The Australian National University is the best university in Oceania

According to the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) The Australian National University (ANU) is the best university in Oceania. The ARWU is published by the Institute of Higher Education at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University and several indicators of academic or research performance are used to establish the ranking, these include highly cited researchers, articles indexed in major citation indices and staff winning Nobel Prizes. There are 20 universities located in Oceania in the Word’s Top-500 universities (2008). The Top-5 universities in Oceania are: 1.Austalian National University (ranked 59th in the world); 2. University of Melbourne (ranked 73rd); 3. University of Sydney (97th); and 4.University of Queensland andUniversity of Western Australia (jointly ranked 101-151). Australia dominates the top rankings, with all five of the Top-5 universities in Oceania located in Australia. The Australian National University (ANU) was established in 1946 and has been the best university in Oceania ( Australian National University ) in every year since 2003 according to the ARWU. ANU is a relatively young university compared to its Australian peers (e.g. the University of Sydney was established in 1850 and the University of Melbourne 1853). After its establishment in 1946, ANU conducted research and provided only postgraduate education. ANU was amalgamated with the former Canberra University College in 1960 and started to also provide undergraduate education. ANU is located between a lake and mountain in the centre of Canberra, the capital of Australia. Canberra has a total population of 344,200 and is situated 288 kilometres (about three hours drive) from Sydney, Australia's largest city. ANU has a relatively small student body of 14,365 students (of which roughly 68% are undergraduates). There are 3,379 international students - representing roughly 23% of the student body - from 106 countries. ANU has a faculty of 1,471 and a total staff of 3,545 (2007).