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places across the 48 subject tables – four
more than in last year’s rankings.
Australia also has the world’s second-
best department for the study of Pharmacy
& Pharmacology (Monash University),
Mining Engineering (Curtin University),
and Sports-Related Subjects (University
of Sydney).
In the QS World University Rankings
by Faculty, the University of Melbourne
achieved Australia’s top rank of 8th for
Social Sciences & Management.
“This year’s results serve to illustrate the
continued comprehensive excellence of
Australian higher education to the global
student population,” said QS research
director Ben Sowter. “As questions are asked worldwide
about the return on investment students
might expect to derive from their university
education, we are observing the positive
consequences of uniting students and
employers throughout the educational
process – an area in which Australia is
proving an international leader.”
Key highlights for the local education
sector include:
• Australia’s strongest university in the
rankings is the University of Queensland,
which features in 44 of the 48 tables,
closely followed by the universities
of Sydney and Melbourne (43 ranked
departments), and Monash (42).
• Australia’s 18 top 10 departments are
distributed between ANU and the University
of Melbourne (four top 10 departments); the
universities of Sydney, New South Wales and
Queensland (two top 10 departments); and
Curtin, Monash, UWA, and UTS (one top 10
department each).
• Australia is home to nine of the world’s
top 50 universities for the study of
nursing.
For more, go to: www.topuniversities.com/
subject-rankings/2018. ■
Dr Kay Owens, a senior lecturer and
researcher at the School of Teacher
Education, led the study of indigenous
people in Papua New Guinea to investigate
the way they think mathematically.
In a new book, History of Number,
Owens completed the work of her late
colleague Dr Glendon Angove Lean, and
documented the longevity of number
systems and the use of large numbers in
indigenous communities.
Owens worked with co-authors
Dr Patricia Paraide and Dr Charly Muke from
Papua New Guinea to publish the findings.
“History of Number will change the ways
teachers teach number and discuss the
history of number,” Owens said.
“These living Pacific cultures far exceed
the Romans, Egyptians, Babylonians and
Mayans for the longevity, diversity, sharing
of systems and innovations.
“The Pacific indigenous history of
number was ignored for too long because
it was not written down.
“My colleagues and I reveal this Pacific
indigenous history through our close
examination of oral hi stories, first contact
documents, archaeological linguistics and
anthropology.” Owens also recently published an article
for teachers in Reflections, the journal of
the Mathematical Association of NSW.
“One important reason for teachers
to use this regional indigenous
knowledge is to also develop their
cultural competency and respect for
Australian Indigenous communities,”
Owens said.
“It is important not to assume knowledge
does not exist if it is not written down.
It also broadens mathematics teachers’
perspectives of what number systems are
from the narrow focus of the Hindu-Arabic
base 10 system that we use and school
mathematics.”
Dr Owens’ work builds on more than 15
years of living and working in Papua New
Guinea, and includes information gathered
from more than 60 villages that span 52
languages across the country.
The research focuses on ethno-
mathematics, particularly counting systems,
measurement, space concepts, values, and
ways of thinking mathematically.
Owens believes the topic is important
for STEM subjects, and recently delivered
a paper at a conference in Canberra on
spatial reasoning. ■
Higher and higher
More Aussie unis rise through the
rankings in QS global survey.
A
ustralian universities have increased
their share of top 10 places for
subject-specific performance
according to new university rankings.
The eighth edition of the QS World University
Rankings by Subject, recently published
by global higher education analysts QS
Quacquarelli Symonds, ranks the world’s top
universities for their performance across 48
different subjects.
In this year’s rankings, Australian
university departments claimed 18 top 10
Rewriting maths
New book documents the
history of number systems in
indigenous Pacific communities.
C
harles Sturt University (CSU)
academics have rewritten
sections of mathematics history
by studying indigenous mathematics
systems in the Pacific.
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