The global rankings season is now in full force. QS has released its 2026 edition of their World University Rankings (WUR), which includes 1,501 institutions spread across 106 countries.
Of the 36 ranked Australian universities, 25 declined in overall standing and seven moved up. Adelaide Uni is also a new entrant, a result of the merger of Adelaide and UniSA.
Five of the Go8 moved down in rank. Melbourne remains Australia’s premier university, down six places to 19th. Monash moved up one place to 36th. UWA remained unchanged at 77th. Adelaide ranks 82nd, thus achieving the first outcome that prompted the merger of the University of South Australia and The University of Adelaide, for a South Australia university to be recognised in the world’ top 100.
All five ATN institutions moved down in rank. RMIT declined the least, down two places to 125th. Deakin dropped out of the top 200.
Two of the seven IRU institutions moved up in rank. Murdoch is up by seven places to 423rd and James Cook is up by five places to 440th. Griffith declined the least, 13 places to 268th. Canberra declined 91 places to 494th.
Four of the ranked RUN institutions moved down in rank. All of them are ranked outside the top 400 globally.
Last year, we saw many universities decline in standing in QS WUR and in Times Higher Education’s WUR. We were warned that more bad results could happen this year.
Country comparisons
Australia is among the locations that have seen some of the biggest declines in this year’s QS WUR. 69% of Australian universities declined in standing compared to 60% for the United Kingdom or 31% for the United States.
The biggest decline in standing occurred with institutions ranking outside the top 200, or middle-sized institutions.
Despite this year’s results, Australian universities remain highly competitive in the global stage. Australia is third globally behind the United States and the United Kingdom in the number of institutions ranked in the top 50, the top 100, and the top 200. This is 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.
Refined methodology
For this year’s edition, QS refined the normalisation methodology. This update was introduced to achieve a more precise assessment of institutions at the indicator level.
As a result, the distribution of scores shifted and, consequently, similar rankings to previous years have different scores. The change affected all indicators, except for the International Research Network.
Broadly speaking, the change has led to a slight flattening of the curve across the relevant indicators, and QS believes this brings greater clarity to the mid-range. Let's see how the next year's scores compare to this refinement, particularly when it comes to the reputation measures.
Universities that improved the most (or that benefited from the normalisation) are in countries where governments or the private sector continue to increase level of investment in education and research endeavours. Universities from the Middle East, East Asia, and Southern Asia are rapidly improving, whilst universities from liberal economies (including North America, Europe, and Australia) are stagnant.
Let’s explore how Australian universities performed on all measures:
- Academic reputation: 20 Australian universities declined in rank. Australia remains with six universities ranked among the world’s top 100 and another three in the 101-200 range. Since 2018, RMIT, Curtin, and UTS have gained the most, and RMIT is now two places behind the world’s top 200.
- Employer reputation: 30 Australian universities declined in rank. Australia has one university (Melbourne) ranked among the world’s top 50, three fewer than in 2018. This year, Australia has three fewer universities ranked in the top 200 than in 2018 (9 versus 12).
- Citations per faculty: 16 universities declined in rank and 17 moved up in rank. Australia has 12 universities ranked in the top 100 and another 10 are ranked in the 101-200 range. This is a significant milestone as Australia had only five institutions ranked in the top 100 in 2018. Since 2018, RMIT, La Trobe, Swinburne, Curtin, Deakin, and Macquarie have the gained most. Improvement on this measure has been at the expense of faculty to student ratio.
- Faculty to student ratio: 27 Australian universities saw no change in rank. 32 Australian universities are ranked outside the top 800. Australia’s highest ranked institution is ANU at 495th, down from 250th in 2018.
- Global engagement: Australian universities do very well on the three measures which comprise this lens, particularly on the proportion of international faculty: 22 universities are ranked in the top 200 compared to 23 in 2018. On the proportion of international students, 18 Australian universities are ranked in the top 200, unchanged compared to 2018. On the international research network measure, 13 Australian universities are ranked in the top 200, unchanged compared to last year.
- Employment outcomes: Australian universities saw little progress on this measure. 16 Australian universities saw no change to their rank and 17 went down. Elite, research-intensive, and historical universities tend to do well on this measure.
- Sustainability: This is the third year that universities are ranked on this measure, and Australian universities’ performance is weakening. 25 Australian universities moved down in rank. 8 Australian universities are ranked in the top 50.
Parting thoughts
For several Australian universities, the continued year-on-year improvement in key measures such as citations per faculty, international student and academic staff measures provided a safeguard for them. Otherwise, the decline in ranking would have been more severe. In the absence of increased public investment in tertiary education, income from international students has bolstered Australian universities’ research endeavours and standing in global rankings.
The implementation of the Accord recommendations provides universities with a pathway to strengthen their social relationship with civil society and the state, but it also provides an opportunity to rebuild their reputation.
The fact is Australian universities have relied on improved standing in global rankings to showcase quality and attract international students.
However, the inconvenient truth is that reputation is an issue which continues to adversely impact Australian universities’ performance in global rankings. The relative decline in standing for both the academic and employer reputation measures has been in the making for several years. Here lies a key opportunity for the collective of Australian universities to ensure learners are better supported, be equipped to succeed, and have the agency and recognition they deserve.
The results are also a wakeup call to Australia. We are experiencing an acceleration in the pace of change in higher education globally. Universities from emerging, middle-income economies and Asian countries are now global standouts. Our universities must adapt by providing quality education to the communities they serve if they want to remain competitive, relevant, and boost national productivity.
Universities that are currently undergoing structural change, having financial difficulties, and increasing student dissatisfaction are likely to experience further decline in global rankings. We will see what happens next 12 months.
Angel Calderon is Director, Strategic Insights at RMIT University and is a member of the advisory board to QS World University Rankings.
