The Australian National University (ANU) strengthened its role as a national leader in research, education and public policy excellence in 2015 while building its reputation as one of the world’s finest universities.
The ANU annual report for 2015, tabled in Federal Parliament, shows ANU had a highly-successful year in 2015.
The University’s global reputation was reinforced when ANU was recognised among the world’s top 20 universities and was named Australia’s top university for the impact of its research publications and collaborations.
ANU also led the nation in the 2015 Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) results, with 95 per cent of broad-fields research and 91 per cent of specific discipline research rated above or well above world standard.
At the same time, ANU topped the Australian rankings for producing the country’s most employable graduates.
ANU had more than 22,600 students in 2015, with more than half enrolled in postgraduate courses. ANU also enjoyed one of the highest student retention rates in Australia, at 93 per cent.
The past year also produced many highlights. Professor Graham Farquhar AO received the Prime Minister’s Science prize for his work on water-efficient crops and helping world understand the impacts of climate change.
Four ANU researchers were also recognised for their outstanding research and contribution to science in the 2015 Tall Poppy Awards.
Among the milestones, the ANU School of Music and the ANU Indonesia Project both celebrated their 50th anniversaries.
In 2015, ANU also celebrated the 30th year of the ANU Shell Questacon Science Circus, which has secured is place as Australia’s flagship science outreach program.
ANU also broke two world records for stargazing. More than 1,800 people gathered on Fellows Oval, while 7,960 people attended stargazing events at 37 sites across Australia.
In his final annual report before stepping down as Vice-Chancellor in December 2015, Professor Ian Young AO thanked staff and students for their support.
“It has been an enormous honour for me to serve this fine institution for the past five years and I would like to thank all ANU staff, students and alumni for the tremendous opportunity,” Professor Young said.
The 2015 annual report is available here.