On May 16, 2006, the Association announced a joint initiative with the Australian Government to establish a United States Studies Centre (USSC) at a prestigious Australian university. The Australian Government contributed AUD25 million which will form an endowment for the Centre. The Australian Government funding was subject to sufficient additional funds being provided by the private sector and/or State/Territory governments.

It is expected that the Centre will offer a range of postgraduate research studies at the Masters and PhD levels, facilitate professional academic exchanges, operate as a research centre of excellence on US studies and produce scholarly articles and reports.

The primary objectives of the Centre are to:

• deepen the appreciation and understanding of the United States' culture, political climate and government and strengthen the relationship between both countries;
• complement and provide leadership on current Australian-United States' educational endeavours;
• increase the awareness of the study of United States' politics and government;
• promote collaborative research and other programmes between institutions in Australia and the United States; and
• operate as a think-tank for Australian-United States relationship.

It is intended that the Centre build a reputation for academic excellence, independence and objectivity.

Host University Selection
An agreement with Sydney University – the host University for the United States Study Centre (Centre) – was formalized and signed by the authorized officers of the American Australian Association Ltd (‘AAA Ltd’) and Sydney University on 9 November 2006.

Selection of the Host University was conducted through a public selection process with oversight performed by a probity advisor, Elizabeth Johnston of Blake Dawson Waldron. Guidelines for the selection criteria were made publicly available on the Association’s website and were distributed to all Australian universities. An open meeting and individual meetings with interested Universities were held in Australia over the selection period to enable all Universities to raise concerns about the selection criteria. Interviews were conducted with the two short-listed candidates – Sydney and Melbourne Universities.

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