Australian National University

The Australian National University (ANU) is a public teaching and research university located in Canberra, Australia. ANU 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. The Australian National University consistently ranks among the top universities in Australia and is one of the top universities in the world in a number of fields.

ANU is a member of several university alliances and cooperative networks, including the Group of Eight, the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy and the International Alliance of Research Universities.

ANU includes five Nobel laureates among its staff and alumni.

Arms
The ANU logo is composed of three elements: the crest, the logotype, and the name of the University. The name of the University is printed in capitalised Rotis Semi Sans. The university's coat of arms is a blue shield bearing a stylised representation of Australia beneath the stars of the Southern Cross. The motto is written on a scroll beneath the shield, Naturam Primum Cognoscere Rerum ("First to learn the nature of things").

History
The Australian National University was established by an act of the Parliament of Australia, introduced by the then Prime Minister Ben Chifley and the Minister for Post-war Reconstruction J.J. Dedman. The bill was passed on 1 August 1946 with support of the Opposition Leader Robert Menzies. Its provisions came into effect on 7 February 1947. ANU is the only Australian university to be established by an act of the Federal Parliament; all other Australian universities were established by State or Territory parliaments.

A group of eminent Australian scholars were involved in the infancy of ANU, such as Sir Mark Oliphant, a leader in radar development and nuclear physics; Sir Howard Florey, a co-discoverer of the benefits of penicillin; Sir Keith Hancock, an eminent historian; and H. C. Coombs, a renowned economist and public servant.

After its establishment, the University conducted research and provided postgraduate education. In 1960, the former Canberra University College, which had operated since 1930, was amalgamated into ANU as the School of General Studies to provide for the education of undergraduate students.

Governance
The governing body is a 15 member Council which governs under the Australian National University Act 1991. The Council's key responsibilities include appointing the Vice Chancellor and Principal, approving the strategic direction and annual budget, establishing operational policies and procedures, and overseeing academic and commercial activities as well as risk management. The chair of the Council is the Chancellor, Professor The Hon Gareth Evans AO QC.

Endowment
In 2009, the university had an endowment of approximately $1.1023 billion.

Academic Structure
ANU has seven academic Colleges, which contain a network of inter-related faculties, research schools and centres.

Colleges
The ANU is divided into seven academic Colleges. Each College is responsible for undergraduate and postgraduate education as well as research in its respective field.

Acton
The university's main campus occupies most of the Canberra suburb of Acton. The campus covers 1.45 km2 adjoining native bushland, Black Mountain, Lake Burley Griffin, the suburb of Turner and the city centre. The ANU campus is divided into eight precincts, with three on the west side of Sullivans Creek; Dickson Precinct, Linnaeus Precinct, Daley Precinct; and five on the east side; Kingsley Precinct, Baldessin Precinct, Ellery Precinct, Liversidge Precinct and Garran Precinct. With over 10,000 trees on its campus, the ANU was awarded the Silver Greenhouse Challenge Award at the annual Australian Engineering Excellence Awards in 2003.
 * Map of campus – clickable with key to ANU buildings

Other Campuses
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 university'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.

Undergraduate students on all campuses are represented by the ANU Students' Association. Postgraduate students are represented by the Postgraduate and Research Students' Association (PARSA), a member of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations. The Australian National University Union provides representation to all students in the provision of catering and retail services as well as functions amenities.

Residential Halls and Colleges
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, Ursula Hall, Fenner Hall, Burgmann College, John XXIII College, Burton & Garran Hall, UniLodge Davey, UniLodge Kinloch, Unilodge Warrumbul, Toad Hall, University House and Graduate House. In 2010, Griffin Hall, a non-residential college, was established for students living off-campus.

Burgmann and neighbouring John XXIII College are the only remaining independent residential colleges among the Australian National University's ten halls of residence. Burgmann and John XXIII continue to administer their own admissions processes separate from the university's central clearinghouse for accommodation.

Although the University accommodation houses more than 3,700 students, the ANU suffers from chronic shortage of student accommodation, due in part to over-enrolment.

Collaborations and Memberships
ANU is a member of several university alliances and cooperative networks, including the Group of Eight, the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy and the International Alliance of Research Universities.

Library System
The Australian National University Library is part of the ANU's Division of Information. The Australian National University Library began with the appointment of the first University Librarian, Arthur Leopold Gladstone McDonald in early 1948. The establishment of the ANU Library was deemed so important to the development of the University, that McDonald was appointed by the Interim Council before any of the professors.

Initially McDonald and several assistants were housed in Ormond College at the University of Melbourne, where they began to form the collection. At the end of 1950s the collection, which had grown to approximately 40,000 volumes, was transferred to Canberra, to be located in the Canberra Community Hospital and nearby huts. Over the course of the 1950s the collection grew steadily, and by the time of McDonald's retirement in the 1960s, the collection had grown to 150,000 volumes.

The ANU Library collection is housed in four main locations; the R.G. Menzies Building (Asia Pacific material); the J.B. Chifley Building (Social Sciences & Humanities material); the W.K. Hancock Building (Science material); and the Law Library in the Law School Building. Additional services are provided by five science branch libraries: Art Library, Chemistry Branch Library, Earth Sciences Branch Library, Eccles Medical Sciences Library and Music Library. The ANU owns a collection of rare books, housed in a closed access collection held in the Rare Book Room in the R.G. Menzies Building.

Rankings
The following publications ranked universities worldwide.

The University currently has the highest ranking for universities in Australia. It is also one of the highest ranked universities in Asia and the Southern Hemisphere according to several compilations, including the Academic Ranking of World Universities, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and the QS World University Rankings (the latter two were amalgamated as the THE-QS World University Rankings until 2010). The Australian National University is the second highest ranked university outside North America and Britain, after ETH Zurich.

The QS World University Rankings consistently ranks the Australian National University highly. In 2010 it was ranked first in Australasia and twentieth in the World, one below McGill University, one above King's College London. It has dropped three places since the 2009 THE-QS World University Rankings (in 2010 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. and QS World University Rankings parted ways to produce separate rankings) where it came seventeenth globally.

Notable graduates
Academic leaders have included Professors Manning Clark, Bart Bok, Derek Freeman, and Hanna Neumann. Notable political alumni include former Prime Ministers of Australia Bob Hawke (who did not graduate) and Kevin Rudd, current Premier of New South Wales Barry O'Farrell, Patricia Hewitt, and Kim Edward Beazley. Alumni in other fields include Supreme Court Judge Catherine Holmes, linguist Nicholas Evans and mathematician John H. Coates.

Nobel prize winners associated with the University include Lord Howard Florey, an early academic adviser to ANU and Chancellor from 1965–1968 and Professor John Eccles awarded in 1963 for Medicine – for his pioneering work on aspects of the mammalian central nervous system. Professor Eccles was founding Professor of Physiology at The John Curtin School of Medical Research. Professor John Harsanyi received the 1994 Nobel Prize for Economics for his work on game theory, providing a new tool for economic analysis. Professor Harsanyi taught economics at ANU from 1958 to 1961, completing some of his early research on game theory while at the University. Professor Rolf M. Zinkernagel and Professor Peter Doherty received the 1996 Nobel Prize for Medicine for their revolutionary work in immunology; Professors Doherty and Zinkernagel first met and worked together at The John Curtin School of Medical Research.