Uni Melbourne continues in top Aus spot in the new edition of the Times Higher ranking, effectively unchanged from last year (down three places to global 37). It is followed by the usual other five in the world top 100, Monash (54), Uni Sydney (60), ANU (67), Uni Queensland (70) and UNSW (84). Uni Adelaide falls out of the first century, down from 88 last year to 111 and UWA drops from 131 to 143 this year.
Times Higher attributes the declines to the national Covid caused lockdowns, “the relative isolation of the country during the pandemic is showing up in the data” and to “a relative under-investment in research, which sends a clear red-light warning.”
However, as Angel Calderon points out, research performance is measured in part by research citations, which can bounce around, depending on the presence and output of hici researchers.
Movement between bands can mean a great deal or nothing much (a change of one place or 99) but there are couple of big moves. Australian Catholic U and Bond U dropped at least 100 places, moving from the 251-300 group last year to the 400-500 this, while Swinburne U improved at least 50 places, lifting from 301-350 to 201-250.
Overall, THE points out, some changes to institutions’ scores will be influenced by methodological changes this year and we would advise noting that when making comparisons with previous year’s results.
