Despite the adversity Australian universities have endured in recent times, our universities continue to excel in the latest QS World University Rankings (WUR) by Subject.
67.1% of Australian universities listed subjects that are ranked in the world’s top 200, compared to 63.9% for universities from the United States and 69.1% for the United Kingdom.
These results are a testament to the hard work and dedication of both academic and professional staff in making a difference to the 1.6 million students enrolled across Australian universities.
This is the fifteenth edition of the QS WUR by Subject. To produce the rankings for this year, QS analysed the academic and employer reputation and research output of over 5,200 institutions globally.
Australia remains fourth globally in the number of subjects listed with 843 compared to 797 last year or 666 in 2019. Overall, 38 Australian institutions have a published ranking for at least one subject.
Policy and economic settings
Although Australian universities continue to perform well in global rankings, the prospects for further gains are limited, in part because there is limited scope for increased public investment in tertiary education.
Commonwealth expenditure on tertiary education decreased by 2.5% from $15.1b in 2021-22 to $14.7b in 2022-23. Tertiary education accounted for 2.3% of Commonwealth expenditure in 2022-23, down from 3.0% in 2013-14. The Federal government’s priorities seem to rest elsewhere.
Furthermore, Australia’s gross expenditure on research and development (R&D) was 1.66% of the gross domestic product in 2021, well below the average of 2.73% for member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. As a country, we need to invest a lot more in R&D to remain competitive globally, increase innovation, improve people’s wellbeing, and enhance economic growth.
There is also uncertainty regarding implementation of the Australian Universities Accord Review. This is further exacerbated by uncertainty regarding government policy on international education and geopolitical and geostrategic shifts, which are likely to adversely impact academic mobility and exchanges and hinder research collaboration.
This year’s results reflect the scores from the academic and employer reputation surveys undertaken at the beginning of 2024. A year ago, we already noted that the outlook for Australian universities was bleak. We also had high hopes that the Federal government’s response to the review could offer some relief to universities’ precarious financial position.
Global context
Australia remains fourth globally in the number of subjects listed with 843 compared to 797 last year or 666 in 2019. Overall, 38 Australian institutions have a published ranking for at least one subject.
Not surprisingly, the United States continues to have the highest number of subject listings (3280) across 225 institutions, followed by the United Kingdom with 1687 listings across 107 institutions. China remains third with 1242 listing across 124 institutions. Germany is fifth with 805 listings across 61 institutions, and Canada is sixth with 678 listing across 34 institutions.
Australia also remains third globally on the ratio of subject listings per institution (22.2), behind Hong Kong (26.2) and New Zealand (24.0). Following Australia are Belgium (21.6), Canada (19.9) and Ireland (18.1).
Although the United States and the United Kingdom have the most subject listings and the highest number of ranked institutions, they lag behind Australia on the ratio of subject listings per institution (14.6 and 15.8, respectively).
Both the United States and the United Kingdom are outside the top 10 on the ratio of subject listing per institution.
Universities from the United States top the rankings in 33 subjects, with Harvard and MIT leading in 16 and 11 subjects, respectively. Then, universities from the United Kingdom top the rankings in 18 subjects, with the University of Cambridge leading in 4 and the University of Oxford in 3. Switzerland leads in 4 subjects, Netherlands in 2 and Italy in 1.
China does not rank first in any subject ranking, but Peking University is second globally in Linguistics and Classics & Ancient History and Tsinghua University is second globally in Environmental Sciences. These results highlight the accelerated progress China has made in recent years due to increased investment in education and the government’s focus on building a world-class higher education system.
It will not be long before China ranks first in a subject. This year, China has 77 subject listings in the world’s top 20 (or 6% of its total listings), compared to 22 (or 3% of its total listings) in the 2019 edition.
Methodological construct
QS World University Rankings by Subject contain five measures which vary in weight depending on the subject area:
- Academic reputation is based on survey data which QS collects annually from academics. It has a weight between 30 and 70 percent.
- Employer reputation is based on survey data which QS collects annually from employers. It has a weight between 10 and 30 per cent.
- Citations per paper reflect the research impact and quality of institutions, based on a five-year publication and six-year citation window, based on data from Elsevier. It has a weight between 5 per cent and 30 per cent.
- H index quantifies a researcher’s scholarly output and influence by tallying their most-cited works and the corresponding citation count based on data from Elsevier. It has a weight between 5 per cent and 30 per cent.
- International Research Network (IRN) applies to 17 subject areas for which it is deemed most relevant. The IRN considers the extent to which an institution has a diversity of geography in its international partnerships. This is designed to assess the degree of international openness in research activity achieved by each ranked institution. It has a weight between 5 and 10 per cent.
Most listings
Melbourne and Sydney have the highest number of total subject listings (53 each), followed by Queensland (50) and Monash (50). Go8 universities continue to have the highest number of total listings.
Outside the Go8, Newcastle, RMIT, Wollongong, QUT, UTS, Curtin and Macquarie have between 30 to 38 listings each.
Top 10
There are 13 instances across eight Australian universities ranked in the top 10 (1.5% of all the subject listings). Australia’s top listings are
- 2nd for UNSW’s Engineering – Mineral & Mining
- 2nd for Queensland’s Sports-related Subjects
- 3rd for Sydney’s Sports-related Subjects
- 4th for Monash’s Pharmacy & Pharmacology
- 4th for Adelaide’s Petroleum Engineering
- 5th for Curtin’s Engineering – Mineral & Mining.
Top 20
There are 30 instances of Australian universities ranking in the top 20 (or 3.6% of total listings). However, there are 21 fewer listings compared to 51 in 2024 or 68 in 2019, in part influenced by weaker scores in reputation surveys. However, it is also a reflection of the decreased level of public investment in Australia’s research endeavours and the improved performance of offshore competitors.
There are 10 Australian universities which have at least one subject listed in the top 20, two fewer institutions than last year. ANU continues with the most listings (six), followed by Queensland and Sydney – four listings each.
Top 50
The number of times Australian universities are listed in the top 50 decreased from 203 to 191 listings this year. As a proportion of total listing, Australia’s performance decreased from 25.5% in 2024 to 22.7% this year.
Australia has a lower proportion of ranked subjects in the top 50 compared to the United States (26.1%) and the United Kingdom (24.5%), but Australia has a higher proportion compared to Canada (21.8%), China (17.8%), and Germany (9.3%)
The number of Australian institutions with at least one subject ranked in the top 50 decreased from 23 in 2024 to 21 this year. Melbourne continues to have the highest number of top 50 listings (38), followed by Sydney (36). Other institutions with top 50 listings include UNSW, ANU, Queensland, and Monash. Each of these institutions have at least 16 listings each.
Top 100
Australian universities were listed 367 times in the top 100, a decrease from 375 in 2024. As a proportion of total subject listing, Australia’s performance decreased from 47.1% in 2024 to 43.5% this year.
Australia continues to have a higher proportion of ranked subjects in the top 100 compared to the United States (40.8%) and the United Kingdom (42.2%).
This year, 28 Australian universities have at least one subject listed in the world’s top 100. Once again, Melbourne and Sydney stand out globally as they have more listings in the top 100 than any other institution worldwide. Melbourne and Sydney have 52 listings each followed by Toronto and Hong Kong with 50 listings each.
Other Australian universities which stand out globally are Monash, Queensland, and UNSW, as they have between 43 to 46 listings in the world’s top 100.
As observed last year, it is unsurprising that Melbourne, Sydney, UNSW, Queensland and Monash stand out globally as these are Australia’s largest universities in terms of total revenue, research income, and volume of scholarly outputs. They are also the institutions with the highest expenditure on academic benefits and on costs.
Seize the moment
Australia’s success in global rankings reflects the years when implementing policy reforms, quality assurance processes, and innovative approaches were recognised globally.
However, the appetite for implementing policy reforms and bolstering productivity and efficiency gains have stalled over the past decade.
It is not a coincidence that over the past decade, Australian universities’ performance in the employer reputation survey has declined. This is a reflection that employers do not view university graduates as having the required skill set for meaningful employment. It is also a clear reflection of the improved educational quality of Asian universities.
So, here lies the opportunity for Australian universities to seize the moment. The extent to which our institutions equip graduates to succeed in life post study and equip them with strong links with industry groups in subject areas of strength are vital to attract positive responses to the survey and therefore improve performance.
A key for driving improvement is to bolster learners’ opportunities to acquire new skills and develop mechanisms by which these are relevant for employment and for pursuing individual prosperity.
This means universities need to increase their focus in providing students with opportunities to participate in work integrated learning activities. It also means that universities need to strengthen links with a variety of employers (from small to medium-sized businesses to large businesses) to ensure that students can transition from study to meaningful employment.
On the academic reputation side, 34 out of the 38 ranked Australian universities experienced a decline in scores when QS released its 2025 WUR last June. This decline is now evident in the scores seen in the subject rankings, which will further erode international students’ appetite for study in Australia.
Here lies another key opportunity: the collective of Australian universities needs to work in partnership with all levels of government to launch a campaign to bolster interest offshore for student and academic mobility, collaboration, and institutional partnerships.
It will take more than a campaign to retrieve reputation which has been eroded progressively. As I observed two years ago, we need to be aware that any organisational restructuring, staff movements, operational deficits, and any kind of disruption are likely to influence institutional perceptions elsewhere. Such factors tend to influence performance in global rankings and finding ways to mitigate them will help.
I believe that we need to work collaboratively, in a coordinated manner, to improve the standing of Australian universities globally. We must promote Australia as a unified system of high educational quality striving for the betterment of all learners.
Angel Calderon is Director, Strategic Insights at RMIT University, and a member of the QS Rankings Advisory Board.
