The University of Queensland

UQ is a comprehensive university with a large number of courses at the undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD levels.
There are over 44,000 students at UQ including over 11,000 international students from over 130countries.   UQ has won more prestigious national Australian Teaching awards than any other Australian university.  Many of UQ’s academic staff are recognised internationally as leaders in their field. 

UQ is an important university for Latin America as it has significant teaching and research strengths in many of the region’s capital and social development priority areas.   The three pillars of the UQ strategic Plan are Learning, Discovery and Engagement which are all being applied to good effect in growing UQ’s presence and engagement in Latin America.

The University of Queensland has enjoyed a long and successful engagement with Latin America with our first students from the region dating back to the early 1980’s.  A number of research collaborations especially in mining related areas and earth sciences developed throughout the 1990’s driven in part by Latin American academics at UQ.   In 2005 UQ established a Latin American Strategy Group to provide higher level support to research relationships and to develop a long term commitment to the region through the development of a differentiated international engagement model focused on capacity building initiatives.   This partnership strategy has been well received in countries including Chile, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Mexico and Ecuador.  A capacity building English language Institute in Antofagasta Northern Chile was established in 2008 in partnership with the Universidad Catolica del Norte with establishment support by Xstrata and BHP Billiton’s Fundacion Minera Escondida.

UQ, as a result, has become the ‘university of choice’ for a growing number of Latin American students. The majority of the students are Post Graduate course work and higher research candidates sponsored by their respective governments as part of their human capital development strategy.  UQ now has close to 300 Latin American students studying a broad range of Degrees.

Interest in Latin America from Australian students is also growing with Spanish becoming one of the most popular second languages, and with UQ the first Australian university to offer Portuguese from 2011. As a result more UQ students are visiting the region for study, short courses, volunteering projects or leisure.  The Latin American Students Association on campus has more members than most clubs and societies and is testament to how readily Latin students integrate on campus.

Some recent examples of UQ capacity building initiatives include the School of Population Health agreement with the Mexican National Institute of Public Health/Ministry of Health to undertake research into preventive diseases, The Sustainable Minerals Institute consortium with Chilean universities for mining industry related education and training, The Institute of Continuing & TESOL Education for English language training of IT and Tourism professionals in Chile and the UQ Business School/Uniquest for Commercialisation of Research for an Ecuadorian university. 

Reflecting its commitment to Latin America, UQ has facilitated an annual Latin American Colloquium which brings together the Latin American Ambassadors, business and government representatives and UQ personnel interested in the region.  

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