The Australian National University (ANU) is a university in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. Established by an Act of the Parliament of Australia in 1946, it is the only Australian university to be established by Federal, rather than State or Territory, legislation.

       Centered at the Acton campus, the university comprises seven teaching and research colleges, several focused postgraduate research centres and three non-tertiary educational entities. It hosts the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science and the National Computational Infrastructure facility. The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia adjoins the campus.

       In 2012, ANU was ranked 1st and 2nd among Australian universities, and 24th and 38th among the world's universities by the QS World University Rankings and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, respectively.