Our values

At ACU, our values are guided by the principles of the teaching of the Catholic moral and faith. They very carefully articulate our place in Australian society, and among Catholic universities globally. 

Adhering to our core values, we believe, allows us to provide students with an education and development opportunities that lead to a life of service. Our graduates go on to better their communities and society at large.

Our core values

Our university is founded on a long history of commitment to truth, academic excellence and service, while working within the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. These are the core values that guide our actions in living out our mission and realising our vision.

Truth

We’re committed to the lifelong pursuit of knowledge, freely seeking truth through research, critical enquiry and active discovery.

This is not a solo endeavour. We share our search for truth with our students and the broader community through teaching, scholarship and engagement, and by contributing to the growth and betterment of society.

Academic excellence

Our pursuit of excellence in teaching and research underpins our approach to learning and teaching. We’re dedicated to providing world-leading intellectual and educational experiences, enhanced by innovation and creativity.

Learn more about our approach to learning and teaching

Service

ACU is a university of service. We seek to serve the wider community through education, engagement and research, especially by providing opportunities to those in need and by educating our students to be socially and morally responsible individuals.

We’re committed to serving the common good and upholding the sacredness in life. We respect and welcome all faith traditions and uphold the dignity of all human beings.

To ensure staff and students of all backgrounds and beliefs enjoy a safe and welcoming learning environment, we support the Australian Human Rights Commission’s campaign Racism. It stops with me.

Read more about the Racism. It stops with me campaign

Beyond the core

A number of other important values allow us to take our mission further and represent who we are as a community.

These include, but aren’t limited to, the below values.

Equity

Some students in our society have a harder job than others of making a university degree a reality. It’s an uncomfortable, but undeniable, truth.

We work with schools, education providers and communities in low socioeconomic areas to introduce school students, their parents and their teachers to the idea of aspiring to a university degree. And we help them explore the tools to make this a reality, such as pathway programs.

Find out more about our widening participation programs

Diversity

We welcome students and staff from all walks of life to our campuses to learn, teach and work. One way we do this is by ensuring all staff, regardless of gender, race or ability, develop in their careers and reach their potential. Another way is through providing disability services to students.

Each campus also has an Indigenous Higher Education Unit, where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students can meet in a culturally safe, supportive place. Specialist staff at these hubs are available to give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students advice on academic, cultural and personal matters.

Discover our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student services

Accessibility

University life has enough challenges without access being one of them. We strive to ensure our students and staff can participate fully in the ACU experience, and are committed to embedding equal opportunity for people with disabilities into our policies and practices.

If you are a student with a disability or chronic health condition, or are a carer, our disability services team can work with you to coordinate a range of adjustments to ensure your learning environment works for you, from assistive technology to alternate course materials.

Explore the disability services we provide

Wellbeing

We’re not just here to develop our staff and students’ academic interests. That is a big part of what we do but, when we talk about the dignity of the human person in our mission, we’re talking about the whole person.

Your physical, mental, social and spiritual wellbeing matters. As a Catholic university, we recognise that the human person is spiritual and we provide opportunities for people of all faiths, religions and none to explore this on our campuses through campus ministry.

Review our campus ministry offerings

On each of our campuses, we run fitness classes to get your body moving and you can also join our university sports teams.

Find out more about sports and fitness

We also have on-campus counsellors, career advisors, academic skills development officers, disability advisers, Indigenous service officers, Chaplains and Campus Ministry staff to assist students.

Explore our range of student services

Sustainability

Our earth and all life on it are gifts, and we take our stewardship of these gifts very seriously. Sustainability is a value that guides our actions within our lecture theatres, in our staff offices and across each of our campuses.

Among other actions, we’ve actively increased our energy efficiency across our campuses and reduced our water consumption. We’re also constantly looking at ways to improve the sustainability of our campuses, whether that means designing and building new garden projects, designing new buildings to meet Australian best practice, or encouraging staff to make small changes like turning off lights in meeting rooms when they’re not in use.