For the first time, UNSW ranks number one in Australia and is ranked 19 globally, up one place from last year in the latest QS World University Rankings (WUR), released this morning.
After three years being Australia’s number one, Melbourne is second and ranked 22 globally, down three places from last year. ANU, Monash, Queensland, and Adelaide moved up in rank, whilst Sydney moved down. UWA has remained unchanged in global rank at 77 for the past three years.
After a difficult year, Australian universities have reinforced their strong overall standing. Of the 37 ranked Australian institutions, 21 moved up in rank, 13 moved down, and four maintained their position. Last year, only seven moved up and 25 institutions declined in overall standing.
Australia’s improvement rests on a combination of measures, mainly citations per faculty and academic reputation. Interestingly, this year, there are more Australian universities improved their scores on employer reputation than previous years.
Movers and shakers
Five of the Go8 moved up in rank compared to five moving down in rank last year.
Two of the five ATN institutions moved up in rank compared to all five moving down in rank last year. UTS and RMIT continue to make higher gains, with UTS moving up nine places to 87, whilst RMIT moved up six places to 119. Curtin moved down six places to 189, Deakin moved down 20 places to 227, and Newcastle down 17 places to 244.
Six of the nine 2050 Alliance institutions (formerly known as the Innovative Research Universities) moved up in overall rankings. Griffith and Western Sydney rose by 30 and 38 places, respectively, to rank 230 and 374.
Two of the ranked RUN universities moved up in rank. Most notable is Central Queensland, who moved up 63 places to rank 436. The highest ranked RUN institution is Southern Queensland at 411.
Among the unaligned universities, Macquarie moved up 12 positions to rank 126, whilst Wollongong and QUT moved down 11 and 14 places, respectively, to rank 195 and 240.
In brief, over the past ten editions:
- ANU was Australia’s number one institutions six times, but it is now ranked fourth behind Sydney. Melbourne was number one three times, but it is now ranked second.
- RMIT is up by 128 places from 247 in 2018, and UTS is up by 89 places from 176.
- Griffith and La Trobe have improved the most – from outside the top 300 to ranked 230 and 241, respectively.
Country comparisons
Australia remains third globally behind the United States and the United Kingdom in the number of institutions ranked in the top 100 and top 200. However, Australia has a higher proportion of institutions ranked in the top 100 and top 200 than both countries.
This year, Australian universities improved at a considerably higher rate (58%) than their long-time competitors. Only 12% of the 184 ranked United States institutions improved and 67% experienced a decline, whilst 35% of the 93 United Kingdom institutions improved and 43% declined.
It is also worth noting that, of the 52 ranked Indian institutions ranked, 58% improved performance while 72% of the 85 Chinese ranked institutions showed improvement.
Rankings abound year after year
Over the past two years, Australian universities experienced a decline in their standing in QS WUR . Last year, I described the QS WUR as a wake-up call for Australia and expressed hope for a better outcome this year.
This year’s QS results indicate that the performance of Australian universities facing structural, governance, or financial challenges has not been adversely affected in terms of academic reputation. For example, ANU’s ranking on this measure remains unchanged at 37 globally, whilst UTS improved by five places, rising from 180 last year to 175.
These results suggest that respondents to the academic reputation survey do not interpret the challenges faced by Australian universities as indicative of declining academic quality. Instead, they are seen as issues related to institutional management that may adversely affect financial performance.
University leaders and the academic community must therefore continue to ensure alignment between their actions and strategic objectives, whilst delivering on their mission. A university’s reputation will ultimately be strengthened to the extent that its actions contribute to improving students and supporting the communities in which they serve and operate.
Critical insights
Let’s explore how Australian universities performed on all measures:
Academic reputation: 23 Australian universities moved up in score, whilst 11 moved down and 3 remain unchanged in score. For at least ten consecutive years, Australia remains with six universities ranked among the world’ top 100. This year, RMIT returns to the world’s top 200, climbing 13 places to 189.
Employer reputation: 26 Australian universities moved up in score, whilst 10 moved down and 1 remained unchanged. Australia has two universities (Melbourne and Sydney) among the world’s top 50. After three years out of the top 50, Sydney moved up seven places to 46 and is second in Australia to Melbourne, ranked 31. The top 10 universities in Australia that employers say prepare the best graduates are Go8 institutions as well as UTS and RMIT.
Citations per faculty: 16 Australian institutions moved up in score, whilst 21 moved down. Australia has 10 universities ranked in the top 100, two fewer compared to last year, but five more than in 2018. Overall, Australia has 20 universities ranked in the top 200 compared to 10 in the 2018 edition. Since 2018, UTS, Southern Queensland, Swinburne, RMIT, and Curtin have improved the most. But this improvement has been at the expense of the faculty to student ratio.
Faculty to student ratio: 14 Australian universities moved up in score and 21 moved down in score. 28 Australian universities are ranked outside the world’s top 800. Australia’s highest ranked institution is Bond at 347, followed by Central Queensland at 431.
Global engagement: Australian universities do very well on the three measures which comprise this lens.
First, on the proportion of international faculty: 23 universities are ranked in the top 200, unchanged compared to 2018, however only one (RMIT) ranks in the top. Interestingly, RMIT is the only Australian institution that has ranked top 50 over the past ten editions on this measure. Second, on the proportion of international students, 20 Australian universities are ranked in the top 200, two more compared to last year and in 2018. Australia’s highest ranked institutions are Sydney at 35, Central Queensland at 37, and Monash at 37. Third, on the international research network measure, 13 Australian universities remain ranked in the top 200, unchanged compared to last year. Australia’s top three performers are Melbourne at 37, Adelaide at 41, and UNSW at 46.
Employment outcomes: A total of 33 Australian institutions improved their scores, while 5 experienced a decline; however, there has been no overall movement in rankings. Five universities remain ranked in the world’s top 200; nine are ranked between 201 and 500, and 25 institutions sit outside the top 500. This indicator is based on two components (graduate employment rate and alumni impact) but QS reports only a single aggregated score.
Sustainability: This is the fourth year that universities are ranked on this measure. Australian universities’ performance continues to be mixed. 25 universities improved their score and 18 experienced a decline. 9 Australian universities are ranked in the top 50, two fewer compared to 11 last year. UNSW is Australia’s best ranked institution at =7 followed by Melbourne at =11.
Parting thoughts
This year’s QS results show the efforts Australian universities have made to improve following several years of mixed performance.
The moral of this year’s story compared to the past two years is that the rankings both giveth and taketh. One year’s disappointments become next year’s accomplishments.
Keeping perspective of what matters is important to the longevity of institutions.
Our universities demonstrate that amid global uncertainty, Australian universities not only remain competitive but are actively addressing areas of weak performance. This is particularly reassuring for our students, staff, government, and the wider community.
It is encouraging to see most Australian universities strengthening their performance on both reputation measures following several years of volatility, but most particularly on the employer reputation, which adversely impacted universities for many years. Further improvements in students’ skills developments and graduate outcomes provide an opportunity to strengthen employer’s perception of graduate preparedness for the workforce.
The continued improvement on citations per faculty, along with rising reputation, demonstrates that Australia as a system has top-quality universities and are leading producers of knowledge and impactful research.
There are early indications that Australian universities are moving beyond some of the weaknesses that constrained performance over the previous two years. It is up to us collectively to sustain and build on this improvement momentum.
Angel Calderon is Director, Strategic Insights at RMIT University, and a member of the QS Rankings Advisory Board.