About us

Australian Catholic University (ACU) is a public university in Australia that was established on 1st Jan 1991. It has six Australian campuses, and also maintains a 7th campus in Rome. In 2016 it had 24,458 students. These institutions had their origins in the mid-1800s when religious orders and institutes became involved in preparing teachers for Catholic schools and, later, nurses for Catholic hospitals. Through a series of amalgamations, relocations, transfers of responsibilities, and diocesan initiatives, more than 20 historical entities have contributed to the creation of the university. John Fahey is The chancellor and Greg Craven is The Vice-Chancellor.

In 2014 ACU launched a research intensification program. In the initial stage of the five-year strategy, the university established seven new research institutes, aligned with four priority research areas: theology and philosophy; health; education; and the common good and social justice. In 2015, ACU was named the most improved institution in the country by the Australian Research Council in its national assessment of research quality, the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA). In the results, ACU increased its "excellence index" ranking from 35th to 21st. The university also achieved several scores of five, the highest score possible, in the ERA.

Each ACU campus has a student representative council and there is a national student body called the Australian Catholic University National Students' Association (ACUNA), which advocates on behalf of students both individually and collectively.
The university hosts an annual national sporting event – the ACU Games – and students also compete in Australia's largest annual multisport event, the Australian University Games.ACU has its own national community radio station, ACU Wired, a joint venture between staff and students which broadcasts to all six ACU campuses.