Three Australian universities have made the world’s top 20 list for the first time after new metrics placing greater weight on international research and sustainability were introduced.
The QS World University Rankings, run by global higher education specialist Quacquarelli Symonds, draws from millions of academic papers and insights from 240,000 academics and employers across 1,500 universities.
The University of Melbourne ranked 14th on the list, a historic high for any Australian university, while the University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney tied for 19th.
The Australian National University, Monash University and the University of Queensland also ranked in the top 50 at 34, 42 and 43 respectively.
The University of Melbourne jumped from 33 to 14 in the survey, cementing its place as the highest ranked university in Australia across the three major global rankings – QS, Times Higher Education, where it ranked 34, and the Academic Ranking of World Universities, where it ranked 32.
The leap was due to a strong showing in the academic reputation category and a high place in three new categories announced this year by QS including employment outcomes, international research, and sustainability, which measures how well a university used sustainable practices to tackle both social and environmental impacts.
QS World University Rankings said the metrics, introduced on its 20th anniversary, reflected shifts in the sector and changing priorities of students.
Under the new system, Australia ranked 11th worldwide on sustainability programs and research with the University of Sydney ranking seventh.
For the first time this year, the weighting of academic reputation and faculty student ratios were also downgraded, to 30% and 10% respectively.
Of the “big four” study destinations – Australia, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom – which house the majority of QS top 300 universities, Australia received the highest overall score of 40.7 out of 100.
It scored top on academic reputation, citations, international faculty ratio and international research, while coming out last on its faculty student ratio which assesses teaching resources.
Some 29 Australian universities slid in the category after significant job cuts during the height of the pandemic in 2021.
The UK had the highest proportion of international students, followed by Australia, which enrolled 619,370 foreign students in 2022.
It’s up from 2021 but still 18% below 2019 levels, largely driven by Indian students after a decline in the Chinese market.
The University of Melbourne vice-chancellor, Duncan Maskell, said the new categories represented “things that are important to students when they make decisions about where to study”, adding he was “very pleased” the institution had rated so highly.
“The QS Rankings have reaffirmed Australian universities are among the very best in the world,” he said. “It is an unprecedented level of recognition that underlines the significant contribution that universities make to the nation’s global reputation.”
The vice-chancellor of the University of Sydney, Mark Scott, said the university had jumped 22 places to reach its highest ranking to date: “These outstanding results are a win for the higher education sector in Australia.
“We know our research is world-class and the education our students receive at universities across Australia is amongst the best in the world and this outcome is a testament to that.”
The University of Sydney ranked 31st for academic reputation and 13th for international students worldwide, regarded as a proxy measure for how “attractive” a university was to the international market.
The UNSW vice chancellor, Attila Brungs, said the result was a testament to the university’s strategy to focus on tackling “the most important challenges facing society”.
“What is most exciting is the opportunity this excellent result presents for us to amplify our societal impact and be at the forefront of positive change,” he said.
The QS senior vice-president, Ben Sowter, said it had “closely aligned” rankings with the priorities of gen Z and Alpha: “This … captures the core concerns of an increasingly socially conscious student population, in our rapidly evolving world.
“They must commit to sustainability, foster graduate employability, and intensify international collaboration to address the world’s pressing challenges.”
For the 12th consecutive year, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology maintained its reign at the top, while the University of Cambridge came in second and the University of Oxford took third.
Ten of the top 20 universities were based in the US, while four were in the UK. Singapore, Switzerland and China were also represented in the top 20.
