News Archive

As we celebrate the year of our centenary, UWA sits poised for continued success on the world stage. Today we are ranked among the top 100 universities globally. In the New Century we will rise to the top 50, thanks to our existing and emerging centres of excellence in research, teaching and partnership.

We are fortunate to operate in a part of the world that is home to 60 per cent of the global population, along with expanding economies in nations promising the greatest growth for the 21st century.

Increasingly, UWA is being recognised as a leading force for innovation and development in fields such as earth and ocean sciences; radio astronomy; cultural understanding; agriculture and water management; health sciences and disease prevention; foreign policy and economics.

Once isolated by our location, technological advances continue to break down any barriers that tempered UWA’s potential for global impact. We continue to embrace new and better avenues for collaboration with other leading-edge universities, as well as international enterprises.

Our incoming Pro Vice-Chancellor, Iain Watt, who served for many years with the Australian Embassy in Beijing, will spearhead UWA’s international outreach. Along with the ties we enjoy with Asia, we have longstanding cultural and economic links to the United States and nations in the European Union. Energy and mineral stewardship is an important factor in those links.

Notably, our new Perth US-Asia Centre places us at the strategic centre of Asia/North American discourse. The new Centre is set to become a leading policy think-tank, as well as a research and teaching innovator, promoting deeper understanding of world politics, security and socio-economics. This Centre is just one example of how UWA will provide thought leadership in our ever-changing world.

Without question, our students stand to benefit dramatically as we realise our vision for UWA in the New Century. We are developing the leaders of tomorrow as our students learn first-hand about the challenges and opportunities of the future and, through their studies, are given the tools to address these issues.

Partnerships with institutions around the world (including 20 agreements with US universities) allow our students to travel and experience different perspectives first-hand. These are exciting times for our University and none of it would be possible without the foundation laid by the leaders, alumni and friends who, together, built this great institution.

We owe a tremendous debt to the vision and support of leaders like Sir John Winthrop Hackett, whose bequest founded UWA. One hundred years from now we will owe an equal debt to the valued members of our community who walk with us into the New Century.

I welcome our students, alumni, faculty, staff, friends and collaborators near and far to be part of this historic journey. This is our time.