Swinburne Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Young, has been appointed the 11th Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra. He will succeed Professor Ian Chubb, who has served as ANU Vice-Chancellor for more than a decade.
Mr Bill Scales AO, Chancellor of Swinburne, congratulated Professor Young on his appointment and said that during his seven years as Vice-Chancellor of Swinburne University of Technology, the University had become an acknowledged leader in quality education and one of the fastest advancing research universities in Australia.
“Professor Young will be greatly missed. It is recognition of the growing prominence of Swinburne that its Vice-Chancellor should be chosen to lead Australia’s highest performing research university,” Mr Scales said.
“Under his leadership, Swinburne has made enormous advances, particularly in research. This includes entering the prestigious Shanghai Jiao Tong world university rankings and becoming the only dual-sector university in Australia to be rated.
“However, he also continued to push the vocational focus of the university, responding to the federal government’s growth agenda and opening up opportunities for a broad cross section of students to achieve their educational goals.”
“Today Swinburne is recognised as a national leader in the provision of innovative pathways between TAFE and higher education, with the greatest level of student articulation (29 per cent) of any Australian university.”
Professor Young said he was excited about the opportunity to lead the ANU, the highest-rated Australian university in the Shanghai Jiao Tong rankings, and a recognised world-class institution. However, he said he will be saddened to leave Swinburne.
‘Swinburne is extremely well placed to continue to succeed given its innovative educational programs and its growing number of world class research groups”, he said.
Mr Scales indicated that Swinburne would shortly commence an international search for a new Vice-Chancellor.
“Under Professor Young’s leadership, much has been achieved and the next decade will continue to be an exciting period for the university. We will be seeking a dynamic leader with established academic credentials, a commitment to high quality teaching, scholarship and research, and outstanding leadership skills to take Swinburne to the next level in its quest to become one of Australia’s leading universities,” said Mr Scales.
Professor Young will take up his position at ANU in March 2011.
