The Vice-Chancellor and President of Charles Sturt University (CSU), Professor Ian Goulter, today welcomed the publication of the first national evaluation of the research strengths of Australian universities. CSU research was ranked as world-class in the five broad fields of agricultural and veterinary science, education, biological science, environmental science and chemical science.

 

The Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) process evaluates University research strengths in broad fields and narrow fields based on the quality of research output, such as the number of publications in highly regarded international journals.

 

“These are results about which our staff, students and communities can feel very proud,” Professor Goulter said.

 

“Charles Sturt University was formally established as a University only 21 years ago, and in that time we have managed to build a research program that has been independently ranked as being among the best in the world in five broad areas of research.

 

“This demonstrates again that regional Australia can compete on a global stage with confidence, and can attract world-leading researchers.

 

“Indeed, Charles Sturt University has not only been ranked as being world-class in education research, we significantly outperform the national average for Australian universities in this field.  This reflects the long history of involvement in innovation in teacher and early childhood education by our predecessor institutions dating back to 1957. The University is not only one of Australia’s largest and most respected providers of teacher and early childhood education, we can also proudly claim to be a world-leading research institution in this field.

 

“We are also very pleased that the University has been ranked at world-class or above in a number of narrow fields.

 

“Charles Sturt University was ranked as being above the world standard in environmental science and management, analytical chemistry, and crop and pasture systems. We were ranked as being at world-class standard in the fields of plant biology, education systems, curriculum and pedagogy, tourism, applied ethics and philosophy.

 

“Agricultural science is also part of our heritage, and with our expansion into environmental sciences, Charles Sturt University is now recognised as a national leader in these fields. As the largest single provider of agricultural science and management education in the country, leadership in this field has been a key goal.

 

“I am also pleased that our major investments in fields such as philosophy and ethics research are bearing fruit in terms of global research reputation.