powering electric vehicles as well as solar-battery storage systems in the home
• empowering 4 million families through our Triple P Positive Parenting Program – to create the kind of environments where children can flourish
• developing superconductor technology used in two-thirds of the world’s MRI machines – licensed to Siemens and GE Healthcare
• developing vaccine capabilities, including our patented molecular clamp technology, and Gardasil, the world’s first cervical cancer vaccine – which could save around 250,000 lives per year.

UQ is also home to the world’s longest-running scientific experiment, the Pitch Drop, which Physics Professor Thomas Parnell created in 1927 to show how everyday materials can exhibit quite surprising properties.

In the last 50 years alone, UQ has produced:

• a Nobel Prize winner
• 3 Australians of the Year
• an Academy/Emmy/Tony award winner, a triple Grammy award winner, and a triple Emmy award winner
• an international President and 2 Australian Governor-Generals
• 33 ARC Australian Laureate Fellows
• many elite athletes, acclaimed authors, ambassadors and media personalities
• several Governors, Premiers, Senators, Ministers, Lord Mayors and politicians
• countless CEOs, businesspeople, educators, humanitarians and philanthropists.

• #1 recipient of Australian Research Council (ARC) fellowships and awards
• More national teaching awards than any other Australian university
• 400+ global research partners, including Boeing, Siemens, the Dow Chemical Company, Baosteel, Rio Tinto and Pfizer
• 8 globally recognised research institutes
• 100+ research centres
• Around 55,000 students from more than 142 countries, with approximately one-third from overseas
• 6,900+ staff
• Network of 310,000+ alumni spanning 170+ countries, including 16,700+ PhDs
• Links to several teaching hospitals, and access to the renowned Ochsner medical program in the USA
• Member of Universities Australia and the Group of Eight; founding member of edX consortium of universities.

St Lucia campus

Located just 7 kilometres from Brisbane’s city centre, a location renowned for its relaxed and safe lifestyle, subtropical climate and unique architecture, UQ St Lucia is considered one of the most beautiful university campuses in the world.

The iconic sandstone Great Court lies at its heart and is surrounded by a complementary mix of heritage-listed and newly designed buildings that perfectly accommodate UQ’s bustling research, teaching and social activities. The campus is also home to world-class sporting facilities, idyllic lakes and green spaces, making it an ideal study, research and living environment – a vibrant campus with the tradition of an established university.

Gatton campus

UQ Gatton offers modern research and teaching facilities in agriculture, agribusiness and veterinary science. Nestled in a rural farming hub just an hour’s drive west of Brisbane City, the campus offers a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, and is home to world-class facilities including the southern hemisphere’s largest PV solar array research facility, an animal science precinct, an active veterinary medical centre with specialist equine facilities, and a pesticide wind tunnel facility.

Herston campus

Sharing premises with the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, UQ Herston is UQ’s core campus for clinical health teaching and research. Located just 3 kilometres from Brisbane’s city centre, UQ houses a thriving clinical and research community who deliver innovative and contemporary research and education programs in a clinical academic environment.

UQ has a proud history of creating change through research, and our impact extends across the globe. We are ranked in the world’s top 100 universities according to several major rankings systems, including QS (50), ARWU (47) and Times Higher Education (53).

We have been awarded more Australian Research Council (ARC) fellowships and awards than any other university – with 452 awards worth $339 million across all scheme years – recognising the outstanding quality of our 2,000-strong interdisciplinary research community.

To date, UQ discoveries have produced US$47 billion in gross product sales, and UQ intellectual property has founded more than 100 startups – a milestone unsurpassed by any other Australian university.

Working closely with government, business and research partners, UQ researchers are helping to solve the world’s most challenging problems across our 8 research impact themes:

• Defence, space and national security
• Energy transformation
• Advanced manufacturing technology
• Climate change and environment
• Olympics and Paralympics
• Health and medicine
• Minerals and resources
• Food and agriculture.

We are proud to collaborate with many of the world’s leading researchers from industry bases as diverse as Boeing, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and Trinity College Dublin.

Through numerous initiatives and partnerships, we have invested in central research platforms to provide a multi-million-dollar research infrastructure with advanced equipment, high-performing facilities, and premier training and services to enable our researchers, partners and students deliver groundbreaking outcomes.

Discover how we create change across these themes.