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12 unis in 200 club
Record year for Australian universities in THE rankings .
Twelve Australian universities have ranked in the top 200
of the Times Higher Education ( THE ) World University Rankings 2021 – more than any other year – and threequarters of them improved their previous position . Macquarie University was Australia ’ s latest top 200 entry , climbing out of the 201-250 band to come in at joint 195 .
Announcing the results , THE highlighted the University of Technology Sydney ’ s leap up the ladder – UTS climbed 34 places since last year to land at joint 160 in 2021 .
The University of Melbourne ruled the roost at 31 , moving up one place from 2020 , while the University of Sydney rose nine places from 60 to joint 51 .
Australian National University , The University of Queensland , Monash University , UNSW Sydney , University of Adelaide , The University of Western Australia , University of Technology Sydney , University of Canberra and Queensland University of Technology were Australia ’ s other top 200 finishers .
THE chief knowledge officer Phil Baty said : “ As well as seeing Australia ’ s traditional powerhouses continue to perform well towards the top end of the table , it is fantastic to see Macquarie University achieve a top 200 place for the first time , helping Australia record its highest total of entrants to qualify in the group .
“ While qualification alone is a huge achievement , the performance of Australian universities in the 2021 ranking highlights Australia ’ s desire to compete with the very best on the world stage .”
Baty also issued a warning . “ With the backdrop of COVID-19 , well-established higher education systems could be under threat as they face the very real risk of losing significant international student talent , and the billions of dollars in fees that they bring .
“ In the longer term , possibly permanent shifts in the global flow of academic talent that has traditionally fuelled elite institutions could create real challenges .”
The University of Oxford retained its top spot for the 5th consecutive year . The University of Cambridge was the only other non-US university to make the top 10 , coming in at 6 .
Tsinghua University , which has been performing well on a number of tables in recent years , became the first ever Asian university to make the overall top 20 ( joint 20 ). ■
Security scare
Data leak hits nearly 20k Tasmania uni students .
By AAP
Personal information belonging to almost 20,000 University of Tasmania students was mistakenly made public for more than five months due to security settings being configured incorrectly .
Affected students were informed of the breach , which made their data available to anyone with a UTAS email address from late February to August 11 .
UTAS said analysis of the files revealed a " number of users " with university emails have accessed the information .
The data , which contains personally identifiable information , is used to inform how the university supports students in their studies , UTAS said . Bank account details were not part of the data breach . " Security settings on shared files were unintentionally configured incorrectly , which made the information visible and accessible to unauthorised users ," the university said in a statement .
The university said it became aware of the breach on August 11 and has engaged independent experts to assist .
" I sincerely apologise to all students who have been affected by this incident ," vice-chancellor Rufus Black said .
" We have undertaken a thorough review of how this information became accessible and took immediate steps to ensure it is secure ."
UTAS is in the process of contacting people who accessed the data and has " sought assurance " that the files , or screenshots or shared copies of the files , have been permanently deleted .
Information belonging to the 19,900 students was made public through Microsoft Office365 platform SharePoint , which is used to store , share and access files .
Access privileges were incorrectly configured on an Office365 application , which displays content to users based on those privileges .
" There is no evidence this data breach was a result of malicious activity ," UTAS said . " The system has now been correctly configured ." UTAS has set up a hotline for students with questions or concerns . ■
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