Charles Darwin University (CDU) is an Australian public university with about 20,000 students in 2007. The University offers a wide range of Higher Education degrees and Vocational Education and Training courses with flexible study options, including part-time, external and online. CDU has campuses in the Darwin suburb of Casuarina, the city of Palmerston, and the towns of Alice Springs, Katherine and Nhulunbuy, with smaller training centres in Jabiru, Tennant Creek and Yulara. Charles Darwin University was created on 1 January 2004 from the amalgamation of Northern Territory University (NTU) of Darwin and Centralian College of Alice Springs. The University is named after Charles Darwin, the celebrated English naturalist. Charles Darwin University has evolved over the years through the merging of several higher education institutions. Darwin Community College, founded in 1974 and renamed Darwin Institute of Technology in 1984, was a combined College of Advanced Education and a TAFE College. It was situated on what is now the Casuarina Campus, although it used other buildings at various times in Darwin.