Australia’s top universities have seen their place drop in the Times Higher Education (THE) World Universities Rankings.
The data shows Australia’s top 10 universities have fallen from last year’s positions, leaving only one institution in the top 50 and six in the top 100.
Chief global affairs officer for Times Higher Education Phil Baty said the plummet is a “serious warning” and that “real attention” needs to be paid.
“We’ve seen the rise of mainland Chinese and east Asian universities … Australia does not have the same level of the same drive and level of commitment,” he said.
“In addition, while the rankings show Australia has historically very high levels of research quality, current figures show a relative under-investment in research, which sends a clear red-light warning.”
The University of Melbourne has fallen three places from last year but remains the highest ranked Australian institution at number 37.
Monash University dropped down 10 places and currently sits at 54, while the University of Sydney sits in 60th place.
Associate Professor at the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education Gwilym Croucher accredits the countries slip in ranking to the pandemic.
“Australia’s closed borders for much of 2020 and 2021 had clear negative reputational effects as indicated in the rankings performance,” he said.
“While after the pandemic many high-ranking Australian universities fared relatively well financially, a general change in their ranking positions may also reflect the disruption to teaching and research caused by extended lockdowns.”
The global rankings included 1,904 universities from 108 countries, seeing higher education systems within the United Kingdom and United States taking the top ten spots.
The UK’s University of Oxford ranked number one for the second year in a row, followed by the United States’ Standford University in second place, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in third.
Photo: Queen’s College, Melbourne University, Melbourne Australia by Redness is available HERE and is used under a Creative Commons licence. This photo has not been modified.
