The story
Pre-1958: Push for University Decentralisation in Queensland
In 1941, the Queensland Labor Premier, William Forgan Smith, introduced section 17 of the National Education Co-ordination and University of Queensland Amendment Act, which provided for the creation of university colleges outside Brisbane. In 1944 and 1945, a series of Rockhampton delegations lobbied the Queensland government for a university college, but after the University of Queensland established a network of provincial study centres in the late 1940s the issue became dormant.
Rockhampton's university campaign resumed in the 1950s as Central Queensland became an emerging heavy industry base, with developing coal mines and Gladstone emerging as a light metals centre. In the Queensland parliament in November 1956, the local member for Rockhampton (H R Gardner) stated "more adequate facilities for technical education" were required for the region and, appealing to the philosophy of a "fair go", he urged that Rockhampton people be given "the same opportunities as those in Brisbane". In 1958, P J Goldston, an engineer (later, Commissioner for Railways,) mooted the possibility of a Central Queensland university with Rockhampton engineers.
1958 to 1967: Central Queensland University Development Association (UDA)
After further community discussion, the Central Queensland University Development Association (UDA) was constituted. The Rockhampton Mayor, Alderman Rex Pilbeam, called the first public meeting of UDA on 3 March 1959.
The UDA presented university proposals to government and, in 1961, the Queensland government reserved 161 hectares (400 acres) of government land at Parkhurst (North Rockhampton) on the Bruce Highway near the Yeppoon turnoff as a tertiary education site. Establishment finally was resolved in March 1965, when the Commonwealth government's Martin Report (on expansion of tertiary education) was tabled in parliament by Prime Minister Menzies―who announced the foundation of a new style of tertiary institution at both Rockhampton and Toowoomba. The new institutes were to be affiliated with the main Queensland Institute of Technology campus in Brisbane and lacked the autonomy of universities, being controlled by the Queensland Department of Education.
1967 to 1971: Queensland Institute of Technology (Capricornia) (QITC)
The Queensland Institute of Technology (Capricornia) first opened in February 1967 without a permanent campus or significant development of buildings. The initial intake was 71 full-time and part-time students. While building progressed at Parkhurst, the first classes were held on the top floor of the Technical College in Bolsover Street, which lacked laboratories, library facilities or stock.
By 1969, most staff and students transferred to the Parkhurst campus, still a bushland site in progress. In the summer months, the campus was often ringed by spectacular bush fires or deluged with torrential rain: cars slid in the mud or were bogged and the QITC's foundation Principal, Dr Allan Skertchly, ferried people in his 4WD across floodwaters. Some students slept temporarily on mattresses in the canteen while waiting for the first residential college to open.
1971 to 1989: Capricornia Institute of Advanced Education (CIAE)
After the passage of the amended Education Act in 1971, QITC became an autonomous, multi-functional college under the control of its own council and took the name of Capricornia Institute of Advanced Education (CIAE).
Along with creating a traditional university campus experience in a natural setting, the CIAE also developed engineering and science projects. The CIAE became the first college in Australia to introduce a Bachelor of Science externally in 1974.
Read the full text
By 1979, external enrolments at the CIAE had increased to 825 and by 1985 distance education had become a major campus operation, exceeding internal enrolments and offering 12 courses involving some 100 subjects and processing 23,980 study packages annually.
Between 1978 and 1989, the CIAE established branch campuses in Central Queensland at Gladstone, Mackay, Bundaberg and Emerald.
1990 to 1991: University College of Central Queensland (UCCQ)
The Capricornia Institute of Advanced Education became the University College of Central Queensland in 1990 under the sponsorship of the University of Queensland.
1992 to 1994: University of Central Queensland (UCQ)
The University College of Central Queensland became the University of Central Queensland in 1992 when it gained full university status.
1994 to present: Central Queensland University (CQUniversity)
In 1994, the name Central Queensland University was adopted. In 2008 it was rebranded with the current title of CQUniversity Australia.In 2001, the university appointed Queensland's first female Vice-Chancellor, Professor Glenice Hancock, who retired in 2004.
From 2009 onward, CQUniversity launched a new strategic plan to grow student numbers and expand course offerings, especially within the health disciplines. New course offerings included physiotherapy, podiatry, occupational therapy, speech pathology, oral health sonography, and medical imaging. CQUniversity also delivers courses in discipline areas including apprenticeships, trades and training, business, accounting and law, creative, performing and visual arts, education and humanities, engineering and built environment, health, information technology and digital media, psychology, social work and community services, science and environment, and work and study preparation.
In 2014, CQUniversity merged with CQ TAFE to establish Queensland's first dual sector university. CQUniversity is now the public provider of TAFE in the central Queensland region and also delivers vocational courses at other locations across Australia and online. Following the merger CQUniversity now delivers more than 300 courses from short courses through to PhDs.
CQUniversity is the only Australian university to be accredited as a Changemaker Campus by global social innovation group Ashoka U.
In March 2018 the university announced it was in talks to establish a medical school at its Rockhampton and Bundaberg campuses. Discussions are with the Hospital and Health Services of Central Queensland and Wide Bay, the main physical organisation of Queensland Health in the two regions.
From Wikipedia’s article on CQUniversity Australia, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3