Curtin University (previously Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology) is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, Prime Minister of Australia from 1941 to 1945, and is Western Australia's largest university, with students in .
WAIT was established in 1966. Curtin was conferred university status after the Parliament of Western Australia passed legislation in 1986. Since then, the university has expanded its presence and has campuses in Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai and Mauritius, and has ties with 90 exchange universities in 20 countries. The university comprises five main faculties with over 95 specialists centres. It had a campus in Sydney from 2005 to 2016.
Curtin University is a member of the Australian Technology Network. Curtin is active in research in a range of academic and practical fields. In 2015, Curtin's research funds reached $87.5 million, which was an increase from the previous year. As of 2020, it is Western Australia's only university whose students have won the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering's Postgraduate Student Gold Medal.
History Curtin University was founded in 1966 as the Western Australian Institute of Technology. The four people who drove its establishment were Lesley Phillips, who was Superintendent of Technical Education from 1943 to 1948; George Hayman, who held the same position from 1948 to 1962; T. L. Robertson, Director of Education; and Haydn Williams, Director of Technical Education.
Its nucleus comprised the tertiary programs of the Perth Technical College, which opened in 1900. The university's Bentley campus was selected in 1962 and officially opened in 1966. The first students enrolled in 1967. Haydn Williams was the first director of WAIT.
In 1969, three more institutions were merged with WAIT: the Kalgoorlie School of Mines (opened in 1902), the Muresk Agricultural College (opened in 1926), and the Schools of Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy (in operation since the 1950s at Shenton Park). Between 1966 and 1976 WAIT experienced an expansion from 2,000 to 10,000 students.
In December 1986 WAIT was made a university, under provisions of the . The change sparked a debate in which the federal government questioned whether WAIT was automatically entitled to university-level funding simply by achieving university status. However, this situation was resolved by the Dawkins reform, which restructured Australian higher education. Curtin University took its name from former Prime Minister of Australia John Curtin. In 1987, Curtin University of Technology became Western Australia's third university and Australia's first university of technology. By the mid-1990s, it had enrolments of 20,000 students, making it one of Australia's largest universities.
In 1993, Curtin founded a graduate business school in St Georges Terrace. In 2002 it was moved to Murray Street, where it remains. The school was developed on the foundation of Curtin's existing Master of Business Administration program.
In 2005, Curtin and Murdoch University were engaged in a feasibility study into the possibility of a merger. On 7 November 2005, the institutions announced that a merger would not be undertaken.
In 2008, Curtin opened a campus in Singapore, its second offshore presence. In 2009, Curtin became the first university in the Australian Technology Network to be listed on the Academic Ranking of World Universities of research universities.
In 2010, Curtin dropped the "of Technology" suffix, from then operating as "Curtin University".
Curtin Law School was established in 2012, enrolling its first cohort of 120 students in the first semester of 2013 following accreditation from the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia.
Curtin Medical School's five-year medical programme received accreditation from the Australian Medical Council in 2016, and its first cohort began studying at the Bentley campus in 2017. Following the medical school's admission of a full cohort of students in 2022, the federal government committed $20 million in annual funding to the school. Construction of Curtin's Midland Campus in the redeveloped Midland Workshops precinct was completed in 2019. The campus officially opened on 22 November 2019 as a clinical training base for medical sciences students.
Curtin Business School received EQUIS accreditation in 2021, and it also holds AACSB accreditation. Its AMBA accreditation, however, was not renewed in 2014.
Campuses and buildings
Perth and regional WA Curtin University's main campus is in Bentley, Western Australia, about south-east of the Perth central business district. The campus was developed on a former pine plantation established in the 1930s. The campus was masterplanned by public works architect Vin Daviesin the 1960s. He arranged the buildings and sports fields in a grid pattern around the existing plantation.
Construction of Curtin Exchange, the first phase of the $500 million Greater Curtin master plan for the Bentley campus, began in September 2019. According to Business News, the project comprised housing for 900 students, a 60-room hotel, 38 apartments and 15 retail units. Furthermore, the project included the construction of the School of Design and Built Environment, which was undertaken by the infrastructure group Landlease.
Curtin has multiple smaller off-site campuses in the Perth metropolitan area. The Graduate School of Business building is in the Perth central business district in the renovated former Government Printing Office, and the law school is on Murray Street in the old Public Health Department and Chief Secretary's building, a listed building on the State Register of Heritage Places. In 2016, Curtin entered into an agreement with the National Trust of Australia (WA) to use the restored Old Perth Boys' School at 139 St Georges Terrace for community and industry engagement. The Curtin Connect project, which included the refurbishment of the university's customer and student services area, was completed in 2017. As part of the project, the former basement car park was converted into a two-storey office arrangement. In 2018, Curtin renovated the original Perth Technical College building at 137 St Georges Terrace to create meeting rooms and learning spaces for professional development and postgraduate courses. Curtin opened a medical campus near St John of God Midland Public and Private Hospitals in November 2019. In 2024, approval was granted for the development of B316, a $200 million sciences building at Bentley. The building and landscape were designed by Grimshaw Architects in collaboration with GHD Design and Aspect Studios. Spanning across six storeys, the facility includes research buildings, shared support spaces, science learning hubs, a loading area and teaching labs for the WA School of Mines, as well as accommodation for around 1,500 people. The project was expected to be completed by mid-2026, but was subsequently delayed until 2027.
During the 2016 public art festival, 16 different Australian and international artists took part in painting eight buildings on the Bentley campus with murals.
Curtin operated a campus in the suburb of Joondalup, which opened in 1994. It was operated in conjunction with the Australian Institute for University Study. The campus was closed around 2005. After being abandoned for several years it is now used for North Metropolitan TAFE campus.
Exploration Geophysics and Petroleum Engineering are at the co-location research facilities of the Australian Resources Research Centre (ARRC), which also houses offices of CSIRO Earth Science and Resource Engineering and National Measurement Institute. The ARRC is in the Technology Park Bentley, adjacent to the main Bentley campus. Some university staff, researchers and students on practicum work in other locations, such as the Oral Health Centre of WA (OHCWA) in Nedlands and at Royal Perth Hospital, amongst other organisations.
Curtin has two bus stations, connected to the Transperth public transport network. The stations are also linked to the Mandurah railway line's Canning Bridge Station by a shuttle bus service. Curtin also has an internal bus network trialling autonomous buses on campus. Curtin Central bus station, an additional transport hub connected to the existing station on Hayman Road, opened in February 2019. Funded by Curtin University and the Public Transport Authority, the new station was built with the aim of improving connectivity. The bus station can accommodate up to 80 bus services.
Curtin has campuses outside Perth, the largest being the Western Australian School of Mines at Kalgoorlie, and a number of micro-campuses in Esperance, Margaret River, Geraldton, and elsewhere. Nursing is the only course offered in Geraldton. The Muresk Institute at Northam left Curtin in 2012.
Hayman Theatre The Hayman Theatre was established in 1973 as Hayman Hall, for the use of theatre arts students. The Hall's name derives from George Hayman, who played a major part in establishing WAIT in 1967. The theatre study company Theatreground as well as the Western Australian Theatre Company used the space. It was refurbished in 1977, creating the Theatre Upstairs above the main stage. After the Bentley Campus was expanded, in 2017 Hayman Theatre moved to Building 302.
Dubai campus In April 2017 Curtin University established its newest campus in Dubai at Dubai International Academic City. Australian Ambassador to the UAE HE Arthur Spyrou officially opened the campus on 10 September 2017. Curtin University Dubai courses use the same structure and unit curriculum as those at the Bentley campus. Curtin University Dubai is accredited by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA). The academic qualifications Curtin grants are certified by KHDA and recognised in the Emirate of Dubai by all public and private entities.
Malaysia campus
Curtin's largest international campus is in Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia. Curtin's operations in Miri began in February 1999. In 2002, a purpose-built campus was opened as Curtin's first offshore campus and the first foreign university campus in East Malaysia. It has around 4,000 students from over 45 countries, and academics from more than 15 countries. Curtin Malaysia is the only approved CISCO Networking University in Miri and Brunei. In 2016, the campus opened a Faculty of Engineering and Science building in its Skylark Precinct. The facility comprises three lecture halls with a capacity of up to 240 people on the ground floor, four classrooms with a capacity of 56–84 people, as well as office space, meeting rooms and a lecturer rooms for staff.
Singapore campus
Curtin University opened a Singapore-based campus on 23 November 2008. Curtin Singapore courses use the same structure and unit curriculum as those at the Bentley campus. In 2022, Curtin Singapore moved to a new campus located at 10 Science Park Road, The Alpha, Science Park II.
Mauritius campus Curtin University opened its fourth international campus in Mauritius on 3 May 2018 on the campus of Charles Telfair Institute in Moka south of Port Louis.
Sri Lanka campus In 2024, Curtin transformed a long-standing teaching partnership into a new campus, establishing Curtin University Colombo in Sri Lanka.
Former Sydney campus (2005–2016)