Since opening its doors in 1975, Griffith University has come to be regarded as one of Australia’s most innovative tertiary institutions and one of the most influential universities in the Asia-Pacific region.

We were the very first university in Australia to offer degrees in Asian studies and Environmental studies to our students and we remain a pioneer in these fields. We have grown to be a large multi-campus institution with internationally recognised strengths in teaching and research. Griffith now offers more than 300 degrees across five campuses and is home to more than 43,000 students from 131 countries. Griffith is Australia’s ninth largest higher education provider.

In December 1970 the Queensland Education Minister, Sir Alan Fletcher, approached the distinguished newspaper editor Sir Theodor Bray with the task of creating a new university. The brief was deceptively simple – to offer an alternative university experience to that already available in Queensland and other parts of Australia.

The State Government of the time had just one other requirement, that the new university be named after Sir Samuel Walker Griffith, a former Queensland Premier, Chief Justice of Queensland and the Chief Justice of Australia. A parcel of land at Nathan (10 kilometres south of central Brisbane) was formally named Griffith University in the Queensland Parliament on 21 September 1971.

The newly established Griffith Council developed a philosophy, not only to provide specialised academic courses but also to emphasise the general educational development of students. Central to this was the creation of theme-oriented schools. These schools were multi disciplinary with groups of disparate scholars integrating their research and teaching in problem-solving units.

The first Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Willett, was appointed in November 1971. The university opened its doors in 1975 to 451 students in four schools: Australian Environmental Studies, Humanities, Modern Asian Studies and Science. From these small but enthusiastic beginnings, Griffith University has grown to its present size and status with an enviable national and international reputation. No institution can remain static and Griffith has been fortunate that the seeds planted by the University’s founders have been nurtured and tended by its Chancellors, Sir Theodor Bray, Sir Alan Sewell, Chief Justice John Macrossan and now Ms Leneen Forde.

The introduction of a national unified system for tertiary education in 1988 resulted in the Mt Gravatt campus of Brisbane College of Advanced Education, the Gold Coast College of Advanced Education, the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and the Queensland College of Art all becoming part of Griffith University.

Consequently, the Brisbane-Gold Coast corridor became Griffith’s natural demographic area. Anticipating and planning for the likely higher education needs of this community has been one of the major challenges facing the university in the late 1990′s and the construction of the new $38 million campus at Logan City was an early outcome.

Griffith University has not only expanded and matured, but it has also moved beyond the expectations of its founders. In its capacity to continually innovate while adapting to change, it has successfully built on their ideals.

FAST FACTS

1. Established in 1971 and officially opened in 1975, the University is named in honour of Sir Samuel Griffith (1845-1920), a former Premier and Chief Justice of Queensland and the first Chief Justice of Australia
2. Griffith’s Queensland College of Art was established in Brisbane in 1881, followed in 1957 by the Queensland Conservatorium
3. We are home to over 43,000 students from all over the world
4. Griffith offers more than 300 degrees including undergraduate degrees,postgraduate and research degrees
5. We have five campuses: Gold Coast, Logan, Mt Gravatt, Nathan and South Bank
6. More than 120,000 graduates from over 156 countries have passed through our doors
7. Griffith was the first Australian university to offer Environmental science and Asian studies degrees
8. Griffith University is a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact - the world’s largest voluntary corporate and sustainability initiative
9. Griffith Business School is recognised by the Aspen Institute’s ‘Top 100’ for its leadership in integrating social, environmental and ethical issues into its programs. Our MBA is ranked #27 in the world, which is the highest Australian ranking, in the 2009-2010 Beyond Grey Pinstripes Global Top 100
10. Griffith Business School was the first Australian business school to sign the United Nations principles of responsible management education
11. Griffith University has international accreditation from AACSB International – the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. This accreditation is considered one of the highest achievements for an educational institution, with less than 5 per cent of the world’s business schools receiving the accolade
12. The prestigious QS World University Rankings places Griffith in the top 300 universities in the world, which means we are in the top 5% of universities in the world – as at 8 October 2009
13. We also appear in the top three hundred of these major international rankings:
    • QS World University Subject Rankings (2009) – Social Sciences (200), Arts and Humanities (268), Natural Sciences (294)
    • Global University Rankings (Russia) 256 (2009)
14. Our world leading teaching staff are not just passionate about what they do, they have also been recognised for it with a host of prestigious accolades including numerous Australian Learning and Teaching Council awards
15. Griffith University ranks among Australia’s top-10 research universities, according to the latest Excellence in Research for Australia* (ERA) results. Griffith’s research is world-standard or better in 18 broad fields of research placing Griffith in the top eight of universities of Australia. See ranking tables (*Based on fields of research at the 4-digit level in the Excellence in Research for Australia 2010 National Report)
16. In 2011, Griffith achieved outstanding funding outcomes from the NHMRC Project Grant round, with 9 new grants totalling almost $5.2 million. This was a substantial increase in both the number of grants and amount of funding awarded to the University under this scheme
17. Griffith was placed in the top eight among Australian universities for social sciences research in the QS World University Rankings. These rankings by subject are based on academic reputation, employer reputation and research citations, with weightings tailored to each subject. Griffith was one of only eight Australian universities to rank in the top 200 in four out of the six disciplines and was ranked in the top 51-100 universities in the world for Politics and International Studies as well as Law, and in the 151-200 range for Sociology and Economics and Econometrics.
18. Griffith achieved a ranking of 7th in Australia and 30th in the Asia-Pacific in theNature Publishing Index 2010 Asia-Pacific.  The Index ranks more than 450 institutions in the Asia-Pacific region based on the affiliations of authors of research articles appearing in Nature journals in the 2010 calendar year.
19. Griffith University has secured a top 500 position on the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) for the first time (2011). Griffith is only the second university in South East Queensland to make it onto this prestigious list, complementing its top 400 positions on both the QS World University Rankings and the Times HE World University Rankings.  The ARWU was first published in 2003 by the Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and is considered the most reputable and reliable global ranking of research performance.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT www.griffith.edu.au