By TIM WINKLER
Western Sydney staff will be smiling this morning with a golden tinge to the newsclippings, as the University again was ranked first among 2,300 universities in delivering community impact.
While rankings systems have been comprehensively criticised for methodology and meaning, the absence of any national system measuring research performance for seven years and the sector’s ongoing strife with social licence means that staff, Councils and an unsuspecting public will be happy to pull out the organic sparkling wine to celebrate.
Suppressing his customary humility for the occasion, Vice-Chancellor Professor George Williams was excited by the release of the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings.
“Universities around the world are being urged to return to their primary role as public sector organisations delivering public good.
“The Impact Rankings recognise that Western Sydney University is the world’s best at delivering public good in the communities we serve. It’s in our DNA.’’
Leading the way in evidence-based PR, the university provided not just a press release, but also an extensive summary of activities that the university is pursuing to deliver relevant benefits to its community, ranging from establishment of EV chargers on campus to protecting local waterways, to growing one tonne of vegetables on campus to help feed students.
Angel Calderon provides a wrap of other rankings results below, while Merlin Crossley provides his perspective in praise of metrics.
The QS World University Rankings 2026 edition will also be released tomorrow, and includes 1,501 institutions across 106 countries. 36 are from Australia.
Last year, we saw many Australian universities decline in standing in QS WUR and the two other major rankings, and we were warned that more bad results could happen this year. On Friday we will bring a comprehensive analysis of the QS results.