The university was named after Sir Samuel Walker Griffith, who was twice Premier of Queensland and the first Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia.

Sir Samuel Griffith played a major role in the Federation of Australia and was the principal author of the Australian Constitution.

The university offers undergraduate, postgraduate, and research programs across a range of disciplines, including business, law, science, health, education, engineering, and the arts.

[16] Initially, the site was to be part of the University of Queensland, which was experiencing strong demand in humanities and social sciences.

[clarification needed] After several months of discussion, the government announced on 24 December 1970 that Bray would head a committee charged with establishing Griffith University.

The Queensland Conservatorium of Music continued the higher education mergers and became an official part of Griffith University in 1991.

The campus is serviced by two Gold Coast light rail (G:link) stations and is a major interchange for bus routes.

[citation needed] Hosting approximately 2,000 students, Logan campus offers degrees in human services and social work, nursing and midwifery, business, and education.

[20] Nathan, Griffith's foundation campus, is situated on the edge of Toohey Forest approximately 10 kilometres from the Brisbane CBD.

Nathan hosts over 13,000 students and offers degrees in business and government, engineering and information technology, environment, humanities and languages, law, and science and aviation.

The clusters of buildings, sports facilities, bushland reserves, and recreational areas are connected by integrated networks of walking paths.

[27] Located in Brisbane's cultural precinct, the South Bank campus is Griffith University's creative hub.

The new campus will accommodate students and staff from the Schools of Business, IT and Law, and will also serve as a centre for “postgraduate and executive education”.

[30] Griffith University is structured in four academic groups, with teaching offered through a range of schools, colleges, and departments.

[31] Griffith researchers work in 38 centres and institutes, investigating areas such as water science, climate change adaptation, criminology and crime prevention, sustainable tourism, and health and chronic disease.

[52] The Australian Government's QILT[b] conducts national surveys documenting the student life cycle from enrolment through to employment.

[53] These surveys place more emphasis on criteria such as student experience, graduate outcomes and employer satisfaction[53] than perceived reputation, research output and citation counts.

Distinguished alumni spans 82 Olympians, 13 Paralympians and many Commonwealth Games athletes, including Emma McKeon, Madison de Rozario, Cameron McEvoy, and Ashleigh Gentle.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff assist students from recruitment to orientation, providing undergraduate and postgraduate support through to graduation and beyond.

The premier event of the ICC is the Phar Cup, where both female and male teams compete in rugby league matches against each other.