Edith Cowan University
Overview
 
Edith Cowan University is located in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

, Western Australia. It was named after the first woman to be elected to an Australian Parliament
Parliaments of the Australian states and territories
The Parliaments of the Australian states and territories are legislative bodies within the federal framework of the Commonwealth of Australia. Before the formation of the Commonwealth in 1901, the six Australian colonies were self-governing, with parliaments which had come into existence at various...

, Edith Cowan
Edith Cowan
Edith Dircksey Cowan , MBE was an Australian politician, social campaigner and the first woman elected to an Australian parliament....

, and is the only Australian university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

 named after a woman.

ECU is Western Australia's second largest university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

 with approximately 20,000 students at undergraduate and postgraduate level, approximately 4000 of whom are international students originating from over 90 countries outside Australia.

ECU was granted university status in 1991 and was formed from an amalgamation of teachers' colleges with a history dating back to 1902 when the Claremont Teachers College
Claremont Teachers College
Claremont Teachers College was Western Australia’s first post-secondary teaching institution. It opened in 1902 and closed in 1981, when it became a College of Advanced Education and later a campus of Edith Cowan University. The building is on land between Goldsworthy, Princess and Bay Roads in the...

 was established; making ECU the modern descendant of the first institution of higher education in Western Australia.

The university offers more than 400 courses across two metropolitan campuses, in Mount Lawley
Mount Lawley, Western Australia
Mount Lawley is an inner suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Most of the suburb lies within the Local Government Area of the City of Stirling and small portions are in the City of Vincent and City of Bayswater...

 and Joondalup
Joondalup, Western Australia
Joondalup is a regional metropolitan city within Perth, Western Australia, approximately north of Perth's central business district.It acts as the primary urban centre in Perth's outer northern suburbs.-History:...

, and a regional campus in the South West, Bunbury
Bunbury, Western Australia
The port city of Bunbury is the third largest city in Western Australia after the State Capital Perth and Mandurah. It is situated south of Perth's central business district...

, 200 km south of Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

; with some courses also offered for study off-campus (Distance Education
Distance education
Distance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom...

).
 
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