Education Strategy

For over 50 years, JCU has helped graduates access the education and experience they need to thrive in a global workforce.

We’re proud to serve regional and remote communities and we remain dedicated to providing study experiences that are exciting, challenging and rewarding.

This Corporate Strategy (PDF, 3240 KB) is shared by all of JCU, across our operations and locations in Australia, Singapore and elsewhere. It sets out our values, priorities and what matters to us as a university.

Most importantly, it demonstrates our continued commitment to the success and wellbeing of students, our people, our communities and local economies.

Purpose

At the heart of our commitment is an unwavering focus on:

Creating a brighter future for life in the Tropics and beyond, through education and research that makes a difference locally, and globally.

An international University as reflected in our people, our places, and our research, James Cook University takes pride in being recognised as a leading tertiary institution. The University consistently delivers outstanding student outcomes with high employability for our graduates.

We are unique among Australian universities, woven into the intellectual, economic and social fabric of our communities and set amid irreplaceable ecosystems and cultures. We provide a practical and experiential, research-rich learning environment for our students, fostering their professional expertise and intellectual curiosity.

Values

Our values are the qualities that define what we stand for. They capture the standards that we live by and guide the way we behave and work together.

Priorities

These describe our key areas of strategic focus and the core capabilities we will harness to help deliver on the University’s objectives.

^{James Cook University partners with Russo Higher Education Pty Ltd to deliver the programs available at our Brisbane campus.}

JCU is defined by the Tropics. We are unique among Australian universities, woven into the intellectual, economic and social fabric of our tropical location and set amid irreplaceable ecosystems and cultures that fire our intellects and imaginations.

Our aims are challenging but attainable. Marshalling our broad intellectual strengths, we seek knowledge-based ways to help the world’s tropical regions prosper.

The University Plan (PDF, 2025 KB) expresses how we intend to respond to the challenges facing JCU and the Australian higher education sector over the 2018-2022 period. A thematic approach has been adopted, highlighting the primacy of our academic ambitions via the Academic Plan and identifying the services and capabilities required to fulfil these.

Definitive actions are prioritised according to those which can be enacted now and those which will be implemented later in the life of the Plan. We have also highlighted areas of innovative practice or exemplars, showcasing the wonderful work which is being undertaken across the University which is sometimes overlooked amidst our day to day work.

The Academic Plan (PDF, 1534 KB) provides context and more detailed information around our academic aspirations and curriculum framework and identifies executive and operational leads for initiatives. As indicated above, the Academic Plan is nested within the broader University Plan.

The International Engagement Strategy commits us to achieving comprehensive internationalisation across all dimensions. The strategy sets out how we are connecting JCU to the world and the world to JCU, and ensuring that a more internationalised JCU benefits our local communities and economies.

^{James Cook University partners with Russo Higher Education Pty Ltd to deliver the programs available at our Brisbane campus.}