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Griffith University

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Griffith University is an Australian public university with five campuses in Brisbane and two at the Gold Coast. It currently has 31,000 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.

Contents

History

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. 

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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.

Griffith University Law School

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.

Griffith University International Alumni Network

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] 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.

Notable alumni

Sporting, Social and Cultural

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 2003-2005.

The Griffith University Gladiators are an Australian rules football club formed in 2001, competing in the AFLQ State Association.

The Griffith Medical School beat Bond University Medical School in the inaugural touch football series of 2005.

Student Union and Representation

Griffith University students are uniquely represented by two statutory embedded student organisations as a legacy of both political differences and campus amalgamations. The Griffith University Student Representative Council (GUSRC) represents undergraduate students and the Griffith University Post-graduate Students Association (GUPSA) represents post-graduate students 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 (2005/6 - resigned due to corruption), David Allen (2005, resigned) and Monique Bielanowski (2004).

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 last three. 

The main rivals to the Labor Club, the Trotskyist National 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 2002 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 in 2004 when its Constitution was re-written, abolishing the position of Environment Officer, increasing accountability, implementing minimum funding to departments and introducing a 'federal' system of administration, giving greater power to each campus. Despite opposition from the National Broad Left, the rewrite was endorsed electorally by 69% of the students that voted.


In 2005, there were many forced resignations in the SRC, most of which Glen Chatterton was responsible for. Chatterton made David Allen resign, and replaced him as President before getting re-elected later that year. In early 2006 he also resigned, and Leon Bertrand was appointed as President in spite of Chatterton's efforts to stop him.    


The SRC was affiliated to the National Union of Students, however failed to pay its affiliation fees to NUS over the past three years. The SRC continues to send observers to NUS.


The GUSRC has recently been allocated rent-free premises and will continue to function in spite of the introduction of Voluntary Student Unionism.



Publications




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Academic Structure

The latest information on Griffith's academic and administrative elements is available online at http://www.griffith.edu.au/elements/


Arts, Education and Law


Business

Science and Technology

Health


Research Facilities

Research Centres


External links






Universities in Australia



Adelaide |
Australian Catholic |
Australian National |
Ballarat |
Bond |
Canberra |
Central Queensland |
Charles Darwin |
Charles Sturt |
Curtin |
Deakin |
Edith Cowan |
Flinders |
Griffith |
James Cook |
La Trobe |
Macquarie |
Melbourne |
Monash |
Murdoch |
New England |
New South Wales |
Newcastle |
Notre Dame |
Queensland |
QUT |
RMIT |
South Australia |
Southern Cross |
Southern Queensland |
Sunshine Coast |
Swinburne |
Sydney |
Tasmania |
UTS |
Victoria |
Western Australia |
Western Sydney |
Wollongong







Innovative Research Universities Australia



Flinders University |
Griffith University |
La Trobe University |
Macquarie University |
Murdoch University |
University of Newcastle
















 





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