The University of Queensland has climbed higher in two global university ranking tables, enhancing its position among the world’s top 50 and confirming it as number one in the state.

UQ moved to 47^th in the 2020 QS World University Rankings, and jumped to 40^th  – its highest-ever position – in National Taiwan University’s Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities.

In the QS report, UQ’s employer reputation ranking – up seven places – was among improvements for a range of benchmarks, and the greatest increase of any Go8 university in this category.

Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Peter Høj AC said staff in all areas of UQ should be proud of the QS and NTU results.

“At a time when some governments overseas are investing heavily in their university systems, to not only hold but improve our position in the world’s top 50 in these important tables is an impressive achievement,” Professor Høj said.

“The result reflects the exceptional quality of education and research across a broad range of fields and disciplines at UQ, which is critical to achieving globally significant solutions to complex problems through partnerships and innovation.”

The QS survey tracks universities’ standing and reputation, with academic and employer reputation together accounting for 50 per cent of its criteria.

UQ’s academic reputation climbed to 45^th in the QS ranking, up from 48th last year, while employer reputation rose to 69^th in the world.

“UQ’s approach to student employability focuses on developing graduates into individuals who can make a positive contribution and add value to organisations, the workforce, and the community,” Professor Høj said.

“We have embedded discipline-specific career development learning support into our programs, engaging students with industry contacts in relevant and meaningful professional relationships.

“Our investment creates opportunities for students to participate in learning experiences across a range of activities including global mobility, entrepreneurship, volunteering and mentoring.

“It is pleasing to see UQ rise in the employer reputation indicator ranking which can be taken as an endorsement of our sector-leading approach adopted in 2014.”

UQ’s QS ranking as an international student destination jumped dramatically to 34th in the latest survey, up from 57th last year.

NTU’s latest ranking table puts UQ at 40th globally, up from 43^rd.

The NTU ranking is focused on the number and impact of scientific publications authored by the University’s researchers and considers research productivity, impact and excellence.

In NTU’s field rankings, UQ was first in Australia and fifth globally for agricultural sciences.

In NTU subject areas, UQ was number one in Australia in Environment/Ecology (fourth globally), Microbiology (14th globally), Social Sciences General (14^th globally) and Agricultural Studies (16th globally).

UQ was ranked second in Australia in Pharmacology and Toxicology (14th globally), Plant & Animal Science (18th globally), Civil Engineering (29^th globally), Biology & Biochemistry (30^th globally), Chemical Engineering (42^nd globally), Molecular Biology & Genetics (42^nd globally) and Chemistry (72^nd globally).

A possible drug target for chronic liver disease has been identified by an international research collaboration involving a University of Queensland team.

Professor Matt Sweet and Dr Divya Ramnath from UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) worked with the study’s senior author Dr Ekihiro Seki from Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, to identify genes linked to the progression of chronic liver disease.

Dr Ramnath said they helped confirm that a molecule called hyaluronan (HA), used as a marker for liver disease, also has a role in disease progression.

“Testing for HA levels in the blood can indicate the severity of liver disease in patients, but until now its exact role in disease progression had not been completely understood,” Dr Ramnath said.

“Using clinical samples provided by Professor Elizabeth Powell from UQ’s Faculty of Medicine, we were able to confirm that an enzyme which makes HA was at higher levels in patients with later stages of the disease.

“This means it’s not just a marker, it’s now a potential drug target.”

Chronic liver disease is reaching epidemic proportions with up to 30 per cent of the world’s population experiencing fat build up in the liver, known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

A proportion of NAFLD patients progress to a more severe form of the disease called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

“NAFLD can be slowed by changes in diet but if untreated constant liver damage and inflammation can lead to a condition associated with cirrhosis and liver cancer.

“There are currently no medications to treat some forms of chronic liver disease so new drug targets are desperately needed,” Dr Ramnath said.

Professor Sweet said it is now understood that short forms of the HA molecule could create an immune response, causing inflammation and increased severity of the disease.

“It has been very rewarding working with Dr Seki from Cedars-Sinai, who has gone on to show that if HA production is inhibited in mice, the severity of the disease is reduced,” he said.

“This international collaboration has advanced our knowledge of this complex and prevalent disease, and the findings from this study may ultimately provide a strategy to develop much needed treatments.”

After seven years of exceptional service to The University of Queensland, Professor Peter Høj AC formally advised UQ’s Senate on Thursday 30 May of his intention to retire from his role as Vice-Chancellor, effective 30 June 2020.

Chancellor Peter Varghese AO said Professor Høj’s thoughtful decision to advise Senate so far in advance of his planned departure would ensure the University had adequate time to find the next Vice-Chancellor and achieve a smooth transition.

Senate last night appointed a selection committee to oversee the process, chaired by the Chancellor, and approved an international search to commence.

Mr Varghese acknowledged the enormous contribution Professor Høj has made to UQ during one of the most significant periods of change for the sector.

“Under Peter’s leadership, UQ’s budget has returned to surplus through significant growth in international student numbers, business partnerships and improved operating performance,” Mr Varghese said.

“Peter has also led the development of UQ’s first philanthropic campaign, which has now raised $400m of our $500m target and, last year alone, awarded scholarships to more than 505 students who otherwise may not have had the chance to study at UQ.

“From a research perspective, Peter has overseen an improvement in UQ’s international rankings – consolidating its top-50 global position, continuing its strong track record of research commercialisation and deep global partnerships with world-renowned institutions. When Peter took up the Vice-Chancellor position, UQ was ranked 90 in the Academic Ranking of World Universities. Today it is ranked 55.

“Under his leadership, UQ is now one of Australia’s best teaching institutions, with graduate employability and employer satisfaction rates among the highest in Australia. More recently, his commitment to diversity has seen UQ launch its Reconciliation Action Plan and participate in the SAGE Pilot of Athena SWAN, a program that promotes and measures our progress on gender equity.

“To achieve so much requires great personal sacrifice and energy, and Peter has done this with the utmost passion and integrity.”

Over the next 13 months, Professor Høj will continue to deliver on the ambitious program of work that he has set for the University.

By the time he retires from his role on 30 June 2020, he will have served a combined 13 years as a Vice-Chancellor, both at The University of Queensland and the University of South Australia.

For the second successive year The University of Queensland has been recognised as the top university in the southern hemisphere for global research quality in the 2019 CWTS Leiden Rankings – as measured by the number of publications of a university belonging in the top 1 per cent of their field.

UQ ranked number one in Australia, number one in Oceania, number one in the southern hemisphere and 32^nd in the world as measured by the highly-regarded international research quality indicator.

The rankings measured the scientific performance of more than 950 major universities worldwide in the years 2014-17.

Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Peter Høj said that maintaining its number one ranking within Australia displayed a commitment to high-quality research standards and output.

“In the ranked period, UQ contributed 179 publications in the top one per cent of the most frequently cited publications,” Professor Høj said.

“Those 179 were considered the cream of the crop of 11,997 publications in recognised journals contributed by UQ researchers and research teams.

“To put that in perspective, that’s almost exactly 250 publications a month in recognised journals contributed by UQ over four years.

“To be number one in Australia, Oceania and the southern hemisphere is fantastic validation of why leading researchers, educators and students choose to call UQ home.”

UQ’s number one positioning was calculated using fractional counting, ascertaining the number of university publications that, compared with other publications in the same field and in the same year, belong in the top 1 per cent most frequently cited.

Once again UQ was also Australia’s top-ranked university in the research category of life and earth sciences and number 9 in the world, as measured by the number of publications of a university belonging in the top 5 per cent of their field.

In the field of social sciences and humanities UQ was Australia’s top-ranked university and number 34 in the world, also as measured by the number of publications of a university belonging to the top  per cent of their field.

CWTS introduced two new categories of indicators to its latest rankings – gender and open access.

The University of Queensland was within the top three universities in Australia for female-authored publications, total open access publications, and percent of publications which were open access.