KERRY CARRINGTON: I'm Professor Kerry Carrington. I'm the head of school of justice in the Faculty of Law at QUT.

School of Justice set up a Bachelor of Justice advisory committee last year. That advisory committee has senior representatives at assistant commissioner level from police corrections and major industry employer on the committee from Premiers Unit, Price Waterhouse Coopers, department of communities, from a wide range of other justice professions.

The feedback we've got from those very senior staff and employers is that they really QUT graduates in justice. They love them because one, they know how to translate their critical thinking skills into real world. They come out a head above other student because they've not only got the critical thinking, they've not only got the justice ethics and integrity, they've not only got that, they've got the know how. They had a bit of a tinkering with how to write a brief, how to put a financial briefing together, how to go about a risk assessment, how to write a ministerial. These are things that students really need to know how to do if they are going to jump in, and launch into a career in the justice profession.

What's really unique about the justice degree to is that it provides the training for people who really want to make a difference in the real world. People who want to change the real world. People who see injustices around them, people who see inequities, people who see things that could be better. We actually train our students to have what we call an imagination. Critical thinking skills, imagination, we actually encourage student to think of a better world. And think about what they can do to make a better world and how they can bring that about. We try to give them these life long learning skills and how they can go back  translate these skills when they do get a job or when they do go into the real world.

So it is embedded in a set of values and principles around justice ethics, integrity, equality, and we are absolutely passionate about that, as are our students.

MATTHEW BALL: My name is Matthew Ball and I'm a lecturer in the School of Justice at QUT.

Justice at QUT is a degree where we study issues like criminology, sociology and look at the law, or talk about the law and its impact on different populations and the disadvantages of the criminal justice system and the different problems that it can produce. As well as looking at trying to find solutions to those problems to make sure we achieve justice in Australian society.

It’s really interesting to see students get taken on a journey I suppose and alter their understanding about the justice system and also broader Australia society. It's also a fantastic experience to be able to take them on this journey and be part of that.

The industry reputation of justice at QUT is quite high. We've got an advisory group with the school of justice made up of key professionals in the field. They advise the school and we have regular meetings with this advisory group to talk about the direction of research and teaching in the school, and given feedback on the development of the curriculum for example, the subjects that students can take and the content more generally. So in that regard we have very strong links with professional bodies.

At the same time, a number of staff in the school have worked within the sector and have brought those links to the school and again have developed an increased improvement in the reputation of the school.