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Ups and downs
A few ladders , a few snakes for Australia in QS subject ranking .
By Dallas Bastian
Australia has the third-largest share of top university departments in the world and is home to just under a tenth ( 8 per cent ) of all programs ranked by QS . But the group warned that the nation ’ s performance is declining in some areas .
The results , published in the 2021 edition of the QS World University Rankings by Subject , put Australia behind only the United States , which boasted 44 per cent of top programs and the United Kingdom , which accounted for a fifth of the world ’ s best .
Overall , Australia had 198 programs listed in the world ’ s top 50 across 51 academic disciplines .
Of the 37 Australian universities ranked , Curtin and Monash Universities and the University of Queensland ( UQ ) reached the tallest ladder rung .
Each was named second-best in the world in their academic discipline – Curtin for Mineral and Mining Engineering , Monash for Pharmacy and Pharmacology and UQ for Sports-related Subjects . Australia had several other top 10 performers in two of those subjects ; in Mineral and Mining Engineering UQ was third , UNSW fifth and the University of Western Australia sixth , while for Sportsrelated Subjects , the University of Sydney moved up into third , Deakin University was sixth and the University of Melbourne was equal seventh .
Five Australian universities had more than 20 departments in the world ’ s top 50 . They were the University of Melbourne , with 37 top departments , the University of Sydney ( 30 ), Australian National University ( 24 ), the University of New South Wales ( 21 ) and University of Queensland ( 20 ).
But it wasn ’ t all good news for Australia – QS revealed that the nation returned its lowest number of programs ranking among the top 10 in the last four years . Australia had 13 top 10 offerings in the 2021 edition , down on last year when it had 17 top performers .
The rankings team singled out Australian National University as one institution that slid across the tables – 25 of its 36 ranked departments fell year-on-year .
Still , it was fifth in the world for Philosophy and for Anthropology , seventh for Geography , and ninth for Politics and International Studies .
Jack Moran , a spokesperson for QS , said : “ While our results demonstrate that there is no lack of willingness or aptitude among the Australian research community , other key stakeholders in government and industry must ensure that they are engaging with the country ’ s world-class programs to foster , support , and implement the essential work being conducted in this field .”
Moran added that Australia was primed to further contribute to intensifying efforts to reduce carbon emissions and find innovative solutions to the ongoing climate crisis .
Australian higher education is well-placed to leverage its international connections and research capabilities .
“ QS are observing highly-impressive work from institutions across the world to contribute to a sustainable future ,” he said . “ With four of the world ’ s top-50 universities in our Environmental Science table – and two of the top-20 – Australian higher education is well-placed to leverage its international connections and research capabilities to contribute to the global effort .”
Overall , universities with an international outlook , strong investment from governments over a decade or more and close relationships with industry contribute to a nation ’ s improvement in the rankings , Moran said .
Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology were the strongest-performing institutions in the latest edition , coming in at number one in twelve subjects .
China had a record number of programs now achieving a top-50 rank , while Russia had a record number of top 20 places . Conversely , QS said Japan ’ s standing is in relative decline after “ decades of underfunding for research and PhD students ”. ■
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