About UniSA
Founded in 1991, the University of South Australia (UniSA) is an innovative, outward-looking university built on more than a century’s experience as a leader in educating professionals and undertaking applied research.
At UniSA we value world-class scholarship that meets the needs of our global community and solves real-world problems. We engage with industry and the professions in all of our teaching and research endeavours, so that our graduates have the opportunity to gain professional experience and are immediately able to put their new knowledge into practice.
In addition, the University has an excellent record in the provision of flexible education, online and offshore teaching programs.
The University fosters an intellectually rigorous research environment and is a key partner in ten national Cooperative Research Centres. It hosts eight Research Institutes specialising in nanotechnology, biotechnology, particle and material interfaces; pharmaceutical and health research; defence; wireless communications; sustainable systems and technologies; marketing science; advanced manufacturing; and environmental and social sustainability.
In addition, UniSA’s Division of Business is one of only 115 business schools world-wide, including only eight in Australia, to have its programs accredited by the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS).
UniSA is particularly proud of its vibrant student community who make up the dynamic and international fabric of the University. Over 13,000 of our 36,000 students are international students from over 70 different countries.
At UniSA we are also committed to social justice, reconciliation and providing educational opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. With this in mind, the University is now host to National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education and the International Centre for Muslim and non-Muslim Understanding.
The University operates five campuses in South Australia: four in metropolitan Adelaide and one in Whyalla. Each campus promotes a collaborative research culture and an innovative teaching and learning approach. In addition, UniSA operates the Mount Gambier Regional Centre as part of our commitment to developing sustainable regional communities.
Each of the University’s campuses promote a collaborative research culture and an innovative teaching and learning approach. Our focus on industry partnerships, flexible entrance policies, regional engagement and Indigenous education have earned UniSA a distinctive position in the international and national higher education landscape.
Achievements 2008
Awards
• UniSA was awarded the Inaugural Ashley Goldsworthy Award for Sustained Collaboration between Business and Higher Education (Business and Higher Education Round Table of Australia).
• Professor John Lynch was awarded a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Australia Fellowship for his research into population health.
• Professor Jennifer McKay was awarded a Fulbright Senior Scholarship for her research into water law and management, to be furthered at the University of California, Berkeley.
• Ms Sue Gilbert-Hunt was granted the University’s first Award for Teaching Excellence in the Australian University Teaching Awards (Australian Learning and Teaching Council).
• Dr Alison Coates, Dr Mark McDonnell and Dr Michael Sorich were awarded 2008 Young Tall Poppy Science Awards for outstanding scientific research (Australian Institute of Policy and Science).
• Professor Drew Dawson was granted the Excellence in Research for Commercial Benefit Award for his research into fatigue-related accidents (South Australian Science Excellence Awards).
• Laureate Professor John Ralston AO was awarded the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering Clunies Ross Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in particle physics and colloid science.
• UniSA was granted the Innovation and Excellence Award for the Kaurna Building at the City West campus (2008 Property Council National Awards).
Milestones
• UniSA earned $AUD54.7 million in research income for the first time in our history, representing a 19.6% increase over 2007 and an 81% increase over 2005.
• We won a $AUD40 million grant from the Australian Government’s Education Investment Fund to invest in a $AUD73 million Materials and Minerals Science Learning and Research Hub at the Mawson Lakes campus.
• We were awarded $AUD10 million in State and Federal funding to establish an International Centre for Muslim and non-Muslim Understanding, designed to investigate triggers for inter-cultural conflict.
• We launched a new National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education to investigate ways to boost university attendance by students from low socioeconomic backgrounds.
• A new $AUD18 million Environmental Science building was completed at the Mawson Lakes campus, equipped with state-of-the-art laboratories for world-leading research into environmental contamination and remediation.
• We entered a $AUD7 million partnership with the Australian National University to share teaching and research expertise in health, medicine and engineering, funded by the Australian Government’s Diversity and Structural Adjustment Fund.
• We won six teaching and learning grants from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC), the highest number of grants awarded to any eligible institution.
• Our MBA program became the highest ranked in South Australia and among Australia’s top ten, with a five-star rating by the Graduate Management Association of Australia.
• UniSA was named an Employer of Choice for Women by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) for the sixth consecutive year since 2003.
