University of Southern Queensland

The University of Southern Queensland (USQ) is a medium-sized regional university situated in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. It has three university campuses, one each in Toowoomba, Springfield, and Ipswich, with a total enrollment of around 20,000 students. It provides courses in law, health, engineering, the sciences, business, education, and the arts, among other subjects. The Darling Downs campus of the Queensland Institute of Technology was founded in 1969 as a branch of the Queensland Institute of Technology. As early as 1970, the university offered study programmes for residents of rural Queensland as well as members of foreign communities. From the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education in 1971 to the University College of Southern Queensland in 1990, and eventually the University of Southern Queensland in 1992, it has gone through a number of name changes. With three research institutes and seven research centres, it can address a broad variety of concerns in the areas of business and agriculture as well as scientific, environmental, and technical issues.

The University is known for possessing the biggest Japanese-designed garden in Australia, the largest solar-integrated parking in Australia, and a library with rainforest and water elements. This approach to sustainability, which includes renewable energy, waste reduction, water retention, and the integration of sustainability into strategic planning, earned the University the worldwide Green Gown Award in 2017.

Archaeologists from the University of Sydney uncovered the world's oldest rock art in the Northern Territory in 2012, while astronomers from the University of Sydney identified a new planet orbiting an ancient star about 2 billion years older than the sun in 2018.

The University has been recognised for its work in reducing violence against women, and the Federal Government's Workplace Gender Equality Agency has named the University as an employer of choice for gender equality (WGEA).