Today’s release of the QS (Quacquaelli Symonds) World University rankings confirms Australia’s continued strong standing in the world rankings with 25 of Australia’s 39 universities in the world’s top 500.

‘There are at least 11,000 universities worldwide1. International rankings identify the top 500 or top 5%, inclusion in which indicates a university of significantly high standing, said Professor Ian O’Connor, Chair IRU.

‘Six of the IRU group are listed in the QS top 500, with The University of Newcastle in the top 300. ‘All of the IRU are ranked in one or more of the three major world ranking systems, the:

• ARWU (Academic Ranking of World Universities),
• QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) and
• THE (Times Higher Education).

‘Over the last couple of years the number of returns received by the QS World University Rankings in response to the academic reputation survey has more than doubled to more than 46,000, with many new survey returns coming from developing markets, resulting in quite a bit of fluctuation in the rankings. This explains the fluctuating performance of the Australian university sector on the QS rankings.

‘Only six Australian universities outside of the Group of Eight are currently listed in the top 400 on all major rankings – Flinders University, Griffith University, the University of Newcastle, Macquarie University, The University of Tasmania and Wollongong University.

‘Whichever ranking you look at, Australian universities do consistently well, with more than half the sector regularly appearing across the three’.