The University of Newcastle has dropped in global rankings for the third year in a row, falling outside the top 200 institutions.
Announced this week, the 2027 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings features more than 1500 universities.
The University of Newcastle's international ranking fell from 179 in 2025 to 227 in 2026 and to 244 in 2027.
The Hunter university ranked 18th out of Australian institutions in this year's rankings, with an overall score of 51.9.
University of Newcastle vice-chancellor Alex Zelinsky said analysis of their results identified shortcomings in the information submitted to QS.
"While our overall ranking has declined somewhat compared to last year, this in part reflects increasing global competition and participation," Professor Zelinsky said.
He also said it reflected a lag between implementing improvements and seeing their impact realised in ranking outcomes.
"We have taken steps to address these issues and expect this will support higher participation rates and strengthen future ranking results," he said.
QS rankings are based on key metrics including research and discovery, learning experience, employability, global engagement and sustainability.
Research and discovery including academic reputation and citations per faculty make up 50 per cent of a university's overall score.
At the University of Newcastle citations per faculty were strong with a score of 91.2 but academic reputation was 34.9.
Academic reputation is measured by asking academic experts which universities they believe are demonstrating academic excellence.
This indicator focused on the quality of an institution's research and also their approach to academic partnerships.
Employability and outcomes were given a weighting of 20 per cent with the University of Newcastle scoring 30.5 on employer reputation and 20.8 on employment outcomes.
Professor Zelinsky said the university strengthened its performance in employer reputation, international faculty and international students as well as improving in employment outcomes and sustainability.
"Our citations per faculty result continues to rank among the top 100 globally," he said.
Of the 37 Australian universities in this year's ranking, 21 performed better than the previous year.
Over the past decade, the University of Newcastle slightly shifted their ranking from 245 in 2017 to 244 in 2027.
This year, the University of New South Wales was ranked the top Australian university for the first time, coming in at 19th globally with an overall score of 89.8.
University of Melbourne ranked second in the country at 22 globally with a score of 89.6.
Internationally, Massachusetts Institute of Technology ranked first, and Imperial College London and Stanford University sat jointly at second.
QS chief executive Jessica Turner said while Australia's reputation among academics and employers strengthened, innovation was crucial in an increasingly AI-driven world.
"At a time when international education is more competitive than ever, maintaining this momentum will ... depend on ensuring Australia remains an accessible and welcoming destination for international students and researchers," she said.
She said recent concerns around the cost of visas and a rise in application refusals could undermine Australia's strong performance in future rankings.
- with AAP
