ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Chubb has congratulated Dr John Minns, who has been awarded higher education teaching's highest honour - the 2010 Prime Minister's Award for Australian University Teaching.

Dr Minns is a senior lecturer in Politics and International Relations and Director of the Australian National Centre for Latin American Studies (ANCLAS) at ANU. He was awarded the Prime Minister's Award for Australian University Teaching at a ceremony at Parliament House this evening.

The prestigious award is worth $50,000 and was presented to him by the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations, Senator the Hon Chris Evans. The Prime Minister's Award for Australian University Teaching is part of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council's (ALTC) national awards.

ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Chubb said that Dr Minns richly deserved the award for his commitment to his students.

"I heartily congratulate Dr John Minns on the award recognising him as Australia's best higher education teacher. It is an award that he thoroughly deserves," he said.

"John is extremely passionate about his subject matter, communicates clearly and in range of ways to suit different students. His students get an enormous amount from his lectures and he has been responsible for an increased interest in the study of South America at ANU through his work with ANCLAS.

"John's teaching has been a source of inspiration for hundreds of students and colleagues, and the ANU community is very proud that he has been recognised for his hard work," said Professor Chubb.

Dr Minns, a former Fulbright Scholar, has been with ANU since 2003. He won the ANU Students' Association Award for teaching in 2008, the ALTC Citation for Teaching in 2009 and the ALTC Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2010.

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