The academic structure of the Australian National University is organised as seven academic colleges which contain a network of inter-related faculties, research schools and centres. Each college is responsible for undergraduate and postgraduate education as well as research in its respective field. ANU School of Art

ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences

The ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences is divided into the Research School of Social Sciences (RSSS) and Research School of Humanities and the Arts (RSHA). Within the Research School of Social Sciences there are schools dedicated to history, philosophy, sociology, politics and international relations, Arab and Islamic studies and Latin and 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 A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...

Australian Centre for Indigenous History

The Australian Centre for Indigenous History (ACIH) was established within the ANU School of History, to "raise the profile of the study of

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

history through internationally competitive scholarship", among other aims. The centre was officially launched on 28 March 2003, with Senator

Aden Ridgeway Aden Derek Ridgeway (born 18 September 1962) is an Australian former politician. He was a member of the Australian Senate for New South Wales from 1999 to 2005, representing the Australian Democrats. During his term he was the only Aboriginal m ...

officiating.

Ann McGrath Ann Margaret McGrath is an Australian historian and academic. she is the WK Hancock Chair of History at the Australian National University. Early life and education McGrath graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Queensland ...

was the founding director, and stayed at the helm until 2019, when Lawrence Bamblett and

Maria Nugent Maria, Lady Nugent (née Skinner; 1770/71 – 1834) was a diarist and art collector. She was born in the colony of New Jersey to a British Loyalism, loyalist family. She married British Army Officer and later Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), ...

were appointed co-directors.

Gordon Briscoe Gordon Briscoe AO (1938 – 30 June 2023) was an Aboriginal Australian academic and activist. In 1997, he was awarded a PhD from the Australian National University. He was also a soccer player. Early life Born in Alice Springs, Northern Terr ...

was one of two inaugural

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

s at ACIH.

ANU College of Asia and the Pacific

The ANU College of Asia and the Pacific is a specialist centre of Asian and

Pacific studies Pacific studies is the study of the Pacific region (Oceania) across academic disciplines such as anthropology, archeology, art, economics, geography, history, linguistics, literature, music, politics, or sociology. In the fields of anthropology an ...

and languages. The College is home to three academic schools: the

Crawford School of Public Policy Crawford School of Public Policy is a research-intensive policy school within the ANU College of Law, Governance and Policy at The Australian National University which focuses on Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. The school was named afte ...

, 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; and

Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs The Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs is a constituent of the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University. The study of the Pacific was formerly a research focus of the Research School of Pacific (and Asian) ...

, Australia's foremost collection of expertise in the politics and international affairs of Asia and the Pacific. The college also houses the Australian Centre on China in the World (CIW), the Regulatory Institutions Network (RegNet) and the

CSCAP The Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific (CSCAP) is a "non-governmental (second track) process for dialogue on security issues in Asia Pacific." There are currently twenty one member committees of CSCAP (from Australia, Cambodia, Ca ...

Australia. The College is affiliated with

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

's Weatherhead East Asian Institute and

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

's Pan Asia Institute.

ANU College of Business and Economics

The ANU College of Business and Economics comprises four Research Schools, of Accounting; Economics; Finance, Actuarial Studies & Statistics; and Management.

ANU College of Engineering, Computing & Cybernetics

The ANU College of Engineering, Computing & Cybernetics is divided into three Schools; School of Engineering, School of Computing and School of Cybernetics. ANU is home to the

National Computational Infrastructure The National Computational Infrastructure (NCI or NCI Australia) is a high-performance computing and data services facility, located at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The NCI is supported by ...

and was a co-founder of

NICTA NICTA (formerly named National ICT Australia Ltd) was Australia's Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Research Centre of Excellence and is now known as CSIRO's Data61. The term "Centre of Excellence" is common marketing terminology ...

, which was the main

information and communications technology Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computer ...

research centre in Australia until 2016. At that stage NICTA was merged with

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...

to form Data 61, a Research Business Unit.

ANU College of Law, Governance & Policy

ANU College of Law South Wing August 2013

The ANU College of Law, Governance and Policy, established in 2025. The College incorporates th
ANU Law School
the Crawford School of Public Policy, the School of Regulation and Global Governanc
(RegNet)
and the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health
NCEPH
, creating a dynamic environment for interdisciplinary collaboration and innovative approaches to key challenges to enact meaningful and sustainable change.

ANU College of Health & Medicine

The

ANU College of Health & Medicine The ANU College of Health & Medicine is an Australian university college for the study of medicine, psychology, mental health, epidemiology and population health at the Australian National University (ANU), located in Canberra, the capital city o ...

encompasses the

John Curtin School of Medical Research The John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR) is an Australian multidisciplinary translational medical research institute and postgraduate education centre that forms part of the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra. The school ...

(JCSMR), the ANU Medical School, Research School of Psychology, and National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health.

ANU College of Science

The ANU College of Physical & Mathematical Sciences comprises the Research Schools of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Biology, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, and

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

; Fenner School of Environment and Society; Mathematical Sciences Institute; and

Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science The Centre for the Public Awareness of Science is part of the Australian National University. In March 2000 it became an accredited Centre for the Australian National Commission for UNESCO. Work of the Centre As a UNESCO Centre, CPAS engages w ...

Research School of Physics

The

ANU Research School of Physics The Research School of Physics (RSPhys) was established with the creation of the Australian National University (ANU) in 1947. Located at the ANU's main campus in Canberra, the school is one of the four founding research schools in the ANU's Inst ...

focuses primarily on research into 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. Under the direction of

Mark Oliphant Sir Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, (8 October 1901 – 14 July 2000) was an Australian physicist and humanitarian who played an important role in the first experimental demonstration of nuclear fusion and in the development of nuclear weapon ...

, nuclear physics was one of the university's most notable early research priorities, leading to the construction of a 500 megajoule

homopolar generator A homopolar generator is a DC electrical generator comprising an electrically conductive disc or cylinder rotating in a plane perpendicular to a uniform static magnetic field. A potential difference is created between the center of the disc and ...

and a 7.7 megaelectronvolts

cyclotron A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest Lawrence in 1929–1930 at the University of California, Berkeley, and patented in 1932. Lawrence, Ernest O. ''Method and apparatus for the acceleration of ions'', filed: Januar ...

in the 1950s. JCMSR

Marie Reay Teaching Centre

The Marie Reay Teaching Centre is located in the Kambri area. It is 6 levels tall and contains classrooms used by a wide variety of subjects, as well as a lecture theatre on the top floor.

University centres

There are individual research centres connected to the University. *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 The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...

, 1997–2008?, an

ARC Centre of Excellence The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...

*Centre for Mental Health Research * Centre for the Public Awareness of Science *Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems *Eccles Institute of Neuroscience *Humanities Research Centre *National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health *The National Centre for Information Systems Research *National Graduate School of Management *Mathematical Sciences Institute *The National Europe Centre

Australian National Institute for Public Policy

In May 2010, Prime Minister

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the Leaders of the Australian Labo ...

announced a $111.7 million commitment to the development by ANU of a new Australian National Institute for Public Policy.ANU to establish $111.7m public policy precinct
/ref> The new National Institute is intended to centralize public policy expertise. A good portion of the funds ($53.1 million) were earmarked for building and developing the previously announced Australian Centre on China in the World, which is one of three specialist centres along with the National Security College and the Australia and New Zealand School of Government to be specifically incorporated under the umbrella of the National Institute. $19.8 million is set aside to create a joint building for the other two centres, with a further $17.3 million expressly dedicated to the National Security College.

References

{{Australian National University Australian National University