Australian National University

The Australian National University, commonly abbreviated to ANU, is a public research university situated in Canberra, Australia. It was established by an act of the Parliament of Australia on 1 August 1946, with the legislated purpose of conducting and promoting research in Australia.^[1]

The university is consistently ranked as the best university in Australia, and is one of only three Australian universities in the top 50 worldwide in several international surveys (the others being University of Sydney and University of Melbourne), including the Newsweek Top 100 and the annual Times Higher Education Supplement rankings. Its notable staff and alumni include five Nobel laureates.

The university is governed by a 15-member council. The university is a member of several university alliances and cooperative networks, including the Group of Eight (Australian Universities), the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy and the International Alliance of Research Universities.

History

The ANU is the only Australian university to be established by an act of federal Parliament.^[2] The Australian National University Act 1946-47 was introduced into parliament by the then Prime Minister, Ben Chifley, and Minister for Post-war Reconstruction, J.J. Dedman. The bill was passed on 1 August 1946 with support from Opposition Leader Robert Menzies. A group of eminent Australian scholars were involved in the infancy of the ANU, including a leader in radar development and nuclear physics, Sir Mark Oliphant; the discoverer of the benefits of penicillin, Sir Howard Florey; eminent historian, Sir Keith Hancock; and renowned economist and public servant, Herbert ‘Nugget’ Coombs. ^[3]

After its establishment, the university conducted research and provided only postgraduate education. The former Canberra University College was amalgamated into the Australian National University in 1960, as the School of General Studies, to provide for the education of undergraduate students.

Academic leaders have included Professors: Manning Clark (historian); Bart Bok (astronomer) and Hanna Neumann (mathematician). Notable alumni include current Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd.

Academic structure

The university is split into seven colleges and the Institute of Advanced Studies. The colleges undertake both undergraduate teaching, postgraduate studies and research. The Institute of Advanced Studies comprises of nine research schools which focus exclusively on research.

The Colleges

ANU School of Art

ANU's seven Colleges combine research with research-led teaching and are responsible for undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

• ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences

The ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences consists of over 20 teaching and research disciplines in the fields of arts, humanities and social sciences. The College is particularly strong in Political Science. Also part of this college are the ANU School of Music and ANU School of Art.

• ANU College of Asia and the Pacific

The ANU College of Asia and the Pacific focuses on study relating to Asia and the Pacific region. The College houses a great number of scholars working on Asia-Pacific outside the region.

• ANU College of Business and Economics

The ANU College of Business and Economics carries out research and teaching in accounting, finance, statistics and economics. The college is a leader in economics research in Australia.

• ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science

The ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science comprises the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology (which in turn combines the Department of Engineering and the Department of Computer Science) and the Research School of Information Sciences and Engineering.

• ANU College of Law

The ANU College of Law, established in 1960. The College is an academic leader in several areas including International Law, Tort Law, Constitutional Law and Public Law, having been ranked first in these subject areas compared to all other Australian universities.

ANU School of Medicine

• ANU College of Medicine and Health Science

The ANU College of Medicine and Health Science is home to the newest of ANU's schools, the Medical School, which runs a four-year postgraduate entry course. The school's foundation was announced on 10 April 2001, and the first intake of students was in February 2004. These these students completed the course in November 2007, with the first graduate students entering the Australian workforce as medical interns in January 2008. Notable Deans : Professor Paul Gatenby (2004-2008, leading immunologist & founding dean), Professor Nicholas Glasgow (2008-current).

• ANU College of Science

The ANU College of Science is the largest of the ANU's Colleges.

The Institute of Advanced Studies

The Institute is focused on post-graduate education and research and comprises nine research schools and a research centre:

• Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics [1]

The Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA) is based at the Mount Stromlo Observatory. RSAA runs ANU's telescopes at the Siding Spring Observatory, in NSW. On Thursday 20 April 2006 it was reported that the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics would build the world's most powerful telescope^[4]. This project is a collaboration between an elite international group of research institutions which also includes the University of Arizona, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and Harvard University.

• Research School of Biological Sciences [2]

Research is carried out in areas such as agriculture, environment, neuroscience, visual sicence, health and technology.

• Research School of Chemistry [3]
• Research School of Earth Sciences [4]

The Research School of Earth Sciences (RSES) is one of the top ten university geoscience programs in the world.

• Research School of Information Sciences and Engineering [5]

The Research School of Information Sciences and Engineering (RSISE) contains the Department of Information Engineering and the Computer Sciences Laboratory.

The remains of the ANU 500MJ Homopolar generator designed by Mark Oliphant

• Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies [6]

The Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (RSPAS) is Australia's leading centre for research and postgraduate training on the Asia Pacific region. Priority research areas include East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Southwest Pacific.

• Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering [7]

The Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering (RSPhysSE). The school's primary research areas are: materials science and engineering; lasers, nonlinear optics and photonics; nanotechnology and mesoscopic physics; physics of atoms, molecules and the nucleus; plasma physics and surface science; physics and the environment.

• Research School of Social Sciences [8]

The Research School of Social Sciences (RSSS) concentrates on theoretical and empirical research in the social sciences. The following programs exist within the school: Demography & Sociology, Economics, History, Law, Philosophy, Political Science and Social & Political Theory.

The John Curtin School of Medical Research

• The John Curtin School of Medical Research [9]

The John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR) was formed in 1948 as a result of the vision of Nobel Laureate Howard Florey and Prime Minister John Curtin. Two Nobel Prizes (John Carew Eccles in 1963 and Peter Doherty and Rolf M. Zinkernagel in 1996) have been won by research performed at John Curtin.

• The Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies [10]

The Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies (CRES) includes economists, hydrologists, historians, ecologists, anthropologists and soil scientists. Research is undertaken into many natural resource and environmental issues.

University Centres

The University Centres are organisational structures that can draw from both the Faculties and the Institute.

• Asia Pacific College of Diplomacy
• Crawford School of Economics and Government,
• Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute
• Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research
• Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics
• Centre for Cross-Cultural Research
• Centre for Mental Health Research
• Centre for the Public Awareness of Science
• Humanities Research Centre
• National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health
• National Graduate School of Management
• Mathematical Sciences Institute (joint with The Faculties and the Institute)
• The National Europe Centre

Rankings

The Australian National University is consistently ranked best in Australia and in the top twenty of the world.

The following publications ranked universities worldwide.

The Times Higher Education Supplement consistently ranks the Australian National University very highly. In 2007, its position 16th in the world and the best in Australasia, and placing it higher than Stanford University and Cornell University on the overall ranking.^[7].

The 2007 Shanghai Jiao Tong University rankings place ANU as the 59th university in the world.

Both ranking systems use research output as a key determinant of quality. ANU ranks highest on research compared to other Australian universities.

Campus

Mount Stromlo after the fires: remains of the old administration building with the dome of the Farnham telescope

The ANU's main campus is located in, and occupies most of the Canberra suburb of Acton. The campus covers 1.45 km² (350 acres) adjoining native bushland, Black Mountain, Lake Burley Griffin, the suburb of Turner and the city centre. Eight of the university's nine affiliated halls and colleges are located on campus, while Fenner Hall is located on Northbourne Avenue in the nearby suburb of Braddon. The halls and colleges are:

• Bruce Hall [11],
• Ursula Hall [12],
• Fenner Hall [13],
• Burgmann College [14],
• John XXIII College [15],
• Burton & Garran Hall [16],
• Toad Hall [17],
• University House [18],
• Graduate House [19]

With over 10,000 trees on its "green" campus, the ANU was awarded the Silver Greenhouse Challenge Award at the annual Australian Engineering Excellence Awards in 2003.

The Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA) is located away from the main campus in Acton, at the Mount Stromlo Observatory, near Weston Creek in south Canberra. RSAA also runs the Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, New South Wales. Since the destruction of Mount Stromlo's telescopes in the Canberra bushfires of 2003, this is ANU's only telescope site. The university also runs a coastal campus at Kioloa on the South Coast of New South Wales dedicated to field work training, and a North Australia Research Unit in Darwin in the Northern Territory.

Students on all campuses are represented by the ANU Students' Association. Representation for postgraduate students is provided by the Postgraduate and Research Students' Association (PARSA), a member of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations.

Precincts

The ANU campus is divided into eight precincts, with three on the west side of Sullivans creek, and five on the east side.

• The west side precincts are:
  • Dickson Precinct - located in the west, it includes five of the residential colleges - John XXIII, Burgmann, Ursula, Burton & Garran and Bruce.
  • Linnaeus Precinct - located in the centre west, includes the Hancock library
  • Daley Precinct - located in the north west, includes the gym and Willows Oval

• Located on the east side of Sullivans creek are:
  • Kingsley Precinct - located in the north, includes Union court, the Chifley library, Toad Hall, Drill hall gallery and AD Hope building
  • Baldessin Precinct - located in the north east, includes the Faculty of Asian Studies, Crawford School of Economics and Government [20], and the School of Art and the School of Music.
  • Ellery Precinct - located in the centre, includes the Law building and HC Coombs building.
  • Liversidge Precinct - located in the south east towards Acton Peninsula, includes University House, Lennox House and Sir Roland Wilson Building
  • Garran Precinct - located in the south, includes everything south of South oval including the John Curtin School of Medical Research.

• Map of campus - clickable with key to ANU buildings

See also

• Australian National University Student Association
• List of Australian National University people (notable alumni, faculty and chancellors)
• Notable contributions to society by ANU alumni
• NICTA - national information and communication technology research centre, co-founded by ANU
• University of Canberra
• Woroni - the ANU student newspaper
• The ANU Law Revue
• Group of Eight (Australian Universities)
• ANU International Relations Society

References

External links

• Australian National University
• Group of Eight