UNSW ranked among world's best

05 November 2004

The prestigious Times Higher Education Supplement has named six Australian universities, including UNSW, among the top 50 universities in the world.

The British journal placed UNSW in 36th spot. ANU was the leading Australian institution at number 16. Others to make the list were University of Melbourne (22), Monash (33), Sydney (40) and Queensland (49).

Harvard took top honours, followed by the University of California (Berkeley), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology. Oxford and Cambridge were ranked fifth and sixth. The full table shows that the top 200 universities are in 29 countries, with 62 from the US, followed by Britain with 30, and a total of 14 from Australia.

The rankings were based on a survey of 1,300 academics in 88 countries, as well as cited research, ratio of faculty to student numbers and the institution's attractiveness to foreign students and international renowned academics.

Commenting on the rankings, THES editor John O'Leary said that leading universities increasingly defined themselves in terms of international competition.

"By taking into account the views of academics from across five continents and using the most up-to-date statistics, our ranking gives an informed picture of the world's top universities," he said.

UNSW's Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Robert King, described the result as very encouraging.

"This is certainly a better result for Australia's universities than previous rankings," he said.

"The THES is a highly credible publication, and it would appear to have based the rankings on highly relevant criteria.

"This is an indication that Australian universities have the capacity to compete effectively on the international stage."