Hon Julie Bishop has been appointed as the thirteenth Chancellor of the Australian National University (ANU).  Bishop is the first female to take up the role since the University’s founding in 1946. An interest in education has been a constant throughout Bishops professional life, she studied law at the University of Adelaide and her generation was the first in her family to attend university.

Bishop’s three year term began on January 1 2020. In her State of the University address, she outlined her vision for the University and why ANU must be truly representative of the entire nation. “I want for every student in Australia that has the will and the capacity to study at ANU, whatever their family background, whatever their circumstances, if they are able to gain a place here at ANU, we will give them hope and the opportunity that they so richly deserve,” she said. “I’ve always believed that Australia, as one of the most industrialised and developed nations on earth, with one of the highest standards of living with a top 20 economy, that we should have at least one university in the top 20 around the world and that is my ambition and aspiration for ANU”.

Drawing on her experience setting up the New Colombo Plan as Foreign Minister, Bishop believes in the importance of international education and the positive impact it has for the nation, as well as Australian students. “ANU was a partner from the outset and already over 1,085 of our students have been recipients of New Colombo Plan funding in about 25 countries and they come back here, they come home with new perspectives, new ideas, new skills, maybe a second language,” she said.  “I believe that ANU has a national responsibility o come up with evidence-based solutions to the great challenges facing our region, facing our nation”.

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