Edith Cowan University
Edith Cowan University is a public research university in Western Australia. It is named in honour of Edith Cowan, the first woman to be elected to an Australian parliament. It is the second-largest university in the state with over 30,000 students in 2023. 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.
It offers study programs in healthcare, biomedicine, computer science, education, engineering, psychology, sports science, law, business, humanities, social sciences, aeronautics and the performing arts. It also offers a Doctor of Philosophy research program and various majors of study in commerce, the arts and sciences. The university has a partnership 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 program being one of two universities operating federal Academic Centres of Cyber Security Excellence and the only Australian member university in the InterNational Cyber Security Center of Excellence.
It has two metropolitan campuses in Perth and a regional campus in Bunbury. The main Joondalup campus forms the flagship institution of the Joondalup Learning Precinct. The Perth CBD campus, known as ECU City, is home to its Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, and is located west of Yagan Square. The Bunbury campus is located adjacent to the St John of God Bunbury Hospital.
The university has produced some of Australia's most prominent figures in the performing arts, operates a large nursing school, has a long history of teacher education and has a significant presence in cybersecurity research.
History
In 1847, the General Board of Education was established to oversee school development in the Swan River Colony. After becoming the Central Board of Education, it was superseded by the then-called Education Department in 1893, which classified schools, graded teachers, defined teachers' positions, implemented a salary scale for teachers, abolished school fees, provided for co-educational schools and made attendance compulsory for children between the ages of six and 14. At this time, the Education Department had "external study" for student teachers, where they taught in the classroom while studying for examinations set by the Department.The origins of Edith Cowan University date back to 1902 with the establishment of the Claremont Teachers College. Students could gain qualifications through studying at the College, which remained the only place one could do this until the 1950s when the Churchlands and Graylands colleges opened. The function of teacher education did not pass into the university sector until the 1980s. The former Claremont campus is on land between Goldsworthy, Princess and Bay Roads in the western Perth suburb of Claremont. It is a large two storey limestone building set in extensive grounds, with a distinctive square crenellated tower, and was entered in the Register of the National Estate in 1987.
Over time, other teacher training colleges were formed, including Graylands Teachers College in 1955, the Western Australian Secondary Teachers College in 1967 that was renamed Nedlands College of Advanced Education on 1 January 1979, Mount Lawley Teachers College in 1970 and Churchlands Teachers College in 1972. The Graylands Teachers College in 1977 was recommended by the Commonwealth Government for closure at the end of 1979, to be merged into Churchlands, Mount Lawley and Claremont.
On 11 December 1981, the Claremont Teachers College, Nedlands College of Advanced Education, Mount Lawley College of Advanced Education and Churchlands College of Advanced Education amalgamated to form the Western Australian College of Advanced Education, with campuses in Churchlands, Claremont, Mount Lawley and Nedlands. A new Bunbury campus started taking in students in 1986, and a new Joondalup campus in 1987. During the 1980s, Western Australia's first nursing education program was also established.
The Claremont Teachers College's last Director was Thomas Ryan, who completed his teacher training at the College and graduated in 1947. He was appointed Vice-Principal of the College in 1972, a position he held until his appointment as Director of the College in 1980.
In 1989, WACAE underwent an independent review led by the former University of Melbourne vice chancellor David Caro in the form of the Caro Committee, which included Roy Lourens who later became vice chancellor of Edith Cowan University. One of the earlier proposals in the late 1980s for the name of the institution was Perth University. WACAE was granted university status on 1 January 1991 and changed its name to Edith Cowan University after Edith Dircksey Cowan, the first woman to be elected to an Australian Parliament., Edith Cowan University is the only Australian university named after a woman.
Cowan worked to raise funds for students to attend universities in other states, prior to a university being built in Western Australia, obtaining government support for her scheme. Her work in this area was acknowledged by naming Western Australia's oldest tertiary education institution and newest university after her, as well as her image being added to the 1995 and 2018 designs of the Australian $50 note.
Cowan believed that education was the key to growth, change and improvement and her contribution to the development of Western Australian education was significant. She strove to achieve social justice and campaigned for the rights of women, children and families, for the poor, the poorly educated and the elderly. She promoted sex education in schools, migrant welfare, and the formation of infant health centres, and was instrumental in obtaining votes for women in Western Australia.
In 1991, the university purchased the house that Cowan, her husband and family had resided in for approximately 20 years. The house was reconstructed on the university's Joondalup campus with the assistance of the West Coast College of TAFE, and re-opened in 1997. Edith Cowan House, Building 20 on the university's Joondalup campus, currently plays host to the Peter Cowan Writers Centre.
The original Claremont building continued serving for 16 years as a campus of Edith Cowan University following that institution's formation in 1989. The campus was then acquired by the University of Western Australia and became home to the Confucius Institute, University of Western Australia Press and, until 2021, Taylors College.
In 2020, a $1.5-billion "Perth City Deal" between the federal government and state government of Western Australia proposed the relocation of the Mount Lawley campus to a site immediately west of Yagan Square, with the proposed new campus to be called "ECU City". On 17 December 2021, the city campus project was approved by DevelopmentWA. It was initially announced to open in 2025 at a cost of $695 million, but the cost later increased to $853 million. Construction on the site was expected to begin in the second quarter of 2022; construction ultimately kicked off in February 2023 and ended in late 2025 for an intended 2026 commencement of classes. Consequently, the existing campus at Mount Lawley ceased classes in late 2025 and will be vacated by the end of 2027.
Organisation
Teaching schools
The university has eight teaching schools, each with their own school colours.School of Business and Law
The School of Business and Law was established during 1975 in Churchlands as the School of Business Studies and originally offered majors in accounting and administrative studies before expanding to other fields and campuses. The inaugural Head of School was Dr Valentine M Pervan, who assumed the role in 1 July 1975, and courses started the following year with an initial enrolment of 224 students. The school provided the college's first courses in computing studies, which used PDP 11 and IBM 4331 computers. The school received a donation of one IBM System/82 from International Business Machines in November 1982/1983, which was installed at the Mount Lawley campus. The school later became centralised at the newly built Joondalup campus but continued offering programs at other campuses.
The school provides education and research programs in various fields of commerce and law. These include double degree undergraduate programs with each other, engineering, psychology, criminology and various fields in the arts. The school is accredited by Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, an accrediting body for business schools.
ECU School of Arts and Humanities
Broad disciplines: Communication, Arts, Humanities, Psychology, Social Sciences, Social Work, Criminology and Justice
School of Education
Broad disciplines: Teacher education for Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary schoolsSchool of Engineering
Broad disciplines: Full range of Engineering specialisations
School of Medical and Health Sciences
Broad disciplines: Exercise and Health Sciences, Medical Science, Biomedical Science, Speech Pathology and Paramedicine
School of Nursing and Midwifery
The School of Nursing and Midwifery was established in 1985 on the Nedlands campus of the Western Australian College of Advanced Education, before the institution was renamed to Edith Cowan University. A majority of the practical placements for the nursing program was based at the nearby Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. It expanded to the Bunbury campus in 1985 and fully moved to the Churchlands campus by October 1988 before becoming centralised at the newly built Joondalup campus. The ECU Churchlands campus continued graduating approximately 300 nursing students annually until December 2007, after which the campus was closed, but the Bunbury campus continued offering nursing and midwifery programs.
The inaugural Head of School is Margaret Baird, who served from September 1984 to December 1991, and was a former state president of the Australian Nurses Federation and member of the Nurses Board. As of 2022, the ECU School of Nursing and Midwifery has the largest nursing cohort in Western Australia with 2,422 students and the only one with a double-degree program in both nursing and midwifery. It also offers postgraduate entry, education and research programs in nursing as well as the state's only nurse practitioner study program.
School of Science
Broad disciplines: Biology and Environmental Sciences, Mathematics, Physics, Biochemistry, Computing and Security Sciences
Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts
The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts is notable for being the most comprehensive performing arts school in Australia by disciplines of study. It offers study and research programs in acting, screen performance, arts and cultural management, dance, music, theatre, production and other fields of performing arts. It also offers a vocational program in Aboriginal performance and a Doctor of Philosophy research program with an integrated "performance, exhibition, event or an embodiment of some form".
The performing arts school showcases a large number of performances annually that are open to the public. This events are mostly held at WAAPA's own theatres and facilities in Mount Lawley. These include the 297-seat Geoff Gibbs Theatre proscenium, the 200-seat Richard Gill Auditorium, the 194-seat court style Roundhouse Theatre and a number of studios that can be converted to seat audiences. Performances and events are also held at various external venues such as the Rosemount Hotel, Government House Ballroom, Ellington Jazz Club, Luna Cinema, Subiaco Arts Centre, Studio Underground, Blue Room Theatre and the Albany Entertainment Centre.
The performing arts school, which has produced some of Australia's most prominent figures in the performing arts, is The ECU City campus, which is designed by Lyons and located west of Yagan Square, The campus on top of the underground Perth Busport opposite the Perth railway station.
As of 2019, the executive dean of the school is David Shirley. Prior to being assigned, he was the director of the Manchester School of Theatre and chair of the Federation of Drama Schools in the United Kingdom.