Canberra, Thursday 2 August, 2001

National Institutes enhance ANU's academic strengths

The Australian National University is to create 11 "National Institutes" around broad academic themes to generate the best research and teaching environments in their areas in Australia.

The National Institutes will involve academic staff from the University's Institute of Advanced Studies, Faculties and Centres in "virtual" groupings that build cross-disciplinary teaching and research relationships between staff and students. It will be possible for academic staff to be involved in more than one National Institute.

The National Institutes signal the depth of scholarship in these areas at ANU in a clear and accessible way and ensure that intending students can quickly discover the enormous academic resources that are available to them. Creation of the institutes will not affect the formal structure of the University as the Institute of Advanced Studies, the Faculties and Centres will continue to be the bases for budget allocations and all other responsibilities.

Announcing the National Institutes today, Vice-Chancellor Ian Chubb said the University was encouraging relationships that would enhance its capacity to provide educational experiences for students that were second to none. "The National Institutes will bring all the skills that we have to bear on some of the big research questions in all fields, wherever those skills happen to be located in the University," Prof. Chubb said.

They will be known as the
· National Institute for Asia and the Pacific - Focus on research and teaching in all aspects of Asian and Pacific socities and cultures
· National Institute of the Arts - To foster teaching and research in all aspects of the visual and performing arts
· National Institute of Bioscience Research -Training and teaching in basic and strategic biological sciences and biotechnology
· National Institute of Business and Economics - Focus on the strategic areas of economic policy, market analysis, technology management and business innovation
· National Institute for Environment Research - Teaching in the Earth's resources and environments and the interactions between societies and their environments and progress towards sustainability
· National Institute of Government and Law - To concentrate on governance and public policy formation
· National Institute of Health Research - Teaching on public health and medicine
· National Institute of the Humanities - Combines the traditional humanities with the new fields of cultural informatics, museum and heritage studies, film and performance studies and international relations
· National Institute of Indigenous Australia - Focus on issues affecting indigenous Australia, disadvantage and reconciliation
· National Institute of Information Sciences and Engineering Research - Teaching in information technology, engineering and communications
· National Institute of Science -Combines Australia's strongest groupings in the enabling sciences of physics, chemistry, astronomy and the earth sciences, and mathematics, ensuring our leading-edge capabilities both in research and teaching

"In creating the Institutes, we are demonstrating cross-University academic strengths of the first-rank international significance that is expected of the national university of Australia," Prof. Chubb said. "For example, the National Institute for Environment will include people working in the environmental, biological, earth and physical sciences, public health, natural resources, information technology, engineering, the arts, law, forestry and development studies.

"More than 200 academic specialists in politics, economics, history, anthropology, linguistics, law, science, the arts, and health will form the new National Institute for Asia and the Pacific. "The deep blend of academic scholarship and collaboration in those two examples is reflected in the make-up of all 11 National Institutes."

Prof. Chubb said the Institutes would deliver outstanding teaching programs and provide opportunities for staff to engage in new areas of collaborative research and teaching.

For more information contact: Jim Mahoney, Director, Public Affairs:
Work (02) 6125 2252; Mobile 0416 249 231

No: 62/2001

© 2000 Marketing & Communications Division,
The Australian National University.
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Last Modified Tue, July 16, 2002