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Ahead of the pack
UniMelb leads local brigade in world academic rankings .
By Wade Zaglas
The University of Melbourne is Australia ’ s sole top 50 entrant in the latest ShanghaiRanking ’ s Academic Ranking of World Universities ( ARWU ), landing at 33 .
Other Australian universities to crack the top 100 this year include the University of Queensland ( 51 ), UNSW ( 65 ), the University of Sydney ( 69 ), the Australian National University ( 76 ), Monash University ( 80 ), and the University of Western Australia ( 96 ).
The University of Adelaide narrowly missed out on a top 100 spot , ranking in the 101 – 150 band . There was a significant gap between the University of Adelaide ’ s ranking , with a string of universities placing in the 201-300 band . These include , in no particular order :
• Curtin University
• Deakin University
• Griffith University
• James Cook University
• Macquarie University
• Queensland University of Technology
• Swinburne University of Technology
• University of Technology Sydney
• University of Wollongong
In terms of Australian university rankings , little has changed since 2020 ’ s ARWU was released . Seven universities , for instance ,
Vice-chancellor of the University of Melbourne , Professor Duncan Maskell . Picture : Mark Stewart
ranked in the top 100 last year , although the University of Melbourne has risen in 2021 from 35 to 33 . The same seven universities that achieved a top 100 ranking this year were the same as the last , although there have been some changes in the ranking order .
The University of Sydney was pleased with its improvement this year , moving up five places in the world since the 2020 rankings .
“ I ’ m delighted to see the University ’ s strong performance and improved position in these prestigious rankings . They focus heavily on disciplines based in engineering and science so it ’ s also terrific to see our steady progress over the past three years in these areas ,” said vice-chancellor and principal Mark Scott .
THE TOP 10 OVERALL The US continues to be the epicentre of the world ’ s top-ranked universities , with eight of its universities in the top 10 . Harvard University topped the rankings for a remarkable 19th year , while seven other US universities appeared in the top 10 :
• Stanford University ( 2 )
• University of Cambridge ( 3 )
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( 4 )
• Berkeley ( 5 )
• Princeton ( 6 )
• University of Oxford ( 7 )
• Columbia University ( 8 )
• Caltech ( 9 )
• University of Chicago ( 10 )
GLOBAL TRENDS The US also dominates this year ’ s top 1000 list , with 40 universities in the top 100 , 129 among the top 500 , and 200 placing in the top 1000 . The United Kingdom is another strong performer overall , with 65 universities among the top 1000 , 38 of which are also listed in the top 500 . The UK also boasts 8 universities in the top 100 .
“ In Continental Europe , Paris-Saclay University ( 13th ) rises one position , remaining at the best position , followed by ETH Zurich ( 21th ),” ShanghaiRanking ’ s consultancy reports .
“ Among Asian universities , The University of Tokyo ( 24th ) keeps its leading position . Tsinghua University ( 28th ) moves up one position , holding on to the second-best place in Asia . The University of Melbourne ( 33rd ) tops other universities in Oceania for eleven consecutive years since 2011 .
“ Two European universities move up into the top 50 . The University of Munich from Germany ranked 48th , up from 51st last year , and Utrecht University from the Netherlands rises two places to 50th . Three universities enter into the top 100 list , including Sun Yat-sen University ( 89th ) from Chinese Mainland , The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ( 90th ), and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology ( 94th ) from Israel .
“ Sun Yat-sen University has made the first-ever appearances in the top 100 . There are seven new entrants from Asia and Oceania appearing on the Top 500 list . 38 universities enter into top 1000 for the first time .”
China also recorded robust rankings in this year ’ s ARWU , with 180 universities in the top 1000 . Among these were 84 top 500 institutions and seven top 100 universities .
METHODOLOGY “ The ARWU adopts six objective indicators to rank world universities , including the number of alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals , the number of articles published in journals of Nature and Science , the number of Highly Cited Researchers and articles indexed in Science Citation Index - Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index based on data in the Web of Science , and per capita performance ,” ShanghaiRanking ’ s Consultancy said .
“ More than 2000 universities are ranked by ARWU every year , and the best 1000 universities are published .” ■
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