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Australian National University

Encyclopedia : A : AU : AUS : Australian National University

The Australian National University (ANU), is a university located in Canberra, the national capital of Australia. It is one of Australia's leading universities and was recently ranked by The Times Higher Education Supplement at number 23 in the world's top 200 universities. The Times Higher Education Supplement also placed the ANU at number 10 worldwide for arts and humanities.

It is particularly strong in research, and is a member of Australia's "Group of Eight" lobby group, the Association of Pacific Rim Universities and the exclusive International Alliance of Research Universities.

Contents

History

The ANU was founded in 1946 by the Australian Government as Australia's only research-only university. With a mandate for "postgraduate research and study, both generally and in relation to subjects of national importance to Australia", the ANU was intended to strengthen Australia's research efforts at the highest levels.

In 1960 undergraduate education was added to the ANU by amalgamation with the Canberra University College. The University retains two distinct parts: the Institute of Advanced Studies, which continues to focus on research and postgraduate study; and the The Faculties, which includes both undergraduate and postgraduate students. The ANU also contains many focused schools and centres.

The Australian National University is the only university in Australia with a constitution and structure dictated by an Act of the Commonwealth Parliament; all other Australian universities were established by State or Territory parliaments. The University is governed by a 15 member Council.

Academic structure

Students enjoy lunch at ANU
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Students enjoy lunch at ANU

Chifley library, the largest library at the ANU
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Chifley library, the largest library at the ANU

ANU school of art
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ANU school of art

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:

Australia's premier university center for astronomical research, the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA) runs the ANU's two observatories Mount Stromlo Observatory and Siding Spring Observatory. [link]
  • Research School of Biological Sciences
    • The Research School of Biological Sciences (RSBS) is one of Australia's leading biological research centres. Research is carried out in significant areas such as agriculture, environment, health and technology. [link]
  • Research School of Chemistry
    • The Research School of Chemistry (RSC) extends our fundamental knowledge in chemistry concentrating on areas of national importance. The RSC's outstanding performance is recognised around the world. [link]
  • Research School of Earth Sciences
    • The Research School of Earth Sciences (RSES) is one of the top ten, university geoscience programs in the world. [link]
  • Research School of Information Sciences and Engineering
    • The Research School of Information Sciences and Engineering (RSISE) contains the Department of Information Engineering and the Computer Sciences Laboratory. [link]
  • Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
    • 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. [link]
  • Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering
    • The Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering (RSPhysSE) is Australia's foremost physical sciences and engineering research facility. Research ranges from the fundamental to the applied, including both experimental and theoretical work. 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.[link]
  • Research School of Social Sciences
    • The Research School of Social Sciences (RSSS) is the leading Australian institution for 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. [link]
  • The John Curtin School of Medical Research
    • 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 of Australia's Nobel Prizes have been won by research performed at John Curtin. [link]
  • The Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies
    • Enjoying a reputation as a leader in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration The Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies (CRES) includes economists, hydrologists, historians, ecologists, anthropologists and soil scientists. High quality research is undertaken into many natural resource and environmental issues. [link]

    The Faculties

    The ANU Faculties teach the undergraduate courses run by the university. They also have post-graduate research students. There are seven ANU Faculties:

    The [Faculty of Arts] has over 3,500 students. The Faculty consists of the Schools of Archaeology & Anthropology, Art, Humanities, Language Studies, [Music], and Social Sciences as well as the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies and the Centre for New Media Arts. [link]
  • Faculty of Asian Studies
    • The [Faculty of Asian Studies] offers the widest range of Asian studies available in Australia at both undergraduate and graduate levels. [link]
  • Faculty of Economics and Commerce
    • The Faculty of Economics and Commerce carries out teaching and research in the areas of business, economics and related disciplines. [link]
  • Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
    • The Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology combines the departments of Engineering and Computer Science. [link]
  • Faculty of Law
    • The ANU [Faculty of Law] was established in 1960. It has strengths in the following areas: international law, public law, environmental law, commercial law and intellectual property law. [link]
  • Faculty of Science
    • The Faculty of Science includes the following departments, schools & centres: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Botany & Zoology, Chemistry, Earth & Marine Sciences, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology, Resources, Environment and Society and Science Communication.
  • ANU Medical School
    • The [ANU Medical School] is the newest of the ANU's schools. The school's foundation was announced on April 10, 2001, and the first intake of students was in February 2004. [link]

    University Centres

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

    Restructuring

    In 2005 the ANU created a new internal college structure to help link the teaching and research halves of the university together. The transition over to the new college structure is expected to be completed by the beginning of 2007. The new colleges are discipline based including both the faculties and research schools and centres.

    The 7 new colleges are:

    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. Six of the university's seven 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: 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 university also runs a coastal campus at Kioloa on the South Coast of New South Wales dedicated to field work training, a North Australia Research Unit in Darwin in the Northern Territory and two observatories Mount Stromlo Observatory near Canberra, and Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran New South Wales.

    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.

    Prizes

    The university sponsors various prizes. The list includes:

    Recent events

    On Thursday 20 April, 2006 it was reported that the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics would build the world's most powerful telescope. 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. [link]

    See also

    External links

    Universities in Australia
    Adelaide | Australian Catholic | Australian National | Ballarat | Bond | Canberra | Central Queensland | Charles Darwin | Charles Sturt | Curtin | Deakin | Edith Cowan | Flinders | Griffith | James Cook | La Trobe | Macquarie | Melbourne | Monash | Murdoch | New England | New South Wales | Newcastle | Notre Dame | Queensland | QUT | RMIT | South Australia | Southern Cross | Southern Queensland | Sunshine Coast | Swinburne | Sydney | Tasmania | UTS | Victoria | Western Australia | Western Sydney | Wollongong

    Group of Eight
    University of Adelaide | Australian National University | University of Melbourne | Monash University | University of New South Wales | University of Queensland | University of Sydney | University of Western Australia

     

    From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
    All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

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