World-class staff
As members of a world-class university, ANU academic staff must be widely regarded as international leaders in their respective fields. As an institution, ANU aims to attract, develop and retain the most outstanding staff from around the world. The University must be an institution of choice for high-performing staff.
- We will amend our recruitment processes for all new academic staff from appointing the best candidate who meets a minimum set of criteria to one of searching for outstanding staff. This search process should continue until excellence is found. Every appointment will be regarded as of the utmost importance.
ANU aims to attract and develop world leaders in their respective academic disciplines by:
- investing in attracting more outstanding staff in areas of strategic importance. The University will identify areas of such importance to ANU and the nation and allocate resources to them to recruit world-leading researchers. These new appointments will complement existing research strength in these areas, creating greater critical mass and a strong leadership position
- providing incentives for staff to attract research support and publish in leading scholarly outlets. The University's Statement of Expectations for staff and Academic Promotion processes will be reviewed to ensure that research excellence measures such as the quality of publications and attracting of research income are reflected and that the definition of "highly research-active" is the expectation for the vast majority of academic staff
- encouraging and supporting staff to become thought leaders in public debate and business interaction. Participation in public dialogue and debate or the conduct of consulting activities for industry and business are important activities for ANU staff. They are not a substitute for research excellence; rather, it is through research excellence that staff achieve the pre-eminence to take such effective positions
- providing an engaging teaching environment and an innovative curriculum. At ANU, the educational curriculum will be research-led. As the vast majority of academic staff will be "highly research-active", educational programs will be informed by research activity. This will provide an innovative and energising environment for both staff and students.
The contributions of highly skilled and dedicated general staff are critical to the future of the University and an essential element in the success of ANU in meeting the standards of excellence to which we are committed.
We will continue to:
- strengthen our recruitment, development and retention programs to ensure that ANU has the best possible general staff
- ensure that all staff are respected, talent is nurtured and supported, and staff enjoy a safe and engaging work environment.
Some measures of success
- ANU will invest significantly in each of 2012 and 2013 in new high-profile positions in areas of strategic importance.
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ANU will maintain or improve the number of:
- staff who are listed as ISI highly cited authors (19 in 2010)
- staff who are Fellows of one of the learned academies (187 currently listed Fellows)
- staff who are senior research fellows [Laureate, Australia Fellows or future schemes] (ANU awarded 4 out of 15 Laureate Fellows in 2010, 27 per cent)
- staff who hold early and mid-career fellowships [DECRA, Future Fellowships, NHMRC Senior Fellows or similar] (ANU awarded 46 of 400 Future Fellowships in 2009-2010, 12 per cent).
- ANU will aim to continually increase the number of national teaching awards won by staff.
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ANU will increase its investment in general staff by:
- progressively increasing staff development opportunities
- encouraging and supporting staff to enhance their qualifications.
