The University of Queensland has moved to its highest ever position in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), sitting at 54th globally.
The University improved from 55th position 12 months ago to sit in second place in Australia in the prestigious rankings.
Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Peter Høj said the result was testament to the fundamental strength of UQ’s underlying research power.
“This great achievement needs to be viewed in the context that there are more than 10,000 universities in the world,” Professor Høj said.
“Only the top 1000 are published in ARWU, and this result is a reward for the collective hard work of UQ’s top-class researchers, who make an enormous contribution to national prosperity.”
Professor Høj said the result was particularly pleasing, given the fiercely competitive international environment.
“Since 2012, UQ has steadily risen from 90th to 54th at a time when competition, including from Asian universities, has intensified and funding from traditional sources has declined.
“Indeed, the strong performance of UQ and other Australian universities is hugely dependent on our $37 billion exports industry.
“It’s gratifying to again have UQ recognised internationally and be confirmed as one of the nation’s top universities,” he said.
“The ARWU ranking is based on objective third-party data, and considers the number of highly cited researchers and articles published in high-ranking journals, along with alumni and staff awards.
“These results will help UQ draw top quality staff and students to continue our pursuit of excellence through the creation, preservation, application and transfer of knowledge.”
The ARWU was launched in 2003 and published by the independent higher education consultancy ShanghaiRanking for the past decade.
In the ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects released mid-year, UQ ranked ninth in the world for Nursing, and was the only Australian university with four subjects ranked in the top ten.
“This complements our results in the recently released US News Best Global Universities assessment, which ranked UQ at 42, and the 2020 QS World University rankings, where UQ climbed to 47th position,” Professor Høj said.
“These rankings collectively establish UQ as a top 50 global university.”
Media: UQ Communications, communications@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3364 1120.