Australian Catholic University

Overview

Australian Catholic University

Australian Catholic University (ACU) is a public research university located in Brisbane, Australia. It was established in 1991 following the amalgamation of four Catholic tertiary institutions in eastern Australia: the Catholic College of Education Sydney, the Institute of Catholic Education, the McAuley College, and the Signadou College of Education. ACU is ranked first in Australia for energy efficiency, and all its Australian campuses are 100 percent powered by renewable energy.

Australian Catholic University Key Statistics

The university is organized into four faculties, namely, the Faculty of Education and Arts, the Faculty of Health Sciences, the Faculty of Law and Business, and the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy.

ACU has a population of more than 31,200 students. Among these, over 3,400 are international students from more than 90 countries. It employs 2,300 staff members. The university is spread across eight campuses in Australia, located in Adelaide (main), Ballarat, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, and Sydney. It also has a campus in Rome, Italy.

Its library system is composed of eight libraries. These libraries provide access to a wide range of printed and digital collections. They also house seven special collections, including the Aquinas Collection, the Aquinas Memorial Lectures, the Culican Children's Book Collection, and the History of the Catholic Church in Australia.

Other Australian Catholic University key statistics include its museum and galleries, including the Mary Glowrey Museum, the Brisbane Gallery, the McGlade Gallery at Strathfield, and the ACU Melbourne Gallery.

Australian Catholic University Research

The priority research areas of ACU are education, health, theology and philosophy, and other liberal arts. Its research projects are funded through grants from institutions like the Australian Research Council, the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian American Fulbright Commission, and the Australian Collaborative Education Network Limited.

The university's top three research fields are medicine, psychology, and physical therapy. Its researchers have published in major journals like The Lancet, PLOS One, and Osteoporosis International. Its researchers had been invited to attend and/or present papers at international conferences such as Granular Computing, the Australasian Computer-Human Interaction Conference, and Information Technology Based Higher Education and Training.

The most cited publication from Australian Catholic University research is Ryan and Deci’s (2017) book, Self-Determination Theory: Basic Psychological Needs in Motivation, Development, and Wellness. It has been cited a total of 5,551 times to date. The second most cited paper is Anderson et al.’s (2016) “Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease,” published in Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. It has received a total of 2,791 citations. The university’s third most cited paper is Bilezikian et al.’s (2013) book, Primer on the Metabolic Bone Diseases and Disorders of Mineral Metabolism. It has been cited by papers, articles, and other publications around 1,736 times so far.

Its research centers and institutes include the Dianoia Institute of Philosophy, the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, and the Research Centre for Digital Data and Assessment in Education. Its other research units are the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, the Research Centre for Refugees Migration and Humanitarian Studies, the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, and the Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research.

You can also learn more about the educational performance of Australian Catholic University in our ranking of US universities & colleges.