Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education

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The Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education (DDIAE) was a tertiary education facility offering undergraduate (Batchelor level and below) degrees and certificates in Toowoomba, Queensland Australia, from the 1967 until it was elevated to University College status (1990) and later University status (1992) as the University of Southern Queensland.

DDIAE was originally a campus of the Queensland Institute of Technology (later Queensland University of Technology).

In order to attract staff, DDIAE offered life tenure contracts in the 1960s, even to comparatively junior staff. Many of these early staff remained at Darling Heights until they retired in the late 1990s and early years of the 21st Century.

Loss of the Administration Centre to fire in c.1974 has meant not only a loss of historical material, but great difficulty in tracing and verifying graduates from the early days.

[edit] Trivia

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  • The Mascot of the DDIAE (and later USQ) was an anthropomorphic phoenix, often referred to as Phil.
  • The DDIAE Logo and a lot of campus identity material included a phoenix and the stylised representation was often referred to as the Burning Duck.
  • Many students referred to the DDIAE as the Darling Downs Substitute for Advanced Education, which was often abbreviated as "The Substitute".
  • When established, the Darling Heights campus was surrounded by cow paddocks on the southern outskirts of Toowoomba, and growth of the campus has been paralleled by growth of the surrounding suburbs.