Rockhampton-based CQUniversity Australia (formerly known as Central Queensland University) is an unconventional university. Entrepreneurial and immersed in the community, the University is focused on making higher education relevant and accessible to people of all ages from all backgrounds.

Innovative and progressive, the University's style and approach to teaching and learning is also meeting the needs of industry, especially the natural resources sector and mining. Established in 1967, it caters to the needs of approximately 21 000*students via Distance Education and at 10 locations throughout Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, and overseas. Its 10 000* international students come from more than 120 countries.

CQUniversity's level of service is what makes it distinctive among Australian universities, with an emphasis placed on student outcomes, graduate success and quality teaching and learning.

The University's areas of specialty include natural resource management, engineering, nursing and health and fitness, education, accounting, sustainable development and intercultural education. It is also home to the Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music. A leader in integrated workplace learning, also known as contextual learning, many of CQUniversity's students learn on-the-job or gain knowledge and experience in the field by taking-up internships and paid employment schemes which form part of their degrees.

The University has been acknowledged throughout all levels of government by multiple awards and commendations including numerous Queensland Export Awards (education category) and two National Export Awards for Education (2002 and 2005). Ranked among the highest of all Australian universities in terms of cultural diversity, CQUniversity and staff were presented with the Queensland Multicultural Awards in 2006 and 2007.

Its students are achieving outcomes that are among the best in Australia. CQUniversity is the only university in Australia to achieve a five-star rating in the 2009 Good Universities Guide in two important categories: Graduate Starting Salaries and Access by Equity Groups. It has also achieved four- and five-star ratings for Positive Graduate Outcomes for the last nine editions of The Guide. Overall, CQUniversity graduates are employed at a rate of 89.8%, compared with a national average of 84.5%.They are also earning higher salaries than graduates of any other public university in Queensland, (according to Graduate Careers Australia 2007).

CQUniversity is also highly regarded for its learning and teaching excellence and the wide-ranging support it extends to its students. It holds numerous awards from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) and is acknowledged across the sector for its bridging programs, entry flexibility and Indigenous participation.

CQUniversity's research is prioritised into three categories: natural resources and sustainability, healthy communities, and intercultural education. The University's Intercultural Education Research Institute (IERI) addresses a wide range of international pedagogical issues faced by the higher education sector, including teaching, curriculum and assessment.

*Latest full-year available statistics, 2007