Australian National University
The Australian National University is a national research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and institutes.
Established in 1946, ANU is the only university to have been created by the Parliament of Australia. It traces its origins to Canberra University College, which was established in 1929 and was integrated into ANU in 1960. ANU enrolls 10,052 undergraduate and 10,840 postgraduate students and employs 3,753 staff. The university's endowment stood at A$1.13 billion in 2012.
ANU is regarded as one of the world's leading research universities and one of the most selective institutions of higher learning in the world. It is ranked first in Australia and the whole of Oceania, 24th in the world by the 2019 QS World University Rankings, and 49th in the world by the 2019 Times Higher Education. ANU was named the world's seventh most international university in a 2017 study by Times Higher Education. In the 2017 Times Higher Education Global Employability University Ranking, an annual ranking of university graduates' employability, ANU was ranked 21st in the world. The university ranks among the top 10 in the world for anthropology, earth and marine science, geography, geology, philosophy, politics and sociology.
ANU counts six Nobel laureates and 49 Rhodes scholars among its faculty and alumni. The university has educated two prime ministers, 30 current Australian ambassadors and more than a dozen current heads of government departments of Australia. The latest releases of ANU's scholarly publications are held through ANU Press online.
History
Post-war origins
Calls for the establishment of a national university in Australia began as early as 1900. After the location of the nation's capital, Canberra, was determined in 1908, land was set aside for the university at the foot of Black Mountain in the city designs by Walter Burley Griffin. Planning for the university was disrupted by World War II but resumed with the creation of the Department of Post-War Reconstruction in 1942, ultimately leading to the passage of the Australian National University Act 1946 by the Chifley Government on 1 August 1946.designed by Mark Oliphant
A group of eminent Australian scholars returned from overseas to join the university, including Sir Howard Florey, Sir Mark Oliphant, and Sir Keith Hancock. The group also included a New Zealander, Sir Raymond Firth, who had earlier worked in Australia for some years. Economist Sir Douglas Copland was appointed as ANU's first Vice-Chancellor and former Prime Minister Stanley Bruce served as the first Chancellor. ANU was originally organised into four centres—the Research Schools of Physical Sciences, Social Sciences and Pacific Studies and the John Curtin School of Medical Research.
The first residents' hall, University House, was opened in 1954 for faculty members and postgraduate students. Mount Stromlo Observatory, established by the federal government in 1924, became part of ANU in 1957. The first locations of the ANU Library, the Menzies and Chifley buildings, opened in 1963. The Australian Forestry School, located in Canberra since 1927, was amalgamated by ANU in 1965.
Canberra University College
was the first institution of higher education in the national capital, having been established in 1929 and enrolling its first undergraduate pupils in 1930. Its founding was led by Sir Robert Garran, one of the drafters of the Australian Constitution and the first Solicitor-General of Australia. CUC was affiliated with the University of Melbourne and its degrees were granted by that university. Academic leaders at CUC included historian Manning Clark, political scientist Finlay Crisp, poet A. D. Hope and economist Heinz Arndt.In 1960, CUC was integrated into ANU as the School of General Studies, initially with faculties in arts, economics, law and science. Faculties in Oriental studies and engineering were introduced later. Bruce Hall, the first residential college for undergraduates, opened in 1961.
building
Modern era
The Canberra School of Music and the Canberra School of Art combined in 1988 to form the Canberra Institute of the Arts, and amalgamated with the university as the ANU Institute of the Arts in 1992.ANU established its Medical School in 2002, after obtaining federal government approval in 2000.
On 18 January 2003, the Canberra bushfires largely destroyed the Mount Stromlo Observatory. ANU astronomers now conduct research from the Siding Spring Observatory, which contains 10 telescopes including the Anglo-Australian Telescope.
In February 2013, financial entrepreneur and ANU graduate Graham Tuckwell made the largest university donation in Australian history by giving $50 million to fund an undergraduate scholarship program at ANU.
ANU is well known for its history of student activism and, in recent years, its fossil fuel divestment campaign, which is one of the longest-running and most successful in the country. The decision of the ANU Council to divest from two fossil fuel companies in 2014 was criticised by ministers in the Abbott government, but defended by Vice Chancellor Ian Young, who noted: ANU still had investments in major fossil fuel companies.
A survey conducted by the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2017 found that the ANU had the second highest incidence of sexual assault and sexual harassment. 3.5 per cent of respondents from the ANU reported being sexually assaulted in 2016. Vice Chancellor Brian Schmidt apologised to victims of sexual assault and harassment.
In recent years the ANU has come under pressure with funding and staff cuts in the School of Music in 2011-15 and in the School of Culture, History and Language in 2016. However, there is a range of global endowments available for Arts and Social Sciences, designated only for ANU. Some courses are now delivered online.
Today ANU has exchange agreements in place for its students with many of the world's leading universities most notably in the Asia-Pacific region, including the National University of Singapore, the University of Tokyo, the University of Hong Kong, Peking University, Tsinghua University and Seoul National University. In other regions, notable universities include the George Washington University, the University of California, the University of Texas, the University of Toronto in North America and Imperial College London, King's College London, Sciences Po, ETH Zürich, Bocconi University, the University of Copenhagen and Trinity College Dublin in Europe.
In 2017, Chinese hackers infiltrated the computers of Australian National University, potentially compromising national security research conducted at the university.
Campus
The main campus of ANU extends across the Canberra suburb of Acton, which consists of of mostly parkland with university buildings landscaped within. ANU is roughly bisected by Sullivans Creek, part of the Murray–Darling basin, and is bordered by the native bushland of Black Mountain, Lake Burley Griffin, the suburb of Turner and the Canberra central business district. Many university sites are of historical significance dating from the establishment of the national capital, with over 40 buildings recognised by the Commonwealth Heritage List and several others on local lists.With over 10,000 trees on its campus, ANU won an International Sustainable Campus Network Award in 2009 and was ranked the 2nd greenest university campus in Australia in 2011.
Four of Australia's five learned societies are based at ANU—the Australian Academy of Science, the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian Academy of Law. The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science and the National Film and Sound Archive are also located at ANU, while the National Museum of Australia and CSIRO are situated next to the campus.
ANU occupies additional locations including Mount Stromlo Observatory on the outskirts of Canberra, Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, a campus at Kioloa on the South Coast of New South Wales and a research unit in Darwin.
Library
The library of ANU originated in 1948 with the appointment of the first librarian, Arthur McDonald. The library holds over 2.5 million physical volumes distributed across six branches—the Chifley, Menzies, Hancock, Art & Music, and Law Libraries and the external Print Repository. Chifley and Hancock library are both accessible for ANU staff and students 24 hours a day.Residential halls and colleges
Eleven residential facilities are affiliated with ANU—Bruce Hall, Burgmann College, Burton & Garron Hall, Fenner Hall, Gowrie Hall, Graduate House, John XXIII College, Toad Hall, Ursula Hall, Wamburun Hall, and Wright Hall. All are located on campus except Gowrie Hall, which is located in the nearby suburb of Braddon. Students also reside in the privately run units adjoining the campus—Davey Lodge, Kinloch Lodge, Warrumbul Lodge and Lena Karmel Lodge. In 2010, the non-residential Griffin Hall was established for students living off-campus. Another off-campus student accommodation was launched by UniGardens Pty, University Gardens located in Belconnen.Academic structure
Colleges
ANU was reorganised in 2006 to create seven Colleges, each College leads both teaching and research.Arts and Social Sciences
The ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences is divided into the Research School of Social Sciences and the Research School of Humanities and the Arts. Within RSSS there are schools dedicated to history, philosophy, sociology, political science and international relations, Middle Eastern studies and Latin American studies. RSHA contains schools focusing on anthropology, archaeology, classics, art history, English literature, drama, film studies, gender studies, linguistics, European languages as well as an art and music school. In 2017, ANU ranked 6th in the world for politics, 8th in the world for Social Policy and Administration and 11th in the world for development studies. It is also home to the Australian Studies Institute, the ANU Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research and the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods.The College's School of Philosophy houses the ANU Centre for Consciousness and the ANU Centre for Philosophy of the Sciences, as well as the ANU Centre for Moral, Social and Political Theory, an organization whose purpose is to "become a world-leading forum for exposition and analysis of the evolution, structure, and implications of our moral, social and political life." Its president is Nicholas Southwood and key people include Seth Lazar, Geoff Brennan, Bob Goodin, Frank Jackson, Philip Pettit and Michael Smith.
is based at the ANU
Asia and the Pacific
The ANU College of Asia and the Pacific is a specialist centre of Asian and Pacific studies and languages, among the largest collections of experts in these fields of any university in the English-speaking world. The College is home to four academic schools: the Crawford School of Public Policy, a research intensive public policy school; the School of Culture, History and Language, the nation's centre dedicated to investigating and learning with and about the people, languages, and lands of Asia and the Pacific; Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, Australia's foremost collection of expertise in the politics and international affairs of Asia and the Pacific; and the , a world-renowned research school dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of regulation and governance.The Strategic and Defence Studies Centre is also a component of the College. Peter Drysdale is known for laying the intellectual foundation of APEC at CAP. The College also houses the Australian Centre on China in the World and the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific, Australia. It also has dedicated regional institutes for China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Pacific, Southeast Asia and South Asia. The College hosts a series annual and biannual updates, on various regions in the Asia-Pacific. The Crawford School of Public Policy houses the Asia Pacific Arndt-Cohen Department of Economics, the Asia Pacific Network for Environmental Governance, the Australia-Japan Research Centre, The Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, the Centre for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research, the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, the ANU National Security College and the East Asia Forum publication. The Crawford School of Public Policy also hosts offices and programs for the Australia and New Zealand School of Government. Many high performing Year in Asia program students gain the opportunity to travel to an Asian country of their choosing to study for one year specializing in one Asian language.
The College also has affiliation with Indiana University's Pan Asia Institute.
Business and Economics
The ANU College of Business and Economics comprises four Research Schools, which carries research and teaching in economics, finance, accounting, actuarial studies, statistics, marketing and management. Dedicated research centres within these schools include the Social Policy Evaluation, Analysis and Research Centre, the Australian National Centre for Audit and Assurance Research, the ANU Centre for Economic History, the National Centre for Information Systems Research and the ANU Centre for Economic Policy Research. The college is professionally accredited with the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia, CPA Australia, the Australian Computer Society, the Actuaries Institute Australia, the Institute of Public Accountants, the Association of International Accountants, the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute and the Statistical Scoiety of Australia Inc. It also has membership of the World Wide Web Consortium.Engineering and Computer Science
The ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science is divided into two Research Schools, which study a range of engineering and computer science topics respectively. ANU is home to the National Computational Infrastructure National Facility and was a co-founder of NICTA, the chief information and communications technology research centre in Australia. Research groups in ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science include Algorithms and Data, Applied Signal Processing, Artificial Intelligence, Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems, Computer Systems, Computer Vision and Robotics, Data-Intensive Computing, Information and Human Centred Computing, Logic & Computation, Materials and Manufacturing, Semiconductor and Solar Cells, Software Intensive Systems Engineering, Solar Thermal Group, Systems and Control. Disciplinary areas include theories, operations and cutting-edge research that will enhance user experience by integrating ever-evolving information technology methods in engineering applications, with the emphasis on energy source.Law
The ANU College of Law covers legal research and teaching, with centres dedicated to commercial law, international law, public law and environmental law. In addition to numerous research programs, the College offers the professional LL.B. and J.D. degrees. It is the 7th oldest of Australia's 36 law schools and was ranked 2nd among Australian and 12th among world law schools by the 2018 QS Rankings. Students are given the chance to spend three weeks in Geneva concerning the institutional practice of International Law.Medicine, Biology and Environment
The ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment encompasses the John Curtin School of Medical Research, the ANU Medical School, the Fenner School of Environment & Society and Research Schools of Biology, Psychology and Population Health. JCSMR was established in 1948 as a result of the vision of Nobel laureate Howard Florey. Three further Nobel Prizes have been won as a result of research at JCSMR—in 1963 by John Eccles and in 1996 by Peter Doherty and Rolf M. Zinkernagel.Physical and Mathematical Sciences
The ANU College of Physical & Mathematical Sciences comprises the Research Schools of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Mathematical Sciences and Physics. Under the direction of Mark Oliphant, nuclear physics was one the university's most notable early research priorities, leading to the construction of a 500 megajoule homopolar generator and a 7.7 megaelectronvolts cyclotron in the 1950s. These devices were to be used as part of a 10.6 gigaelectronvolt synchrotron particle accelerator that was never completed, however they remained in use for other research purposes. ANU has been home to eight particle accelerators over the years and operates the 14UD and LINAS accelerators. Brian Schmidt received the 2011 Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on the accelerating expansion of the universe.Academics
Governance
ANU is governed by a 15-member Council, whose members include the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor. Gareth Evans, a former Foreign Minister of Australia, was ANU Chancellor from 2010 to December 2019 and Brian Schmidt, an astrophysicist and Nobel Laureate, has served as Vice-Chancellor since 1 January 2016. Evans was succeeded as Chancellor by a fellow former Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, in January 2020.Finances
In its most recent disclosure at the end of 2012, ANU recorded an endowment of A$1.13 billion.Rankings
When averaging the world's major rankings, ANU appears to be ranked seventh in Australia, behind UNSW, Monash University, the University of Sydney, the University of Queensland, and the University of Melbourne.ANU was ranked =29th in the world by the 2020 QS World University Rankings, and 50th in the world by the 2020 Times Higher Education. ANU was named the world's seventh most international university in a 2017 study by Times Higher Education. In the 2015 Times Higher Education Global Employability University Ranking, an annual ranking of university graduates' employability, ANU was ranked 32nd in the world. ANU was ranked 100th in the world in the CWTS Leiden ranking.
In the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2017, ANU was ranked sixth in the world for politics, eighth in the world for social policy and administration, tenth in the world for arts and humanities, thirteenth in the world for archaeology and fourteenth in the world for history.
Students entering ANU in 2013 had a median Australian Tertiary Admission Rank of 93, the equal-highest among Australian universities.
Student life
is the students' union of the Australian National University and represents undergraduate and ANU College students, while the Postgraduate and Research Students' Association represents postgraduates. The Australian National University Union manages catering and retail outlets and function amenities on behalf of all students.''Woroni''
Woroni is the student newspaper of the Australian National University, first formed in 1947. Woroni is published fortnightly in full colour tabloid format, and features broad coverage of university and local news, opinion, features, arts and culture, sports, and leisure. Most of the newspaper since its beginnings have been digitised through the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program of the National Library of Australia. Woroni also features an online radio broadcast, Woroni Radio, as well as video production through Woroni TV.Network Compromise
The network of the university was subject to serious compromise from November 9 to December 21, 2018. ABC News reported that the initial breach occurred when a phishing message was previewed. After investigating, the university published a report on the incident. The Chief Information Security Officer provides to avoid further compromise.Notable alumni and faculty
Notable past faculty include Mark Oliphant, Keith Hancock, Manning Clark, Derek Freeman, H. C. Coombs, Gareth Evans, John Crawford, Hedley Bull, Frank Fenner, C. P. Fitzgerald, Pierre Ryckmans, A. L. Basham, Bernhard Neumann, and former Indonesian Vice-President Boediono. Nobel Prizes have been awarded to former ANU Chancellor Howard Florey and faculty members John Eccles, John Harsanyi, Rolf M. Zinkernagel, Peter Doherty and Brian Schmidt. Notable present scholars include Hilary Charlesworth, Ian McAllister, Hugh White, Warwick McKibbin, Keith Dowding, Amin Saikal and Jeremy Shearmur.ANU alumni are often visible in government. Bob Hawke and Kevin Rudd, former Australian Prime Ministers, attended the university, as did senior politicians Annastacia Palaszczuk, Barry O'Farrell, Nick Minchin, Kim Beazley Sr, Peter Garrett, Craig Emerson, Stephen Conroy, Gary Gray, Warren Snowdon, Joe Ludwig and Catherine King and Michael Keenan. ANU has produced 30 current Australian Ambassadors, and more than a dozen current heads of Australian Public Service departments, including Prime Minister & Cabinet secretaries Michael Thawley and Martin Parkinson, Finance secretary Jane Halton, Education secretary Lisa Paul, Agriculture secretary Paul Grimes, Attorney-General's secretary Chris Moraitis, Environment secretary Gordon de Brouwer, Employment secretary Renee Leon, Social Services secretary Finn Pratt, Industry secretary Glenys Beauchamp, ASIS director-general Nick Warner and ACCC chairman Rod Sims. Graduates also include Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands Gordon Darcy Lilo, Foreign Minister of Mongolia Damdin Tsogtbaatar, former Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Don Brash, former British Secretary of State for Health Patricia Hewitt and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk.
Other notable alumni include High Court of Australia judges Stephen Gageler and Geoffrey Nettle, Chief Federal Magistrate John Pascoe, political journalist Stan Grant, human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, former Chief of Army David Morrison, Kellogg's CEO John Bryant, former Singapore Airlines CEO Cheong Choong Kong, Indiana University president Michael McRobbie, University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellors Alan Gilbert and Glyn Davis, mathematician John H. Coates, computer programmer Andrew Tridgell, public intellectual Clive Hamilton, journalist Bettina Arndt, and economists John Deeble, Ross Garnaut, Peter Drysdale and John Quiggin.
Notable Honorary Doctorate recipients have included former Australian public officials Stanley Bruce, Robert Menzies, Richard Casey, Angus Houston, Brendan Nelson, Owen Dixon, Australian notable persons Sidney Nolan, Norman Gregg, Charles Bean, foreign dignitaries Harold Macmillan, Lee Kuan Yew, Aung San Suu Kyi, Sheikh Hasina, K. R. Narayanan, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Saburo Okita and notable foreign scientists John Cockcroft, Jan Hendrik Oort and Alexander R. Todd.
Affiliations
ANU is a member of the Group of Eight, Association of Pacific Rim Universities, the International Alliance of Research Universities, UNESCO Chairs, U7 Alliance and Winter Institute.ANU participates in the US Financial Direct Loan program. The RG Menzies Scholarship to Harvard University is awarded annually to at least one talented Australian who has gained admission to a Harvard graduate school. ANU and University of Melbourne are the only two Australian partner universities of Yale University's Fox Fellowship program. ANU has exchange partnership with Yale University, Brown University, MIT and Oxford University, and ANU has research partnership with Harvard University.