UWS celebrates 25 years as a university
Celebrating 25 years and more: key facts about UWS
• The University of Western Sydney was officially founded on 1 January 1989, but dates back to 1891 with Hawkesbury Agricultural College – one of the University’s antecedent institutions.
• UWS has grown to become a vibrant, modern, outer-metropolitan university, located in one of the fastest growing regions in Australia – Greater Western Sydney, home to over 2 million people.
• UWS has campuses in Penrith, Bankstown, Campbelltown, Hawkesbury, Parramatta, Parramatta CBD (Parramatta City), Blacktown (Nirimba), and a new campus in Lithgow.
• UWS has over 40,000 students and over 3,000 staff.
• It has produced over 151,000 graduates.
• 70 per cent of the University’s research in the last Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) assessment was named as “world standard” or above.
• The University of Western Sydney has been awarded the Prime Minister’s Australian University Teacher of the Year Award for two consecutive years: Professor James Arvanitakis (2012) and Professor Roy Tasker (2011).
• Over 60 per cent of commencing domestic students are the first in their families to attend university.
• 75 per cent of domestic students are from Greater Western Sydney.
• 32 per cent are over 25 years of age.
• UWS has the largest number of students from lower socio-economic backgrounds of any university in Australia – over 9000 students in 2013 – which equates to 24 per cent of its total domestic student enrolments.
Ends
20 March 2014
Photos: UWS Archives
Media contact: Amanda Whibley, Manager Media and Public Relations
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