Year in review

UWA staff, students and researchers celebrated many significant achievements over 2019. Here's a look at just some of these milestones.

  • UWA’s Fit For Study program, focusing on improving students’ health and wellbeing, is recognised with an award at the Australian Awards for University Teaching.
  • A UWA plant scientist who made significant breakthroughs in disease resistance in canola wins the prestigious 2019 Nancy Millis Medal for Women in Science.
  • UWA launches IQX – an innovation, co-working and event space to help grow Western Australian small-tomedium-sized enterprises.
  • The WA Premier announces that UWA will lead the development of the LNG Futures Facility, which will include a world-first microscale liquefied natural gas plant for research and education.
  • UWA announces its bold new vision: UWA 2030, an ambitious agenda empowering staff and students to help address the world’s greatest challenges. UWA 2030 will create the next generation of global leaders through experience-rich education and world-leading, trustworthy research.
  • The Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) is established with funding of $329 million to be the largest-ever CRC. UWA researchers will play a key role in investigating how to meet growing demand for renewable offshore energy sources.
  • Construction begins on the Bilya Marlee (River of the Swan) building. Set to be completed in mid-2020, it will house the School of Indigenous Studies, the Centre for Aboriginal Medical and Dental Health, and the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health.
  • UWA is awarded platinum status in the 2019 Australian Workplace Equality Index, which lists the University in the top five employers for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer/questioning, asexual (LGBTIQA+) inclusion.
  • A research program led by UWA receives $5 million to improve the delivery of mental health services for Australia’s Indigenous population - part of the Federal Government’s Medical Research Future Fund Million Minds Mission.
  • UWA students win the ExxonMobil Student Scientist of the Year and Shell Aboriginal STEM Student of the Year at the 2019 Premier’s Science Awards.
  • EZONE North, the first section of the EZONE UWA Student Hub, opens its doors to students, industry and staff. The full facility is expected to open in 2020.
  • UWA’s Public Policy Institute launches Big Issues for Western Australia: Policy Options for 2019 and the Challenges Ahead.
  • Emeritus Professor Cheryl Praeger wins the prestigious Prime Minister’s Prize for Science for her contribution to the mathematical sciences.
  • UWA celebrates two decades of learning, teaching and research in Albany.
  • A mechanical weed chipper designed by engineers and researchers from UWA and The University of Sydney wins the Rio Tinto Emerging Innovation category at the 2019 WA Innovator of the Year awards.
  • Philanthropist and education advocate Dr Annie Fogarty AM and world-leading pre-term birth expert Professor John Newnham are recognised in the 2020 WA Australian of the Year Awards.
  • UWA and industry partners open a joint Centre for Long Subsea Tiebacks research laboratory, positioning WA as a global energy hub and stimulating jobs and the economy.

Key statistics

  • 4 faculties
  • 21 schools
  • 32 research centres
  • 2 research institutes

Students

  • Student headcount: 25,353
  • 18,978 students on full-time load
  • 5,529 postgraduates (by coursework)
  • 1,553 higher degree (by research)
  • 11,896 undergraduates

Staff

  • 3,348 full-time equivalent staff
  • 1,973 professional staff
  • 1,375 academic staff

Community engagement

  • More than 18k Twitter followers
  • More than 155k Facebook likes
  • 6,813 Monitored media items

Research

  • $177,125,781 research income (2017 data)
  • 5,410 research publications

Rankings

  • The 2019 Academic Ranking of World Universities ranks UWA 99th in the world.
  • The 2019 QS World University Rankings places UWA 86th in the world.
  • The Times Higher Education World University Rankings in 2019 ranks UWA 131st in the world.
  • 5 stars for student demand, student/staff ratio and student retention (QS World Rankings 2019).