Edith Cowan University (ECU) is a public research university in Western Australia. It is named in honour of Edith Cowan, the first woman to be elected to an Australian parliament. It is the second-largest university in the state with over 30,000 students in 2023. Gaining university status in 1991, it was formed from an amalgamation of tertiary colleges with a history dating back to 1902 when the Claremont Teachers College was established.