By Lucy Carroll
The state’s two biggest universities have broken into the world’s top 20 for the first time after the University of Sydney and UNSW achieved their highest-ever rankings in the latest global league table.
The 2024 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) rankings show that 33 Australian universities have improved their overall positions, while rival institutions – the University of Sydney and University of NSW – climbed more than 20 places each to achieve joint 19th-place.
Two NSW universities, the University of Sydney and UNSW, have climbed up the ladder in the latest QS rankings.Credit: Louise Kennerley
Australia’s top-ranked institution, the University of Melbourne, leapt from 33rd to 14th spot, overtaking the Australian National University which slipped four places to 34th.
The improvements come after higher education analysts QS overhauled the methodology of its rankings, introducing sustainability, employment outcomes and international research network into its assessment. The changes also put less weight on student-to-faculty ratio measures and academic reputation.
Australian universities recorded declining results in student-to-staff ratios after thousands of academic jobs were slashed during the pandemic, with 29 of the 38 universities ranked reporting falling scores in this measure.
Angel Calderon, RMIT University’s principal adviser in institutional research and a QS board member, said it was concerning that Australian universities now have more students for every academic than in the past 20 years.
“As universities focus on research and citations the student experience has been neglected. Institutions need to put far more resources into academic teaching,” he said, noting there is an average of about 22.5 students to every teacher.
“The growth in student numbers over the years means Australia now has these mega universities, they are homogenised. In the United States, universities tend to be smaller and are more specialised than what we see here.”
Calderon also said it was troubling that employer reputation scores were also falling. All but one of the Group of Eight universities showed a drop in employer reputation, while only two institutions showed improvement in the faculty-student ratio, which assesses teaching resources.
Andrew Norton, a higher education academic at the Australian National University, said rankings were a reflection of universities increasing their research output over the past 20 years.
“QS also relies heavily on opinion surveys, and we can’t be confident that the people responding to these surveys can objectively judge the relative merits of the world’s universities,” he said.
Of the 38 Australian universities ranked, nine placed in the top 100 and another six in the top 200.
Australia achieved the highest average scores for international faculty and international student ratio, which QS said reflected its status as a top study destination. Australian institutions enrolled 619,370 foreign students in 2022, rising 8 per cent since 2021 but down 18 per cent since 2019.
QS chief executive Jessica Turner said the Australian higher education system had consistently prioritised and pioneered internationalism.
“Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, Australian institutions are making a remarkable comeback, attracting more students from emerging markets,” she said.
Australia performed well in citations per faculty, employment outcomes and the new sustainability indicator measure, said QS research director Ben Sowter.
“Reducing the weight on faculty student ratio has enabled Australia’s strength in other indicators to shine through more strongly,” Sowter said. “However, the introduction of new measures that favour Australian universities is only going to happen once so we suspect we will see more mixed results next year.”
The University of Technology, Sydney rose from 137th to 90th, while Macquarie moved from 195th to 130th. Western Sydney University had the biggest improvement, jumping more than 120 places to 375th.
Sydney University vice chancellor Mark Scott said the rankings achievements were significant, arriving at “a pivotal moment in the history of higher education in Australia”.
The University of New South Wales and Sydney University entered the top 20 in the latest QS rankings, tying in 19th place.Credit: Ryan Stuart
“Of course, there are areas in which all universities need to improve and this is where the [federal government’s] universities accord makes way for, we hope, significant reform. We must consider how the overall university experience meets students’ evolving needs and brings satisfaction levels up to where our students deserve them to be,” he said.
Last year, enrolments at NSW universities fell by more than 12,000 full-time equivalent students driven heavily by a soft domestic market.
ANU vice chancellor Brian Schmidt said nine universities in the top 100 was a remarkable achievement under trying conditions.
“Rankings’ evolving methodologies tend to recognise scale. ANU has chosen to retain its unique human-scale, so we can offer the best possible student experience – something our students’ feedback shows they have recognised and valued,” Schmidt said.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology held its reign at the top of the QS rankings for the 12th consecutive year. The University of Cambridge held second place, while the University of Oxford took third.
The QS rankings rate 1500 universities, based on analysis of more than 17.5 million academic papers and insights from more than 240,000 academics and employers.
The rankings measure nine indicators including an institution’s citations, its faculty-student ratio, its proportion of overseas faculty, the number of overseas students, sustainability and its reputation among employers and academics from other universities.
With Robyn Grace
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