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'The Australian National University', or 'ANU', is a public university located in Canberra, Australia. It was created 1 August 1946 as a postgraduate research university. In 1960 undergraduate education was added to the ANU by amalgamation with the Canberra University College. The University is governed by a 15 member Council.
ANU is a member of Australia's Group of Eight, the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy and the International Alliance of Research Universities. The university is often ranked as the leading university in Australia on a number of measures ^[1], and has had many notable staff and alumni, including five Nobel Prize winners.

Contents

History

Academic structure

The Institute of Advanced Studies

The Colleges

University Centres

Campus

Precincts

Prizes

International reputation

See also

References

External links

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]
In 1960, ANU began offering undergraduate degree programs.
Academic leaders have included Professors: Manning Clark (historian); Bart Bok (astronomer) and Hanna Neumann (mathematician). Notable alumni include current leader of the opposition in Australian Parliament, Kevin Rudd.

Academic structure

The academic structure of the ANU is made up of three parts: The Institute of Advanced Studies, The Faculties and the University Centres.

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.


★ '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 Northeast 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' [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.

The Colleges

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 is the ANU School of Music.

★ '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.

★ 'ANU College of Business and Economics'
:The ANU College of Business and Economics carries out teaching and research in the closely related fields of business and economics. The college is a leader in Economics.

★ '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 a leader in International Law and Public Law.

★ '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 ANU Medical School http://medicalschool.anu.edu.au/ . The school's foundation was announced on April 10, 2001, and the first intake of students was in February 2004.

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

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 Cross-Cultural Research

★ Centre for Mental Health Research

★ Humanities Research Centre

★ National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health

★ National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science

★ National Graduate School of Management

★ Mathematical Sciences Institute (joint with The Faculties and the Institute)

★ The National Europe Centre

Campus

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]

★ University Lodge
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

Prizes

The university sponsors various prizes. The list includes:

★ Phoenix Prize for spiritual art

The university has also been the recipient of a number of teaching awards. These include:

Dr. Richard Baker:

• 1996 ANU Vice Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence
  
• 2002 ANU Vice Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence
  
• 2002 Finalist in National Teaching Awards - individual category
  
• 2003 Team leader of the winning course in Australian Awards for University Teaching - institutional category “Large, first year classes” category
  
• 2006 Carrick Award [21]
  

Dr. Alastair Greig:

• ANU Vice Chancellor's teaching award - in 1997 and 2003
  
• National teaching prize winner in Social Science category in 1998
  

Dr. Baker & Dr. Greig co-teach SRES 1001.

International reputation

In 2006, London's ''Times Higher Education Supplement'' and ''Newsweek''^[1] ranked ANU 16th and 38th in the world respectively, - both indicies ranking it as the top university in Australia.

See also

★ List of Australian National University people

References

1. Newsweek Top 100 Global Universities
2. ANU Profile
3. The making of the Australian National University 1946-1996, , S.G., Foster, Allen & Unwin, 1996,
4. ""ANU part of elite group to build world's biggest telescope"" The Canberra Times
5. Newsweek Top 100 Global Universities

External links

★ Official website

★ Group of Eight website