Flinders University

The Flinders University of South Australia

Motto	Inspiring Achievement
Established	1966
Type	Public
Chancellor	Stephen Gerlach AM
Vice-Chancellor	Michael N Barber
Academic staff	887
Students	20,165
Location	Adelaide, SA, Australia 35°01′14.95″S 138°34′21.90″E / 35.0208194°S 138.57275°E / -35.0208194; 138.57275
Campus	Suburban
Organisations	IRU Australia
Website	www.flinders.edu.au

Flinders University is a public university in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of navigator Matthew Flinders, who explored and surveyed the South Australian coastline in the early 19th century.

The university has established a reputation as a leading research institution with a devotion to innovation. It is a member of the Innovative Research Universities (IRU) Group and ranks among the leading universities in Australia. Academically, the university pioneered a cross-disciplinary approach to education, and its faculties of medicine and the humanities are ranked among the nation's top 10. It is also ranked within the world's top 400 institutions in both Times Higher Education and the Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

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

History

Origins and construction

In the late 1950s, with the growth of population in South Australia and the University of Adelaide's North Terrace campus reaching full capacity, the need for a second South Australian university was identified. In 1960, Premier Thomas Playford announced that 150 hectares (370 acres) of state government-owned land in Burford (now Bedford Park) would be allocated to the University of Adelaide for the establishment of a second campus.

Planning began in 1961. The principal-designate of the new campus, economist and professor Peter Karmel, was adamant that the new campus should operate independently from the North Terrace campus. He hoped that the Bedford Park campus would be free to innovate and not be bound by tradition.

Capital works began in 1962 with a grant of ₤3.8 million from the Australian Universities Commission. Architect Geoff Harrison, in conjunction with architectural firm Hassell, McConnell and Partners, designed a new university that, with future expansions, could eventually accommodate up to 6000 students.

Independence and opening

In 1965, the Australian Labor Party won the state election and Frank Walsh became premier. The ALP wished to break up the University of Adelaide's hegemony over tertiary education in the state, and announced that they intended the Bedford Park campus to be an independent institution.

On 17 March 1966, a bill was passed by state parliament officially creating the Flinders University of South Australia. Although the Labor Party had favoured the name "University of South Australia", academic staff wished that the university be named after a "distinguished but uncontroversial" person. They settled upon British navigator Matthew Flinders, who explored and surveyed the South Australian coastline in 1802. Its coat of arms, designed by a professor in the Fine Arts faculty, includes a reproduction of Flinders' ship Investigator and his journal A Voyage to Terra Australis, open to the page in which Flinders described the coast adjacent the campus site.

Flinders University was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, on 25 March 1966. Peter Karmel was the first Vice-Chancellor and Sir Mark Mitchell the first Chancellor. The university began classes on 1 July 1966 with a student enrollment of 400.

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. Flinders first accepted undergraduate medical students in 1974, with FMC being opened the following year.

Expansion and restructuring

In 1990, the biggest building project on campus since the mid-1970s saw work commence on three new buildings - Law and Commerce; Engineering; and Information Science and Technology. Approval for the establishment of a School of Engineering was given in 1991 and degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Biomedical Engineering were established shortly afterwards.

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 with only a minor change to the School structure made in 2011.

In 1998, the Centre for Remote Health, a rural teaching hospital based in Alice Springs, was established jointly with the Northern Territory University (now Charles Darwin University). This was expanded further in 2011 with the establishment of the Northern Territory Medical Program.

In the past few years the University has grown substantially, establishing new disciplines in a number of areas including Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and more disciplines of Engineering.

Campuses

The University's main campus is in the Adelaide inner southern suburb of Bedford Park, about 12km south of the Adelaide city centre. The University also has a presence in Victoria Square in the centre of the city, next door to the Adelaide campus of Carnegie Mellon University. It also 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 programmes are also offered, primarily in the Asia-Pacific region.

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.

Faculties, schools and departments

Faculty of Education, Humanities and Law
School of Education
School of Humanities

- Archaeology
- Australian Studies
- Drama
- English and Creative Writing
- Language Studies
  - English as a Second Language
  - French
  - Italian
  - Modern Greek
  - Spanish
  Philosophy
- Screen and Media
- Theology
- Tourism

Flinders Law School
Bachelor of Arts Office
Faculty of Health Sciences
- School of Nursing and Midwifery
- School of Medicine
  - Flinders Clinical & Molecular Medicine
    - Disciplines
    - Gastroeterology and Hepatology
    - Medical Oncology
    - Nutrition and Dietetics
    - Obstetrics and Gynaecology
    - Ophthalmology
    - Optometry
    - Paediatrics & Child Health
    - Neonatology
    - Molecular Medicine and Pathology
      - Anatomical Pathology
      - Haematological and Genetic Pathology
    - Renal
    - Surgical Diseases and Sciences
    Flinders Clinical Effectiveness
    - Disciplines
    - Anaesthesia & Pain Medicine
    - Critical Care Medicine
    - Cardiac & Thoracic Surgery
    - Dermatology
    - Disability and Community Inclusion
    - Emergency Medicine
    - Endocrinology
    - General Medicine
    - Health Care Management
    - Cardiology
    - Medical Imaging
    - Occupational Therapy
    - Orthopaedics
    - Palliative & Support Services
    - Paramedics
    - Physiotherapy
    - Psychiatry
    - Rehabilitation, Aged & Extended Care
    - Respiratory
    - Rheumatology
    - Speech Pathology & Audiology
  - Flinders Innovations in Clinical Education
    - Disciplines
    - Courses Administration Unit (CAU)
    - Clinical Skills and Simulation Unit (CSSU)
    - Health Professional Education
    - Flinders University Rural Clinical School
  - Flinders Medical Science and Technology
    - Disciplines
    - Anatomy & Histology
    - Biomedical Engineering
    - Clinical Pharmacology
    - Human Physiology
    - Immunology, Allergy and Arthritis
    - Medical Biochemistry
    - Medical Biotechnology
    - Microbiology & Infectious Diseases
    - Neurology
    Flinders NT
    - Disciplines
    - Centre for Remote Health (Alice Springs)
    - Northern Territory Medical Program
    - Northern Territory Remote Clinical School
    - Palmerston GP Super Clinic
    - Poche Centre for Indigenous Health (Alice Springs)
  - Flinders Prevention, Promotion and Primary Health Care
    - Disciplines
    - Public Health
    - Social Health Sciences
    - General Practice
    - Greater Green Triangle University Department of Rural Health (in partnership with Deakin University) with sites at Hamilton, Mt Gambier, Warrnambool
    - Poche Centre for Indigenous Health, Adelaide

Faculty of Science and Engineering
- School of Biological Sciences
- School of Chemical and Physical Sciences
- School of Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics
  - Disciplines
    Biomedical Engineering
  - Electrical and Electronic Engineering
    Information Technology and Software Engineering
    Mathematics and Statistics
    Mechanical Engineering
- School of the Environment
- Flinders Centre for Science Education in the 21st Century
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences
- Flinders Business School
- School of International Studies
  - American Studies
  - Flinders Asia Centre
  - History
  - International Relations
  - Centre for Development Studies
- School of Psychology
- School of Social and Policy Studies
  - Politics and Public Policy
  - Social Work and Social Planning
  - Sociology
  - Women's Studies
  - Flinders Institute of Public Policy and Management (FIPPM)

Affiliates

Australian Science and Mathematics School
Flinders Medical Centre
The Adelaide Theological Centre Inc (comprising the Catholic Theological College and the Uniting College for Leadership and Theology replacing the Adelaide College of Divinity)
Helpmann Academy

Courses and programs

Undergraduate courses

Arts and languages
Business and finance
Computing and information technology
Culture, heritage, tourism and theology
Education
Engineering
Environment
Government and policy
International affairs
Health and medicine
Law and justice
People and behaviour
Science

Combined degrees

Combined degrees programs allow students to combine in-depth study in exciting combinations, some of which are not available in single degrees.
These combinations give graduates an advantage for employment in a competitive and rapidly changing workplace, both in Australia and overseas.
With just 1 - 1.5 years extra study students can graduate with 2 degrees.

Combined degree options

Arts
Behavioural Science (Psychology)
Business
Business & Technology
Commerce
Computer Science
Engineering
Environmental Management
Government & Public Management
Health Sciences
Information Technology
International Studies
International Tourism
Justice & Society
Languages
Laws & Legal Practice
Medical Science
Nursing

Honours

Flinders University offers direct-entry 4 year Honours degrees.

They include:
Bachelor of Computer Science (Honours)
Bachelor of Information Technology (Digital Media) (Honours)
Bachelor of Information Technology (Honours)
Bachelor of Science (Honours) - An enhanced program for high achievers
Bachelor of Science (Honours)
Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Animal Behaviour)
Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Aquaculture)
Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Biodiversity and Conservation)
Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Biotechnology)
Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Environmental Science)
Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Forensic and Analytical Chemistry)
Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Marine Biology)
Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Nanotechnology)
Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice (Honours)
Bachelor of Psychology (Honours)
Science

Postgraduate courses

Arts and languages
Business and finance
Computing and information technology
Culture, heritage, tourism and theology
Education
Engineering
Environment
Government and policy
Health and medicine
International affairs
Law and justice
People and behaviour
Science

Research higher degrees

Flinders offers a number of masters and doctoral degrees which are undertaken entirely or primarily by research.

Research at Flinders

International research collaboration is a central element of Flinders research strategy.
Flinders has a high research profile and consistently ranks among Australia’s top universities on a per capita basis for research spending and for the citation of work in professional journals.
Flinders provides a high quality teaching and learning environment offering research degree supervision across all disciplines.

Refer to Office of Graduate Research - Future students for further information about research study at Flinders.

Research higher degree courses offered at Flinders

Courses offered as research degrees

The following are offered as research degrees only, ie assessment is based entirely on presentation of a thesis embodying the results of research undertaken whilst enrolled as a candidate for the degree.

Master of Arts
Master of Business
Master of Engineering
Master of Laws
Master of Science
Master of Surgery
Master of Theology
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Philosophy (all disciplines)

Research degrees with a minor coursework component

The following are offered as research degrees with a minor coursework component. The major piece of assessment is based on the presentation of a thesis.

Master of Arts in Applied Population Studies
Master of Arts (Social Work)
Master of Biotechnology Studies
Master of Clinical Education
Master of Clinical Rehabilitation
Doctor of Philosophy (Clinical Psychology)

Coursework degrees with a research component

The following are offered as coursework degrees with a minor research component.
Applicants apply via GradStart.

Master of Applied Gerontology
Master of Biotechnology Studies
Master of Clinical Education
Master of Clinical Rehabilitation
Master of Education
Master of Midwifery
Master of Nanotechnology
Master of Nursing
Master of Palliative Care
Master of Palliative Care in Aged Care

Student life

Housing

Flinders University Hall

Flinders is the only South Australian university with on-campus accommodation in the Adelaide metropolitan area. There are two options:

University Hall (catered)
Deirdre Jordan Village (self-catered).

For off-campus accommodation, Flinders Housing run a free, up-to-date accommodation service which lists private accommodation available on the rental market.

Media

The Empire Times was published by the Students' Association of Flinders University (SAFU) from 1969 to 2006. The founder and first editor of the newspaper was Martin Fabinyi, and the newspaper was originally printed in the back of his house by fellow student Rod Boswell. Empire Times had a history of controversial humour and anti-establishment discussion. Notable former editors and contributors included Martin Armiger and Greg (HG Nelson) Pickhaver, Steph Key and Kate Ellis. Empire Times ceased publication in 2006 as a result of voluntary student unionism.

The newly formed student organisation, Flinders One, launched Libertine Magazine in 2008. It was published quarterly at the beginning of each term. Libertine was contributed to by students across the Flinders community and features articles, a feature artist, columns, creative writing, and a rant in each edition. It was partially funded by outside advertising, which was liaised through Flinders One. The magazine was distributed throughout campuses, and was a space for student creativity and voice.

Libertine Magazine finished printing at the end of 2011 after the 2011 Student Council decided to revamp it. A new form of publication will be investigated and launched in 2012. The Student Council particularly want to bring back the student voice of the magazine after Libertine lost popularity. While a few thousand copies were printed each quarter, only a couple dozen were ever picked up by students on campus.

A Media Group has been established by the Student Council and will propose a new form of media to the student council. After the SSAF passed in 2012, more money should be available for Student Media.

Sports

Flinders University has many sports teams that compete in social and competitive competitions. Flinders University also fields a baseball side in the Division 5 and Division 6 levels of the South Australian Baseball League.

Library

The Flinders University Library consists of a Central Library and three branch libraries - the Law, Sturt and Gus Fraenkel Medical Libraries.The Central Library is situated on the plaza of the southern campus, with the Law Library located on the western side of level 3. The Sturt Library is found in the Sturt Buildings, while the Gus Fraenkel Medical Library is on the fifth floor of the Flinders Medical Centre.

The library system contains more than 1 million books and periodicals on all subjects related to the teaching and research interests of the University staff and students.
The Central Library is the largest, and holds materials to serve the whole University community. The Law Library holds materials relevant to the law and legal studies courses offered by the University, and includes legislation, law reports and specialist books and journals. The Sturt Library specialises in the fields of nursing and education, while the Gus Fraenkel Medical Library services both students and Flinders Medical Centre staff.
There are extensive reading and study areas in all the libraries, and each library offers borrowing facilities to any student in the University.
In the Central Library and the branch libraries the Voyager Information System (online catalogue) provides details of the books, periodicals and other materials held by each library. Training is offered in the use of the catalogue at the beginning of the academic year, and help is always available from the Information Desk. The Voyager Information System also offers access to other South Australian university library catalogues, and most students are automatically registered to borrow from the libraries of the other universities in South Australia under the terms of the Reciprocal Borrowing arrangement.
The library offers a wide range of electronic services, including;

a comprehensive range of databases and electronic journals.
Computers in each library with internet and word processing capabilities.

Facilities are provided for the use of microform and audio visual materials, while computers and photocopiers are also available for student use. Charges apply for photocopiers and laser prints. The photographic service is part of the multimedia unit in the Central Library.
Staff and students requiring materials not available on campus may take advantage of the document delivery service. This service can deliver items from around the world.
Tours of the libraries are arranged at the beginning of semester one, and new students should endeavour to attend one of these in order to familiarise themselves with the services.
Library staff are available at all times to assist students to make the best use of the library's resources. Copies of the library rules and a Guide to the Library are available at the Information Desk.
The Library system comprises four branches holding more than a million books and journals, large electronic collections and a wide range of services and facilities to support the teaching and research interests of University staff and students.

Library Opening Hours 2012

Branch opening hours

Central Library
Special Collections (Central Library)
Gus Fraenkel Medical Library
Law Library
Sturt Library
Universities' Research Repository South Australia
Adelaide Theological Library

Library Opening Hours for FRIDAY 29/06/2012

Central Library	8:00	19:00
Medical Library	8:30	18:00
Sturt Library	8:30	18:00
Theology Library	8:30	16:00
URRSA	12:00	17:00

Research

Research is a core activity at Flinders. We believe investigation and enquiry are essential to an academic institution. We aim to be known locally, nationally and internationally as a research university.

University Research

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)
Inspiring Research
Centres and Institutes
Research awards
Research expertise
ERA: Excellence in Research for Australia
Flinders Laboratories

Partner with Flinders

Flinders Partners
Commercialisation and consulting
Commercial entities
Donations

Research higher degrees

Office of Graduate Research

Researcher support

Funding opportunities
Grants, research contracts and agreements
Commercialising your research
Ethics and biosafety
Data and reporting (RMIS)
Research policies and procedures
Forms and tools
Development and training
Research Services Office

Distinguished alumni and persons

Philip Bourne (1953-), professor of pharmacology at UCSD
Rodney Brooks (1954-), professor of robotics at MIT
Kate Ellis (1977-), Australian federal politician and minister
Noni Hazlehurst (1953-), actress
Scott Hicks (1953-), film director
Caleb Lewis (1978-), playwright
Mohammad Kaykobad, (1954-), Computer Scientist, Professor of CSE, BUET
Stephanie Key, (1954-), South Australian State politician and former Rann Government Minister
Sam Mac, radio and television personality
Mamoru Mohri (1948-), retired astronaut, scientist and engineer
Brendan Nelson (1958-), former Australian federal politician and minister
Greig Pickhaver (also known as H.G. Nelson), actor, comedian and writer
Mike Rann, former Premier, appointed as a Flinders University professor
Amanda Rishworth (1978-), Australian federal politician
Xavier Samuel (1983-), actor
John Schumann, Michael Atkinson, Verity Truman, Chris Timms (founding members of Redgum)
Terence Tao (1975-), Fields Medalist, professor of mathematics at UCLA
Sialeʻataonga Tuʻivakanō (1952-), Prime Minister of Tonga