A campus-wide count of lecture attendance each week this year showed the number of students attending lectures dropped dramatically between the first and fifth weeks of semester, while enrolment and pass rates remained stable.

Believed to be the most extensive quantitative research on student behaviour in this area in the country, the data also found the physical shortfall was not made up for with downloads of electronic recordings of lectures.

Deputy vice-chancellor (academic) Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington commissioned the research using thermal readers in 26 lecture theatres across ANU.

Originally intended to ensure the university provided teachers with adequately sized classrooms for their expected cohorts, the project changed into an examination of semester-wide attendance rates after the data showed the trends of attendance dropping.

Professor Hughes-Warrington said the figures were surprising, especially given many had hypothesised electronic recordings were behind much of the drop in attendance.

"We wanted to be able to capture attendance in all our classrooms, and we thought we'd start with our biggest ones first," she said.

"We didn't expect that it wouldn't add up at all, because, for a long time, we thought the recording technology was really providing an excuse for absenteeism."

The next stage of the research is to determine whether students are getting the information they need to pass from tutorials and more interactive teaching.

"That's a space where we'll need to make sure we're basing our judgments on evidence, but, at the moment, that's where our suspicions are, and it seems to be anecdotally right," Professor Hughes-Warrington said.

While lecture attendance has dropped, use of the university's libraries has skyrocketed, as do downloads at the beginning of exam periods.

Professor Hughes-Warrington said the data had come as a relief to many teachers, worried their individual methods led to falling attendance in lectures.

"There are probably a lot of people who were dismayed and, in some cases, anxious about the dropping numbers," she said. "So it's been a relief to show them that there are some slight variations but, overall, there's a pattern there of attendance and it's not about their own style."

The university's administration has presented the data to the wider campus community and asked for input on ways to better tailor courses to student needs.

If the university does decide to change its approach to learning as a result of the research, Professor Hughes-Warrington said it would be a useful way of distinguishing ANU from its rivals.

"Our view is the same as MIT; that we should maximise the magic and minimise the mundane."

"I'm looking forward to being able to come out there in due course and say, 'OK, when you come to university, this is what you can expect and this is the evidence to back it up'."