About James Cook University

One of the world’s leading institutions focusing on the tropics, Australia’s James Cook University is surrounded by the spectacular ecosystems of the rain forests of the Wet tropics, the dry savannahs, and the iconic Great Barrier Reef. Our unique location enables students from Australia and overseas to study in a diverse physical environment unparalleled by any university in the world.

• Born For the Tropics
  Ranked in the top 2 percent of the world’s tertiary institutions by the respected Academic Ranking of World Universities produced by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, James Cook University is dedicated to creating a brighter future for life in the tropics world-wide, through graduates and discoveries that make a difference.
• Dedicated to Research
  The University conducts nationally significant and internationally recognised research in areas such as marine sciences, biodiversity, tropical ecology and environments, global warming, tourism, and tropical medicine and public health care in under-served populations.
• A comprehensive University
  Since our establishment in 1970, we have expanded into a multi-campus institution with our main campuses in the tropical cities of Cairns, Singapore and Townsville, with smaller study centres in Mount Isa, Thursday Island and Mackay. We also have a campus in Brisbane, operated by Russo Higher Education.Our students come from many backgrounds, promoting a rich cultural and experiential diversity on campus. Our undergraduate and postgraduate courses span the Arts, Biomedical Sciences, Business, Creative Media, Dentistry, Education, Engineering, Healthcare Sciences, Information Technology, Law, Medicine, Nursing and Midwifery, Pharmacy, Planning, Psychological Science, Science, Social Work, Sustainability and Veterinary Science. We aim to give graduates the qualifications and skills they need for the global workforce.
• Relevant to Our Region
  We also recognise our special obligation to be relevant to our own region and have forged close linkages into the economy and social fabric of the northern Queensland. We are dedicated to ensuring that our teaching, learning and research is not only of high quality, but also delivers practical benefits to the peoples and industries of the region.
• History of JCU
  Born of the traditional model of excellence in teaching and research, James Cook University has become a modern and dynamic university of truly global standing.Our graduates hold top-level positions around Australia and the world, and our research has earned us a world class reputation.JCU is Queensland’s second oldest university. We offered our first courses in Townsville in 1961 as an annex of the University of Queensland. Since then we have become a dynamic, multi-campus university with a total of 17,500 students. Our main campuses are located in Townsville and Cairns, and we have international campuses in Singapore and Brisbane.After a decade under the stewardship of the University of Queensland, JCU became a university in its own right on 20 April 1970. The proclamation was signed by Queen Elizabeth II at a special ceremony in Townsville, which took place 200 years, to the day, after the University’s namesake, explorer Captain James Cook, first sighted Australia. Read a brief history of JCU spanning 1957 to 2008.
• Reconciliation at JCU
  Reconciliation is an honest and critical understanding of Australia’s shared history, and how it has informed the lives of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians today.Reconciliation involves other Australians and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples building and preserving mutual, positive, and respectful relationships. It involves optimising these relationships and working together on closing the gap; achieving a shared sense of fairness and justice as a foundation for success; and enhancing our national well being.
• Campuses and Maps
  JCU’s main sites are located in tropical northern Queensland, a remarkable region where over a million visitors come each year to experience.Tropical northern Queensland is uniquely different to the rest of Australia, and possibly the world. The UN’s World Heritage Convention agrees. Both the Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics rainforests are included on the World Heritage List for their natural values. Nowhere else in the world do two World Heritage regions exist side by side.But there is far more to tropical northern Queensland than these two precious regions. The coastal cities of Cairns and Townsville provide locals and visitors with modern sporting, cultural, entertainment and shopping facilities combined with a relaxed, laid-back lifestyle.Just west of Cairns lies the agriculturally rich Atherton Tableland and to the northwest the Gulf Savannah region with its fringing mountain ranges and wide open spaces. Cape York Peninsula occupies Queensland’s most northern corner and has enormous environmental diversity that is of great interest to scientists and visitors alike. Further north are the beautiful Torres Strait Islands, which have a unique history and fascinating Indigenous culture.More and more students from other parts of Australia and abroad are discovering the advantages of tropical northern Queensland as a study location.