The Australian National University (ANU) is a national research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and institutes.

Founded in 1946, it is the only university to have been created by the Parliament of Australia. Originally a postgraduate research university, ANU commenced undergraduate teaching in 1960 when it integrated the Canberra University College, which had been established in 1929 as a campus of the University of Melbourne. ANU enrolls 10,052 undergraduate and 10,840 postgraduate students and employs 3,753 staff.The university's endowment stood at A$1.13 billion in 2012.

ANU is regarded as one of the world's leading research universities. It is ranked first in Australia and the whole of Oceania, 24th in the world by the 2019 QS World University Rankings, and 49th in the world (second in Australia) by the 2019 Times Higher Education. ANU was named the world's seventh (first in Australia) most international university in a 2017 study by Times Higher Education. In the 2017 Times Higher Education Global Employability University Ranking, an annual ranking of university graduates' employability, ANU was ranked 21st in the world (first in Australia). The university is particularly well known for its programmes in the arts and social sciences, and ranks among the best in the world for a number of disciplines including linguistics, politics and international relations, social policy, and geography.

ANU counts six Nobel laureates and 49 Rhodes scholars among its faculty and alumni. The university has educated two prime ministers, 30 current Australian ambassadors and more than a dozen current heads of government departments of Australia. The latest releases of ANU's scholarly publications are held through ANU Press online.