Good Universities Spotlight: Edith Cowan University
Our formal name is Edith Cowan University, but to many we’re known simply as ‘ECU’.
We’re the only Australian university to be named after a woman, Edith Cowan OBE, the first woman to be elected to an Australian Parliament.
Edith Cowan was born in 1881 and fervently believed that education was the key to growth, change and improvement. Throughout her life, she strove to achieve social justice and campaigned for the rights of women, children and families, as well as the poor, the poorly educated and the elderly.
It’s fitting, then, that as Western Australia’s oldest education institution and its newest public university, we bear her name.
Granted university status in 1991, today we have over 31,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students, more than 7,000 of whom are international students from over 100 countries outside Australia.
ECU has eight teaching schools: Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Education, Engineering, Medical and Health Sciences, Nursing and Midwifery, Science, and the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.
Our courses are developed in close consultation with industry, with our teaching staff also having extensive industry experience and networks.
These close connections with industry groups and professional bodies enable us to offer students experiences like work placements, fieldwork, networking events and volunteering opportunities. It can sometimes lead to post-graduation employment!
At ECU, we are proud to have again been ranked in the world’s top 100 universities under 50 years old in the 2021 Times Higher Education Young University Rankings.
We are equally proud that in the 2022 Good Universities Guide, ECU graduates have given us a 5-star rating for teaching quality, a result that has now been achieved for 15 years in a row. This record is only matched by one other public university in Australia.
ECU was also rated 5 stars and ranked top Western Australia university for overall experience, skills development, student support, learning resources and learner engagement.
Our students and graduates fulfil crucial roles in our society and their outstanding achievements have been recognised not only in Australia, but also internationally through awards, grants, scholarships and prizes.
