Gordon de Brouwer takes over ANU chancellorship as university seeks calmer waters
Australian National University has turned to a low-profile Canberra insider to steady its top job. Gordon de Brouwer, a former senior public servant and ANU
Australian National University has turned to a low-profile Canberra insider to steady its top job. Gordon de Brouwer, a former senior public servant and ANU alumnus, has been named the university’s 14th chancellor after months of turmoil.
The appointment puts a bureaucrat-turned-academic back at the centre of a university still trying to rebuild trust with staff, students and regulators. He replaces Julie Bishop, whose resignation in May followed years of upheaval at ANU.
A very different chancellor
De Brouwer arrives with a reputation that looks very different from Bishop’s public-facing style. Crikey described him as the “polar opposite” of his predecessor. He has an Instagram account, but it has just 75 followers and no posts. A former commissioner of the Australian Public Service, he is, in the phrase used by Crikey, “no show pony.”
That low-key profile may suit ANU’s current mood. The university has spent the past year dealing with governance questions, internal unease and scrutiny over how it handles its public image. Earlier this year, acting vice-chancellor Rebekah Brown even approved a $165,000 communications strategy with crisis messaging and reputation management among its aims.
Governance first
ANU said de Brouwer was chosen after an extensive and independent search conducted under its voluntary undertaking with Australia’s tertiary education regulator, TEQSA. The process was overseen by Emeritus Professor Peter Coaldrake, who chaired a six-person selection panel that sought input from the university community.
The panel unanimously recommended de Brouwer to the ANU Council, which endorsed the appointment. Acting Pro-Chancellor Andrew Metcalfe said de Brouwer brought “an exceptional combination of governance experience, national leadership and deep knowledge of ANU” and said he had the “experience, judgment and integrity” the university needs.
ANU said de Brouwer had promised a commitment to strong governance, shared strategies and a supportive culture. Those are not small words at a campus that has been under pressure to lift confidence in how it runs itself.
A university still under strain
The chancellorship changed hands after a period that has touched almost every corner of the institution. Bishop faced allegations of bullying in a Senate committee hearing last year, which she rejected. Soon after, former vice-chancellor Genevieve Bell resigned, and ANU moved into a wider reset.
Staff unions have also kept up pressure over the university’s finances and restructuring. The National Tertiary Education Union has argued that ANU’s financial crisis was overstated and that job cuts tied to the Renew ANU program were unnecessary. Internal council minutes later showed a much stronger-than-expected budget position, strengthening those claims.
De Brouwer now inherits the symbolic job of helping ANU look steady again. It is the kind of role that turns on judgment more than display. And for a university trying to win back confidence, that may be the point.
“Dr de Brouwer has the experience, judgment and integrity that ANU needs as we look to the future with confidence,” Andrew Metcalfe said.
