The Australian National University is Australia's centre for research and training. Its Development Studies Program has a long history dating back to the establishment of the National Centre for Development Studies set up under the vision of Sir John Crawford, one of the leading development experts of the 1960s, and a strong advocate for high level teaching and research in development.

Development studies is now covered across campus with the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences having an undergraduate program in Development Studies, and a joint Graduate Coursework program with the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific in Participatory Development, Gender and Development, Indigenous Policy, and Conflict and Development. The Crawford School of Economics and Government, in the ANU College of Asia & the Pacific, has a strong reputation in International Development Economics, Environment and Development, and Public Policy specialising in Development Policy.

Students can enter a development studies program at undergraduate level where it is taught as a major in the Arts Faculty from which they can go on to do an honours program. There are also seven graduate coursework coursework program offered in development studies covering participatory development, development economics, environment and development, public policy, gender, and conflict and development.

There are also development-related graduate programs including the Master of Population Studies (MPopStudies), the Peace and Conflict Studies Specialisation with the Graduate Program in International Affairs, and the Society and Environment Specialisation with the Graduate program in Environment in the Fenner School of Enivronment and Society.

The graduate research options in development studies are many with concentrations of research students in a number of Colleges across campus. The principle locations are the School of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, and the Crawford School of Economics and Government. The Australia-wide Development Studies Network is coordinated from the ANU.