Despite this year’s turbulence, Australian universities continue to shine in the third edition QS Sustainability Rankings (QS SR), released overnight, with 14 universities ranked in the top 100. This is in comparison to 16 last year, or 12 in 2022.
This year, there are 38 Australian universities included in the ranking, compared to 37 last year or 33 in 2022.
Four of the Go8 universities are top: Melbourne (=9), Sydney (11), UNSW (=12), and Queensland (41), followed by UTS (47), then ANU (48), Griffith (=49) and Monash (=49).
Six other universities (Macquarie, QUT, RMIT, Deakin, Adelaide and Wollongong) remain ranked in the top 100. All Go8 and five of the ATN universities are ranked in the top 150.
To construct this ranking, QS uses a range of data sources so that universities can showcase how they are using their expertise and leveraging their reputation to tackle the world’s greatest Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) challenges.
The QS SR continues to deliver surprises and a significant increase in the number of participating institutions. Four countries dominate the top 100, with 66 university listings from the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and Canada.
Although most Australian universities improved year-on-year scores, 28 universities moved down in rank and only eight moved up in rank.
Why scores went up but not ranking
The change in standing for Australian universities reflects three factors. The first is that more institutions have taken active steps to submit institutional data needed for this ranking. Unlike the case of Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, there is no opt in QS SR, so any institution included in the World University Rankings is automatically added to the QS SR.
The second factor is that there is still a strong growth in participation, although most new entrants are not ranked higher than most Australian universities. There are 25% more institutions included in this year’s ranking compared to last year. This year, there are 1,751 institutions included across 107 countries, compared to 1,403 institutions across 95 countries in 2023, or 700 institutions from 71 countries for the first edition in 2022.
The third factor is that with any new ranking, it takes a few years for results to be stable, combined with annual methodological adjustments and refinements. It is also a reflection that institutions are still adapting to the types of data required for this ranking. This year QS removed one metric (graduates view of job preparedness) and increased weight to the employer’s perception of how well universities are connected to the labour market metric.
Performance by category
This ranking includes three categories (or pillars) divided into nine lenses for a total of 52 indicators. QS provides details of institutional performance at the category and lens levels.
In the social impact category, 18 Australian universities remain ranked among the world’s top 100. Seven of the Go8 plus UTS are ranked in the top 50. This category contains 25 indicators spread across five lenses and accounts for 45% of the overall score.
In the environmental impact category, eight Australian universities are ranked in the world’s top 100, with Melbourne, UNSW and Sydney ranked in the world’s top 20. This category contains 17 indicators across three lenses and accounts for 45% of the overall score.
In the governance category, 16 universities are ranked in the world’s top 100, two fewer compared to last year. Australia’s best performers are UTS at 19, followed by Deakin and Griffith, both ranked =20, then Monash and James Cook. The governance category contains 10 indicators under one single lens called good governance, and accounts for 10% of the overall score.
Managing complexity and uncertainty
Two years ago, I noted that this ranking was complex in its overall construct as each category contains a combination of metrics from a range of sources.
In brief, 31% of the overall score is drawn from QS academic and employer reputation surveys; 38% of the data is focused on the research environment drawn from Elsevier’s databases and other public sources. The data provided by institutions accounts for approximately 23% of the overall score, which covers operational measures, stewardship, and other support related measures.
Given the months of turbulence driven by proposed changes in government policy, the standing of Australian universities is expected to take a hit when QS will publish its next edition of the World University Rankings in June 2025. Therefore, managing those external headwinds are critical for Australian university leaders to remain competitive and attractive to students and talent.
As I observed last year, institutions which are fully comprehensive, very high in research intensity, and are historical (i.e., 100 years old and more) stand ahead of anyone else:
- On the comprehensives classification of institutions: Of those ranked in the world’s top 100, 76 are fully comprehensive (i.e., have programs in all five faculty areas plus have a medical school), 16 are comprehensive (all five faculty areas), seven have a distinct focus (i.e., offer programs in three or four faculty areas) and one is a specialist institution (two or fewer faculty areas).
- On the research intensity category: all of the ranked institutions in the top 100 are categorized by QS as having very high level of research intensity (measured in volume of Scopus scholarly outputs).
- On the age of institutions: 68 of those ranked in the top 100 are historical institutions, 21 are mature (i.e., between 50 and 99 years old) and the remaining eleven are 49 years old or under.
To continue to do well in QS SR, Australian universities need to bolster their scores in both academic and employer reputation surveys; ensure institutional data on operations and stewardship initiatives are up to date, and that scholarly outputs are aligned to the sustainable development goals.
Geographical spread and performance
Australia is overall eleventh in the number of ranked institutions (38), behind Taiwan (40) and Brazil (42). The countries with the highest number of ranked institutions are the United States with 239, 114 are from China and 98 are from the United Kingdom.
However, Australia outperforms these top three countries: 37% of Australian universities rank in the top 100 compared to 6% for the United States and 27% for the United Kingdom, while China has no institution ranked in the top 100. But Australia is closely followed by Canada: 34% of its 34 ranked institutions are ranked in the top 100.
Australia also continues to outperform these countries in the proportion of institutions ranked in the top 200 and top 300.
Because of its reliance on reputation and research metrics, this is a ranking which favours English speaking universities from high income countries. As noted last year, most universities ranked in the world’s top 100, top 200, top 300, and top 400 are drawn from rich countries, dominated by universities from the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and Canada. The remaining universities are from European and Asian mature economies.
Year in review
This year’s global ranking results for Australian universities indicate that there is a progressive decline in performance. In brief:
- In QS World University Rankings, 11 out of the 28 universities included in the top 500 went down in rank, 16 went up in position and one remained unchanged. The main factors contributing to Australian universities’ success are the continued strong performance in citations per faculty (a proxy measure for impact) and the flow of impact on academic reputation. However, for over a decade, Australian universities have progressively weakened in the employer reputation survey. In the eyes of employers, it is a clear reflection of the improved educational quality of Asian universities.
- In the Academic Ranking of World Universities, for a second consecutive year Australian universities experienced a decline: 17 out of the 24 universities included in the top 500 moved down in standing and seven moved up. Our universities did not experience a decline between 2020 and 2022, but we are now seeing an acceleration of declining scores in the volume of published scholarly articles, including the share of articles in Nature and Science.
- In Times Higher Education World University Rankings, 28 Australian universities declined in overall rank and ten institutions moved up in rank. Australian universities’ performance was adversely impacted by weaker scores in the reputation survey due to methodological adjustments made by THE. Institutions which improved were small to mid-size institutions, and these are ranked outside the top 400.
Parting thoughts
Despite the adversity and mixed performance experienced this year, Australian universities stand tall in global rankings.
I have previously warned that over the next five years we will face significant challenges, influenced by the absence of public investment in higher education and research activities. The world around us is changing rapidly and we need to adjust accordingly to remain competitive and relevant.
These challenges are also an opportunity to focus and improve both where it is most needed and in line with university’s mission and strategic orientation.
We also need to get back to basics: being an active participant in the community and advocating for the community in which our universities serve and operate.
We need to better articulate how universities make a difference in society, in place, with meaningful lifelong learning; convince the community of the importance of research that aims to solve key challenges of our era.
Angel Calderon is Director, Strategic Insights at RMIT University and is a member of the advisory board to QS World University Rankings.
