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James Cook University is located in Townsville, Queensland, Australia and was founded in the 1970s as the first tertiary education institution in north Queensland (although the first may have been the local TAFE college instead). It is named after the British sea captain James Cook who popularised the discovery and potential colonial value of the east coast of Australia and the island of New Zealand. Cook's exploratory vessel actually ran aground for repairs in north Queensland.James Cook University moved from a small campus in the Townsville suburb of Pimlico to a very large allocated area of bush land, near the army base and the lee of Mount Stuart, during the early 1970s. It has a widely spread out area of buildings inbetween native managed bushland.
The university serves as a 'catchment area' for most students in the whole region and has been selling itself aggressively to international students from the Asia-Pacific region. Its student population is about 10,000.
The university is well known for its marine sciences and engineering. In 2001 the university took in its first medical students in its new School of Medicine. The university is positioned right alongside the new Townsville hospital.
James Cook University has had a consistantly high reputation nationally despite its small size and young age.
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