Global Ranking Confirms Melb Uni Is Still the Best in Australia, While Other Unis Fall Behind

The University of Melbourne has maintained its reign as the best university in Australia.

The university held its place at 32 in the ranking conducted by Times Higher Education (THE). In a running race, placing 32nd sounds like a pretty average performance, but given the oversaturation of universities around the world (including some that have existed for more than 1,000 years), it’s actually pretty impressive.

Also appearing near the top of the chart was Australia National University at 48. University of Sydney could be found at 61, with University of Queensland at 65, Monash University at 80 and University of New South Wales at 85.

Out of Australia's 40 universities, 35 appear in THE's list, which ranks the world's top 980 universities.

The editorial director for THE, Phil Baty, warned that due to funding cuts, universities in Asia would start to take over Australian universities in rankings.

"It is good news that Australia's universities have held steady in this year's table but funding cuts proposed by the government could seriously harm the country's institutions in future editions of the rankings," Baty warned.

"Australia's leading institutions are already falling behind peers in mainland China and Hong Kong, which receive high and sustained levels of state funding."

You can see that in this year's results, with China's Tsinghua University beating University of Melbourne, and Australia National University being outperformed by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Minister for Education, Simon Birmingham, said that the rankings show Australia still has a strong educational presence in the international arena.

"In a competitive world, Australia and our universities cannot rest on their laurels. We need to adapt and respond to student needs and ensure our universities are set up for the future," Birmingham said.

It’s a far cry from 2015, when THE called Australia the best in the world for "young universities".

Maybe it has something to do with government plans to further defund universities? Hmm, it’s hard to tell.