[13] UQ is also a founding member of edX, Australia's leading Group of Eight and the international research-intensive Association of Pacific Rim Universities.

[18] UQ counts two Nobel laureates (Peter C. Doherty and John Harsanyi), over a hundred Olympians winning numerous gold medals,[19] and 117 Rhodes Scholars[20] among its alumni and former staff.

UQ's alumni also include University of California, San Francisco Chancellor Sam Hawgood, the first female Governor-General of Australia Dame Quentin Bryce, former President of King's College London Ed Byrne, member of United Kingdom's Prime Minister Council for Science and Technology Max Lu, Oscar and Emmy awards winner Geoffrey Rush, triple Grammy Award winner Tim Munro, former CEO and chairman of Dow Chemical Andrew N. Liveris, and current director of multiple organisations including IBM.

The Act allowed for the university to be governed by a senate of 20 men and Sir William MacGregor, the incoming Governor, was appointed the first chancellor with RH Roe as the vice-chancellor.

In December of the same year, the Senate appointed the first four professors; BD Steele in chemistry, JL Michie in classics, H. Priestley in mathematics and A Gibson in engineering.

[21] The university's first classes in the Government House were held in 1911 with 83 commencing students and Sir William MacGregor is the first chancellor (with RH Roe as vice-chancellor).

Thus, in the early 1920s the growing university had to look for a more spacious campus as its original site in George Street, Brisbane, had limited room for expansion.

During World War II, the Forgan Smith Building was used as a military base and it served first as advanced headquarters for the Allied Land Forces in the South West Pacific.

From May 2014, the initial four UQx courses cover hypersonics, tropical coastal ecosystems, biomedical imaging and the science of everyday thinking.

[36] The University of Queensland Art Museum is located in the James and Mary Emelia Mayne Centre on the St Lucia campus.

The Art Museum was established in the Forgan Smith Tower in 1976 to house the artworks collected by The University of Queensland since the 1940s, relocating to its present site in 2004.

[13] UQ Gatton is the core campus for research, learning and teaching activities and facilities in agriculture, animals, veterinary science and the environment.

[42] In 2008 the Centre for Advanced Animal Science (CAAS) was opened at the Gatton campus – a collaborative venture between UQ and the Queensland Government.

The focus is on the study of medical history in Queensland, but the collection includes items with broader significance to Australia and internationally.

Indooroopilly is the site of the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre and the Queensland University Regiment Logistics Company.

It promptly became an integral part of the teaching and research capacity of the School,[52] which in 1952 expanded to become the Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering.

[56] It is named after Julius Kruttschnitt, the chairman of Mount Isa Mines and a board member of the university's Faculty of Engineering.

The university's research advancement includes pioneering the development of the cervical cancer vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, by UQ Professor Ian Frazer.

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

[117] These surveys place more emphasis on criteria such as student experience, graduate outcomes and employer satisfaction[117] than perceived reputation, research output and citation counts.

[124] The UQ Athletics Centre maintains an Olympic standard 8 lane synthetic track and grandstand able to accommodate up to 565 spectators.

The University of Queensland Intercollege Council is the organisational and representative body for the residential colleges which coordinates sporting and cultural events and competitions.

[129] The university is served by the UQ St Lucia ferry wharf, the westernmost stop and terminus of the CityCat service.

Several notable examples include recipient of a Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine Peter C. Doherty,[132] recipient of the "Triple Crown of Acting" (having won Primetime Emmy, Tony and Academy Awards) Geoffrey Rush, triple Grammy Award-winning musician Tim Munro,[133] former Chief Justices of Australia Sir Gerard Brennan and Sir Harry Gibbs, international not-for-profit 'Hear and Say' founder and officer of the order of Australia Dimity Dornan, Principal of King's College London Edward Byrne, singer and eurovision representative Dami Im, former CEO of Dow Chemical Andrew Liveris, the first female Governor-General of Australia Dame Quentin Bryce, former Singaporean Minister of Defence and Manpower Lee Boon Yang, consecutive Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer David Theile, highly cited epidemiologist Graham Colditz, international best-selling author Kate Morton,[134] CEO of MS Research Australia and Harvard Club of Australia fellow Matthew Miles,[135] and Ben Roberts-Smith, former general manager of Seven Brisbane and former Australian soldier.

Apparent links with the Confucius Institute, a Chinese government-supported international education partnership program, have been controversial for UQ.

[136] On 29 May 2020, the UQ disciplinary board issued a two-year suspension to activist Drew Pavlou for alleged bullying, discrimination and harassment of university students and staff.

[137] Pavlou has contested the reasoning describing in a statement released on Twitter that his suspension was "to silence [him] for [his] political activism", something denied by both the university, and the disciplinary and appeals boards.

[141] In June 2020, Pavlou launched a second lawsuit in the Supreme Court seeking A$3.5 million in damages from the university for alleged defamation and a breach of contract.

For the period July 2015 to June 2016 direct fossil fuel companies comprised an average of 3.82% of UQ's $169.2m investment portfolio.

[154][citation not found] In October 2017, ten students occupied the Chancellor's Office deeming the 2016 Senate vote on divestment illegitimate due to conflicts of interest.