Flinders University

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Flinders University


Motto	Think, Learn, Lead, Link
Established	1966
Type	Public
Chancellor	Sir Eric Neal
Vice-Chancellor	Anne Edwards
Faculty	631
Undergraduates	15,110
Postgraduates	(included in above)
Location	Adelaide, SA, Australia (35°01′14.95″S, 138°34′21.90″E)
Campus	Bedford Park, South Australia
Organisations	IRU Australia
Website	www.flinders.edu.au

Flinders University, or The Flinders University of South Australia, is a public university in Adelaide, founded in 1966. It is named in honour of navigator and explorer Matthew Flinders, who explored and surveyed the South Australian coastline in the early nineteenth century.

The university has established a reputation as a leading research institution with a devotion to innovation. It is a member of Innovative Research Universities Australia and ranks among the leading universities in Australia. Academically, the university pioneered a cross-diciplinary approach to education and has respected faculties in medicine, law, the sciences and humanities. It is also recognised for its history of radical student activism that has led to a high level of student involvement in university procedures.

The main university campus is located in the suburb of Bedford Park on an elevated site adjacent to the Sturt Gorge, with views over the Adelaide Plains and towards Gulf St. Vincent. Two smaller campuses, Sturt and Flinders Medical Centre, are situated alongside the main campus. The university does not have incorporated residential colleges, but students accepted are housed in affiliated colleges and the university provides some on-campus accommodation for students in the Deirdre Jordan Village and University Hall.

1 History
2 Campuses
3 Organisation
4 Student life
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

View of Flinders University main campus, with central plaza and lakeside area visible.

Flinders University was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, on March 25, 1966, as the Bedford Park campus of the University of Adelaide.

Just 18 days earlier, however, the South Australian Parliament had passed legislation to create an independent institution and the State's second university officially came into being on July 1. There were 90 staff, four schools and just over 400 students. Professor Peter Karmel was the first Vice-Chancellor and Sir Mark Mitchell the first Chancellor.

The campus is built on land whose traditional owners are the Kaurna people. It has been owned by the State or Federal Government since 1917 when it was acquired to establish a tuberculosis sanatorium that initially housed returned World War I soldiers.^[1]

The University takes its name from British navigator Matthew Flinders, who explored and surveyed the South Australian coastline in 1802. Its coat of arms includes a reproduction of Flinders' ship Investigator and an extract from his book A Voyage to Terra Australis.

A significant early initiative was the decision to build the Flinders Medical Centre on land adjacent to the campus and to base the university's Medical School within this new public hospital - the first such integration in Australia. FMC opened in 1976.

In 1990, the biggest building project on campus since the mid-70s saw work commence on three new buildings - Law and Commerce; Engineering; and Information Science and Technology.

In 1991, as part of a restructuring of higher education in South Australia, Flinders merged with the adjacent Sturt Campus of the former South Australian College of Advanced Education.

In 1992 the present four-Faculty structure was adopted.

In 2002, the new Australian Science and Mathematics School was built adjacent to the Sturt buildings. A joint venture between Flinders and the State Government, the school is the first in Australia to be fully integrated with a university.

From the Flinders University website (Accessed 31 August 2006) URL: http://www.flinders.edu.au/about/history.html

[edit] Campuses

The university maintains a number of external teaching facilities in regional South Australia, south-west Victoria and the Northern Territory. International students make up 10% of the on-campus student population and a number of offshore programs are also offered, primarily in the Asia-Pacific region.

[edit] Organisation

View of the courtyard of the Humanities building of the Flinders University.

Flinders University offers more than 160 undergraduate and postgraduate courses, as well as higher degree research supervision across all disciplines. Many courses use new information and communication technologies to supplement face-to-face teaching and provide flexible options.

[edit] Faculties

Faculty of Education, Humanities, Law and Theology
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Science and Engineering
Faculty of Social Sciences

[edit] Institutes

[edit] Internal

Centre for Applied Philosophy
Centre for Development Studies
Centre for Neuroscience
Centre for Research in the New Literatures in English
Flinders Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Flinders Institute for Health and Medical Research
Flinders University Institute of International Education
National Institute of Labour Studies Inc
Flinders Centre for Coast and Catchment Environments

[edit] External

Australian Centre for Community Services Research
Centre for Ageing Studies
Centre for Groundwater Studies
Centre for Scandinavian Studies
Centre for Theology, Science and Culture
International Institute of Palliative and Supportive Studies
Lincoln Marine Science Centre
National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction
Primary Health Care Research and Information Service
Research Centre for Injury Studies
South Australian Centre for Economic Studies
Cooperative Research Centres in which Flinders University is a participant
Aboriginal Health
Bioproducts
Sensor Signal and Information Processing
Sustainable Aquaculture of Finfish

[edit] Affiliates

Australian Science and Mathematics School
Flinders Medical Centre
Adelaide Central School of Art
Adelaide College of Divinity
Helpmann Academy

[edit] Student life

This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it.

[edit] Activism

[edit] Housing

Main article: Flinders University Hall

[edit] Media

Main article: Empire Times

[edit] Sports

Flinders University has many sports teams that compete in social and compeitive competitions. Flinders fury is the Ultimate Frisbee club of Flinders University.

Flinders University also fields a side in the Division 5 and Division 6 levels of the South Australian Baseball League.

Flinders University also fields four mens soccer teams in Saturday division 2A, 2B, 3A and 3B levels of the Flinders Soccer Club.

[edit] References

^ Gunton, Eric (November 1986). Tracing Our Towns, Stories of Same Named Places in South Australia and the United Kingdom. South Australia: Self Published, p.9. ISBN 0-959-20942-5.