Charles Darwin University

Charles Darwin University (CDU) is based in the capital city of Darwin at the heart of Australia's tropical north and is Australia's closest university to Asia. CDU has all the advantages of a relatively young multi-sector university, including vigour, creativity, flexibility and freedom from the constraints of tradition. But its true character and richness stems from its location in the Northern Territory of Australia, centred in Darwin: a youthful, multicultural, cosmopolitan, and robust, tropical city in a Territory that is steeped in Aboriginal tradition and culture and which enjoys a close interaction with the peoples of Southeast Asia.

Charles Darwin University is unique. No other single Australian university serves such a large area of the continent, in such a remote location and with such a small population to sustain it. While the Northern Territory covers around 16 percent of Australia, in 2015 it was home to just over 1 percent of the population, 30 percent of whom were Indigenous compared with around 3 percent of the general Australian population.

The only university based in the Northern Territory, CDU is a dual sector university. We are the most northerly Australian university, literally on Asia’s doorstep. Closer in many respects to the vast populations of Asia than to the southern Australian states. Ours is a university deeply engaged with, and informed by, Australia’s Indigenous people. Recognising that we operate on the lands of many strong Indigenous nations, respecting the knowledge and culture of Aboriginal people and committed to Indigenous advancement.

These are truly unique features that CDU embraces as both challenges and opportunities for the years ahead, building on the strong foundations and remarkable achievements of our 25-year history. These are truly unique features that CDU embraces as both challenges and opportunities for the years ahead, building on the strong foundations and remarkable achievements of our 25-year history. CDU has provided and will continue to provide, the human capital that underpins the future prosperity of Northern Australia and our near Asian region, while also providing innovative and flexible online learning choices for a broader national student market.

That geography and those historical connections help to shape and explain the University's special interests in both indigenous and regional issues; areas of interest that it shares with many other parts of the world: in particular, those located in tropical climates and those where there is a meeting of peoples from diverse cultural backgrounds. The Charles Darwin University welcomes researchers, teachers and students from around the world, whether postgraduate, undergraduate or technical, to share in the richness of life and study opportunities that the Northern Territory offers.

Charles Darwin University aspires to become a truly international dual sector university. From our base in the Northern Territory and as the Australian university closest to Asia, we will continue to expand and enhance our significant contribution to the important issues of our region through education and knowledge. CDU is ideally placed to prepare graduates for success in an increasingly complex, diverse and connected world and aims to be a provider of transformative skills and learning with a major focus on quality, access and growth.

CDU will also further develop its world class and emerging research strengths in areas critical to the sustainable and prosperous development of Northern Australia and the region, particularly Indigenous and tropical health, environmental science, public policy, engineering, information technology and Indigenous knowledges, through engagement with governments, industry, institutions and stakeholders.

With a strong and distinctive commitment to Indigenous knowledges, achievement and wellbeing, we will develop our skills and capacity in Indigenous leadership to become globally recognised for our success in Indigenous advancement.