From the Vice-Chancellor's desk

The most comprehensive review of a university’s quality of outcomes ever undertaken in Australia was completed and presented to the ANU Council on this day. The Review Committee’s report presented an unambiguous endorsement of the quality of the University’s research and set a new benchmark in both research quality and research evaluation for the rest of the nation.

It sounds dry, but this Review is a vital matter for the Australian community. It is widely agreed that as a nation, we spend too little on research and development — on sustaining our future as a clever country — but the quality of our existing research programs has not been evaluated.

This Review, which you will read about later in these pages, used a wide range of measures to evaluate the quality of ANU research, making the nation’s only truly national university accountable to its owners, the Australian people.

The Review Committee, consisting of national and international experts, found that the Australian people were getting excellent returns on the investment of taxpayer revenue, but cautioned that more resources must be made available in order to sustain the University’s outstanding research performance. The Committee wrote: “The University’s performance is being achieved with resources well below those available to many of the world’s top research universities.”

With a new Parliament deciding the nation’s priorities for the near future, the development of vital new policies smoothing the path for cutting edge research has never been more important.

Professor Ian Chubb AO
Vice-Chancellor and President

"The Review Committee’s report presented an unambiguous endorsement of the quality of the University’s research."