University of Western Australia facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
The University of Western Australia

Coat of arms
Motto	Seek Wisdom
Type	Public research university
Established	16 February 1911; 114 years ago (1911-02-16)
Accreditation	TEQSA
Affiliation	Group of Eight (Go8)
Academic affiliations	ACU UA
Budget	A$1.04B (2023)
Visitor	Governor of Western Australia (ex officio)
Chancellor	Diane Smith-Gander
Vice-Chancellor	Amit Chakma
Academic staff	1,702 (2023)
Administrative staff	2,093 (2023)
Total staff	3,795 (2023)
Students	29,426 (2023)
Undergraduates	18,792 (2023)
Postgraduates	8,740 coursework (2023) 1,894 research (2023)
Address	35 Stirling Highway , Crawley , Western Australia , 6009 , Australia Lua error in Module:Coordinates at line 614: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
Campus	Suburban and regional with multiple sites, 300 ha (741.3 acres)
Colours	Blue Gold
Sporting affiliations	UniSport EAEN UBL
Mascot	Laurence the Peacock

The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a big public university in Western Australia, Australia. Its main campus is in Crawley, a suburb of Perth. UWA was started in 1911 by a special law from the Parliament of Western Australia.

UWA is the oldest university in Western Australia and the sixth-oldest in all of Australia. It's known as one of the "sandstone universities", which is a nickname for the oldest university in each Australian state.

UWA is also part of the Group of Eight. This group includes the eight top universities in Australia that do a lot of important research.

A Look at UWA's History

Winthrop Hall, a famous building on the main campus.

UWA was officially started in 1911. The first students began their classes in March 1913. Back then, the university was located on Irwin Street in the middle of Perth. The buildings there had corrugated iron roofs, which gave the area the nickname Tin Pan Alley.

In 1932, the university moved to its current, much larger campus in Crawley. A very important person in UWA's history was its first leader, John Winthrop Hackett. When he passed away in 1916, he left a huge amount of money to the university – about £A425,000! This money, which was a lot more than expected, helped build many of the main buildings you see today, like Winthrop Hall and Hackett Hall. He also set up many scholarships so that students who wanted to learn wouldn't be stopped by money problems.

A small part of the original Irwin Street campus still exists today! It's called the Irwin Street Building. In the 1930s, it was moved to the new campus. After being restored in 1987, it was moved again to James Oval. Now, it's used for meetings and as part of the cricket pavilion. This building is so important that it's listed as a heritage site.

The architect Rodney Alsop won an award in 1932 for designing Winthrop Hall. He spent six years working on the Hackett Memorial buildings and thought they were his greatest achievement.

UWA started offering the Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1946. This is a very high-level research degree. The first PhD was given in 1950 for research on the chemistry of plants in Western Australia.

Exploring the Campus

UWA owns a lot of land in Perth, thanks to gifts from the government and private donors. The university is always building new things. In recent years, they've opened a University Club, a Watersports Complex, a Molecular and Chemical Sciences building, and a Business School building. In 2014, a new facility for CO₂ research was finished. The Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre, a large research building, was completed in 2016.

The Centre for Integrative Bee Research (CIBER) is also on the Crawley campus. Here, scientists study honeybee reproduction, immunity, and how bees live in their environment. This research helps both science and industries that work with bees.

Centre for Integrative Bee Research

Arts and Fun on Campus

Limestone arches are a common sight on the older walkways.

The main Crawley campus is about 5 km west of Perth's city center, right next to the beautiful Swan River. Many of the buildings are made from local limestone and sandstone, giving them a classic look. Winthrop Hall, with its Romanesque Revival architecture, is a very famous building.

The Arts Faculty building has the New Fortune Theatre. This outdoor theater was built to look like the original Elizabethan Fortune Playhouse from Shakespeare's time. It's used for plays and performances, especially during the Perth Festival. You might also see peafowl (peacocks and peahens) roaming around the campus. They were given to the university by the Perth Zoo in 1975!

Other places for performances include the Octagon and Dolphin Theatres, and Somerville Auditorium. These spots host many theater and music shows, especially during the Perth Festival.

The UWA Conservatorium of Music holds many concerts each year by students and visiting artists. They even have free lunchtime concerts!

The Berndt Museum of Anthropology has one of the most important collections of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural items in the world. It also has interesting collections from Asia and Melanesia.

UWA Libraries

Reid Library

UWA has five libraries on campus. The Reid Library building is the biggest and is known for its cool design. The other libraries are the Barry J Marshall Library (for science and math), the J Robin Warren Library (for medicine and dentistry), the Beasley Law Library, and the Education, Fine Arts and Architecture Library.

Places Away from the Main Campus

UWA Centre Albany

UWA also has locations outside of the main Crawley campus. In 1999, the university opened the UWA Albany Centre to help students in rural areas. This center offers special courses and research programs. The UWA Rural Clinical School also sends medical students to spend a year in country towns like Albany, Broome, and Geraldton.

The university has other buildings across Stirling Highway in Nedlands, connected by special walkways under the road. UWA also bought facilities in Claremont in 2005, which they call UWA Claremont.

UWA also works with universities in Malaysia and Singapore. Students there can study for UWA degrees. The university is also working with Australian Doctors for Africa to send staff to teach medical students in countries like Somalia and Ethiopia.

What Students Study

Irwin Street building

In 2012, UWA changed how its degrees work to make them simpler. Now, students starting at UWA usually choose a three-year bachelor's degree. They can pick from a Bachelor of Science (BSc), Bachelor of Commerce (BCom), Bachelor of Arts (BA), or Bachelor of Biomedical Science (BBiomedSc).

Bachelor of Philosophy

For students who did really well in high school, UWA offers a special degree called the Bachelor of Philosophy (BPhil). This degree takes four years because it includes a strong research year. Students in this program can choose subjects from any of the other bachelor's degrees. Only about 30 students are accepted into this program each year, so it's very competitive!

Assured Entry Pathways

If you're a high school student with excellent grades, you might be able to apply for "assured pathways." This means you're guaranteed a spot in a postgraduate degree (like medicine, law, or engineering) after you finish your undergraduate degree. This is a great way to plan your studies for the future.

Student Life at UWA

The foyer of the Chemical and Molecular Sciences building, with its cool "double helix staircase".

The University of Western Australia Student Guild is the main group that represents students on campus. They offer many services, from food to financial advice. There are also over 100 clubs and societies that students can join, covering all sorts of interests! The Guild also publishes the student newspaper, Pelican.

The Postgraduate Students' Association helps students who are doing higher-level degrees.

Where Students Live

The Reflection Pool was built with help from student volunteers.

Close to the campus, there are several places where students can live, called residential colleges. These include University Hall, St George's College, St Catherine's College, Trinity Residential College, and St Thomas More College.

These colleges are all next to each other along a road that students call "college row." All the colleges have both male and female students. They often have fun events where students from different colleges compete against each other. For example, they have "lip dub" competitions and "battle of the bands."

Each college has its own mascot! St Catherine's has a cat, St George's has a dragon, and St Thomas More's has a rooster. Students also have short nicknames for the colleges, like St Cat's for St Catherine's College or Tommy More for St Thomas More College.

Research and Reputation

UWA is a leader in research in Western Australia. It gets a lot of money for research each year and helps many students earn advanced research degrees.

In 2013, UWA set a goal to be one of the top 50 research universities in the world by 2050. As part of this goal, Andrew and Nicola Forrest gave a huge donation of $65 million to the university. This was one of the biggest gifts ever given to an Australian university at the time!

Important Research Areas

UWA focuses its research on important topics like how to live sustainably, health, new technologies, protecting the environment, cultural studies, and Indigenous research.

In 2024, UWA was ranked 9th in the world for agricultural sciences. It was also in the top 50 globally for biological sciences, water resources engineering, and marine/ocean engineering.

The university has over 80 research centers. These include the Oceans Institute, the Institute of Agriculture, and the Energy and Minerals Institute.

UWA also played a big part in Australia's bid to host the Square Kilometre Array. This is a massive international radio telescope that will help scientists see the very early stages of how galaxies, stars, and planets formed. UWA is ranked 61st globally for Space Science.

The university is also involved in the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study. This is one of the largest studies in the world that follows people from pregnancy through childhood and into adulthood.

How UWA Ranks

UWA is considered one of the top universities in Australia and the world. In 2024, it was ranked #91 globally when combining different major university rankings.

Here are some of its recent rankings:

• In the 2026 Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings, UWA was ranked #77 globally (7th in Australia).
• In the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025, UWA was ranked #149 globally (8th in Australia).
• In the 2024 Academic Ranking of World Universities, UWA was ranked between #101–150 globally (tied 6th–7th in Australia).
• In the 2025–2026 U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities, UWA was ranked #98 globally (8th in Australia).

What Happens After Graduation?

The Australian Government checks how well universities prepare students for jobs.

• In 2023, employers were very happy with UWA graduates, with an 84.3% satisfaction rate.
• In 2023, 69.6% of undergraduate students and 89.2% of postgraduate students found full-time jobs after graduating.
• The average starting salary for undergraduates was A$67,300, and for postgraduates, it was A$86,900.
• Students also rated their overall education experience highly, with undergraduates at 75.4% and postgraduates at 74.3%.

Famous People from UWA

Many well-known people have studied at UWA.

• In politics, former Premiers of Western Australia like Alan Carpenter and Colin Barnett went to UWA. Also, former Deputy Prime Minister Kim Beazley and Australia's 23rd Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, are UWA graduates.
• In science and medicine, Nobel Prize winner Barry Marshall, and Australian of the Year winners Fiona Stanley (2003) and Fiona Wood (2005) all studied here.
• Sir Rod Eddington, who used to lead big airlines like British Airways, is also a UWA engineering graduate.
• Famous comedian Tim Minchin also attended UWA.
• Mining leader Andrew Forrest and businessman Richard Goyder are also UWA graduates.

Some notable people who currently work at UWA include former Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett and former federal minister Stephen Smith.

Images for kids

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  Socrates bust

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  Great gate mosaic

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  Clock tower balcony

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  Winthrop Hall foyer

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  Administration building

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  North entrance to geology building

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  The Geology building seen through the Grove

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  Sundial near the Sunken Garden

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  Adult white peacock, New Fortune Theatre

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  St George's College

See also

In Spanish: Universidad de Australia Occidental para niños

• Australian National Business Schools
• List of universities in Australia
• Rural Clinical School of Western Australia
• UWA Telerobot
• UWA School of Medicine
• UWA Business School