By Robyn Grace
Three Australian universities have been named among the world’s top 20, but experts warn a proposal to limit the number of international students is a threat to progress that could take years to repair.
The University of Melbourne was named the nation’s top performer, earning 13th place in the annual QS World University Rankings released on Wednesday. It is the only Victorian institution in the top 20.
University of Melbourne has been named Australia’s top performing institution in the 2025 QS World University Rankings.Credit: Penny Stephens
Monash, which ranked 37th overall, was one of three Australian institutions with a perfect score for internationalisation.
But Angel Calderon, director of strategic insights at RMIT University and member of the QS Global Rankings Advisory Board, said a cap on international students was a threat for all Australian universities, which were already seeing a dwindling number of domestic students.
Calderon said any limits on foreign enrolments could reduce Australia’s capacity to conduct quality research and attract international academics, and even threaten the viability of smaller metropolitan universities.
“The cap on international students will hinder our place in the global rankings, and therefore it will hinder our reputation and hinder the ability to attract international students,” he said.
QS Quacquarelli Symonds, a global higher education analyst, has ranked the world’s universities annually for the past 20 years. The rankings are based on 17 million research papers and surveys of 175,798 academics and 105,476 employers.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) topped the 2025 QS rankings for the 13th consecutive year.
The University of Melbourne is Australia’s leading university, rising from 14th to 13th after a leap from 33 last year. It is joined in the top 20 by the University of Sydney (up one place to 18th) and the University of New South Wales (19th).
In Victoria, Monash University rose five places to 37th; RMIT was up 17 to 123rd; Deakin climbed 36 to 197th; and La Trobe lifted 25 places to 217th.
Australian higher education has remained resilient despite accelerating improvements from Asian institutions, the survey showed.
While universities in the US and Britain stagnated or declined, almost half of Australia’s institutions (47 per cent) improved their rankings.
But while Australia ranks highly in most metrics compared with other “big four” education destinations in the US, UK and Canada, it lags on student-teacher ratios and employment outcomes.
No Australian university ranks among the top 300 for faculty/student ratio, while 82 per cent of Australian institutions recorded lower year-on-year scores for employment outcomes and 76 per cent received lower scores from employers.
The survey comes as many universities face an existential crisis, brought on by Labor’s plan to slash migration and with it, billions of dollars in international student fees.
Australian National University higher education expert Professor Andrew Norton said Australia’s international rankings were likely to fall following any crackdown on foreign students.
“We have relied on profits from international students to increase our research output and as their numbers fall that will start to reverse itself,” he said.
Norton said while he believed rankings distorted universities’ decision-making, he acknowledged they were important to the global student market.
“Particularly for the Chinese market, which is very prestige-focused, to the point where it’s probably the single biggest factor in choosing an institution.”
QS chief executive Jessica Turner said tighter regulations could prompt several thousands of prospective international students to look beyond Australia, threatening a $48 billion export sector that relied heavily on international student fees to fund research and maintain its cutting-edge status.
“It is important to balance regulatory measures with the need to support the international education sector and the opportunities it provides,” she said.
Calderon said universities had faced many challenges since COVID but the morale and resilience of staff was waning, faced with uncertainty of the latest restrictions.
“Regardless of the outcome or whether the policy is implemented or not, the damage has been done,” he said. “The word is out there that in Australia, international students are not welcome.
“At the moment, we’re still trying to speculate what might happen or might not happen ... but it is a danger for the performance of all Australian universities.”
- with Daniella White
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
Explore Campus - our new student hub
How the changes to higher education debts will affect you
Unpaid internships are one thing, but paying to work? That’s absurd
Thousands of Australians want a place at a top US university. Here’s how Rizina got hers
Use our interactive search tool below to research courses across Australia: