Flinders University enjoys a reputation for excellence in teaching and research. It has a long-standing commitment to enhancing educational opportunities for all and has a strong record of community engagement.

The university’s activities are grouped into four faculties: Education, Humanities, Law and Theology; Science and Engineering; Social and Behavioural Sciences; and Heath Sciences. The faculties are located on the university’s main campus at Bedford Park to the south of Adelaide, at a satellite site in central Adelaide on Victoria Square close to the Torrens Resilience Institute, and at a number of niche regional sites in South Australia, western Victoria and the Northern Territory. The university has over 16,000 students, including some 3,000 international students from over 85 countries.

Flinders University is a member of the Innovative Research Universities (IRU) Group and ranks among the leading universities in Australia. Academically, the university pioneered a cross-disciplinary approach to education, and its faculties in medicine and the humanities are ranked among the nation's top ten. More than $300M has been earned over the past ten years in external research grants, including $180M from contracts with industry and government departments.

Flinders University has a strong focus on education that builds the ability of individuals, organisations and communities to cope in the face of adversity including the effects of climate change, strategic uncertainties in international affairs, and human-made disasters. Changes in society and the environment have emphasised the importance of this work and the university is active in finding solutions and developing future leaders across a wide range of disciplines including health, and the social and environmental sciences.

In September 2009, the university launched the Research Centre for Disaster Resilience and Health. The Centre’s aim is to enhance research in disaster health, both nationally and internationally, and to translate research outcomes into practice based on evidence. Current research work includes: mass gathering medicine; volunteerism and surge capacity for healthcare response; building community resilience including care of vulnerable groups such as the elderly or isolated; preparedness, planning, relief, recovery and development of disaster health; and responding to pandemic influenza.