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campusreview.com.au
Asian unis eclipsing Aussies
Australia’s leading institutions are in danger of
losing their status as key global players.
By Loren Smith
T
he big story this year is the continued rise of China, with
two institutions in the top 30 for the first time,” says Phil
Baty, editorial director of global rankings at Times Higher
Education. He is, of course, referring to THE’s annual World
University Rankings, which were recently published for the 14th year.
Australia held relatively steady in the list of the top 1000 universities
from 77 nations.
The University of Melbourne (32nd), Australian National University
(48th) and University of Sydney (61st) continued their domestic lead,
all within one place of their previous positions.
It was good news for the University of Western Australia, University
of Adelaide and James Cook University, all of which improved, yet
not so good for the University of Queensland, University of NSW and
Monash University, which all slid by an average of six points.
Despite the relative constancy of Australia’s universities, as Baty
prefaced, they should be wary of the dragon. The University of
Melbourne was beaten by Beijing’s Tsinghua University (30th)
while the University of Hong Kong (40th) and Hong Kong University
of Science and Technology (44th) both eclipsed ANU. The Chinese
University of Hong Kong (58th) surpassed USYD and UQ (65th).
Baty cautioned that the Australian government’s proposed
university funding cuts could further dent the sector’s prestige.
“Australia’s leading institutions are already falling behind peers in
mainland China and Hong Kong, which receive high and sustained
levels of state funding. Australia must ensure that it continues to
invest in its universities … if it wants to remain a key global player in
higher education,” he said.
While the US performed best overall, England also topped the
charts. Oxford retained first place, while Cambridge overtook
Caltech and Stanford to place second. ■
Rank 2018 Previous year
32
=33
48
47
61
=60
65
=60
=80
74
85
=78
=111
125
=134
142
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351–400
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401–500
351–400
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351–400
351–400
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501–600
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351–400
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401–500
501–600
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601–800
601–800
Institution
University of Melbourne
Australian National University
University of Sydney
University of Queensland
Monash University
University of New South Wales
University of Western Australia
University of Adelaide
James Cook University
Queensland University of Technology
University of South Australia
University of Technology Sydney
Griffith University
Macquarie University
University of Newcastle
University of Wollongong
Charles Darwin University
Deakin University
Flinders University
University of Tasmania
Victoria University
University of Canberra
Curtin University
La Trobe University
Murdoch University
RMIT University
Southern Cross University
Swinburne University of Technology
Western Sydney University
Australian Catholic University
Bond University
Central Queensland University
Edith Cowan University
University of the Sunshine Coast
University of Southern Queensland
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