Edith Cowan University
Edith Cowan University (ECU) is a public research university in Western Australia. 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. 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, making it the modern descendant of the first tertiary institution in Western Australia.
| Latin: Universitas Edithae Cowaniana | |||||||||
Former names |
| ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motto | Freedom Through Knowledge (English) | ||||||||
| Type | Public research university | ||||||||
| Established |
| ||||||||
| Accreditation | TEQSA | ||||||||
| Affiliation |
| ||||||||
Academic affiliations | |||||||||
| Endowment | A$1.20 billion (2022) | ||||||||
| Budget | A$439.55 million (2022) | ||||||||
| Chancellor | Denise Goldsworthy AO FTSE | ||||||||
| Vice-Chancellor | Prof Steve Chapman CBE FRSE FRSC | ||||||||
Academic staff | 739 (FTE, 2022) | ||||||||
Administrative staff | 1,125 (FTE, 2022) | ||||||||
Total staff | 1,864 (2022) | ||||||||
| Students | 28,737 (2022) | ||||||||
| Undergraduates | 18,677 (2022) | ||||||||
| Postgraduates | 7,496 (2022) | ||||||||
| 640 (2022) | |||||||||
Other students | 1,924 (2022) | ||||||||
| Location | Perth and Bunbury , Western Australia , 31°45′00″S 115°46′15″E | ||||||||
| Campus | Urban and regional, 120.7 hectares (298.3 acres) | ||||||||
| Named after | Edith Dircksey Cowan OBE | ||||||||
| Colours | Lavender, orange, navy and white
| ||||||||
| Nickname |
| ||||||||
Sporting affiliations | UniSport Nationals Western Series Elite Athlete University Network (EAUN) | ||||||||
| Mascot | Ernie the Emu | ||||||||
| Website | ecu.edu.au | ||||||||
It offers study programs in healthcare, biomedicine, computer science, education, engineering, psychology, sports science, law, aeronautics and the performing arts. It also offers a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) research program and various majors of study in commerce, the arts and sciences. The university has a close working relationship 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. ECU also has a notable cybersecurity research and education program, being one of two universities operating federal Academic Centres of Cyber Security Excellence (ACCSE) and the only Australian member university in the InterNational Cyber Security Center of Excellence (INCS-CoE).
It has two metropolitan campuses in Perth (Joondalup and Mount Lawley) and a regional campus in Bunbury. The Joondalup campus features an outdoor movie cinema operated by Telethon Community Cinemas, which operates in the evenings, and the world's largest periodic table of elements. The Mount Lawley campus, which is home to its Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, is re-locating to the Perth CBD in late 2025 as part of a new city campus to be built in Yagan Square. The Bunbury campus is located in a park adjacent to the St John of God Bunbury Hospital which is home to a diverse range of wildlife including cockatoos, possums, kangaroos, wallabies and owls.
The university is notable for having very high student satisfaction rates and employment outcomes. According to the Australian Government's QILT, ECU graduates had a full-time employment rate of 93% with a median salary of A$86,900 within three years, the highest of Western Australian universities in 2023. According to QILT's 2022 Student Experience Survey, ECU was in the top five Australian universities for teaching quality, skills development, student support, learning resources and overall experience. As of the Good Universities Guide 2023, it is also one of two national universities to have maintained a 5-star rating in teaching quality for 17 consecutive years.