What’s the best university in the world? What’s the best Australian uni? Here’s what the World University Rankings list says

The best universities in the world have been ranked, with Australia’s highest-ranking institution, The University of Melbourne, coming in at number 34.

Each year, The Times Higher Education World University Rankings list is released.

This year, it tracked 1,799 universities across 104 countries and regions.

What are the top-ranking universities in the world?

• First: University of Oxford, UK
• Second: Harvard University, US
• Third: (jointly) University of Cambridge, UK AND Stanford University, US
• Fifth: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US

You can see the full list on the Times Higher Education World University Rankings website.

How did Australian universities go?

Australia has 10 universities in the top 200.

After the University of Melbourne, Monash University, the University of Queensland, University of Sydney and Australian National University were top of the list for Australian institutions.

Those same universities were also the top five among Australian institutions in last year’s list, but Monash University went up a ranking, while the Australian National University went down.

While some institutions went up by one or two rankings since last year, the University of Adelaide rose 23 places, the University of Technology Sydney went from 143 up to 133 and Macquarie University jumped from 192 to 172.

The Group of Eight Universities — a bloc of some of Australia’s oldest and largest universities — pointed out that seven of its eight members made it into the top 100 of the list.

That group’s chief executive, Vicki Thomson, said all Australian universities that had increased their rankings deserved recognition and congratulations.

“More Australian universities have gained ground rather than dropped in the rankings, which is testament to the overall quality of our higher education sector,” she said.

How do they work out the rankings?

There’s five categories that go into scoring each university, being:

• Teaching
• Research
• citations
• international outlook
• Industry income

A significant portion of the scoring comes from an annual reputation survey, which this year had more than 40,000 responses, but it also takes into account a university’s:

• Staff-to-student ratio
• Doctorate-to-bachelors ratio
• Doctorates-awarded-to-academic-staff ratio
• Institutional income
• Research income
• Research productivity
• Proportion of international students
• Proportion of international staff
• International collaboration

How did Australian universities fare?

Here’s where 37 Australian universities ranked on this year’s list — the first 200 institutions are numbered individually, with the rest being lumped together in numbered groups:

• 34 University of Melbourne
• 44 Monash University
• 53The University of Queensland
• 54 University of Sydney
• 62Australian National University
• 71 UNSW Sydney
• 88 University of Adelaide
• 131 The University of Western Australia
• 133 University of Technology Sydney
• 175 Macquarie University
• 201–250 Curtin University
• 201–250 University of Newcastle
• 201–250 Queensland University of Technology
• 201–250 Western Sydney University
• 201–250 University of Wollongong
• 251–300 Australian Catholic University
• 251–300 Bond University
• 251–300 University of Canberra
• 251–300 Deakin University
• 251–300 Griffith University
• 251–300 La Trobe University
• 301–350 Flinders University
• 301–350 RMIT University
• 301–350 University of South Australia
• 301–350 University of Southern Queensland
• 301–350 Swinburne University of Technology
• 301–350 University of Tasmania
• 351–400 Charles Darwin University
• 351–400 Edith Cowan University, Western Australia
• 351–400 James Cook University
• 401–500 Murdoch University
• 501–600 Victoria University
• 601–800 Central Queensland University
• 601–800 Federation University Australia
• 601–800 Southern Cross University
• 601–800 University of the Sunshine Coast
• 1001–1200 Charles Sturt University

– Times Higher Education World University Rankings

How did Australian universities rank last year?

Last year’s list, which included more than 1,600 institutions, including 37 of the 40 from Australia — a few hundred less than the total for the most recent ranking:

• 33 University of Melbourne
• 54Australian National University
• 54The University of Queensland
• 57 Monash University
• 58 University of Sydney
• 70 UNSW Sydney
• 111 University of Adelaide
• 132The University of Western Australia
• 143 University of Technology Sydney
• 170 University of Canberra
• 192 Macquarie University
• 193Queensland University of Technology
• 201–250 Griffith University
• 201–250 La Trobe University
• 201–250 Western Sydney University
• 201–250 University of Wollongong
• 251–300 Australian Catholic University
• 251–300 Curtin University
• 251–300 Deakin University
• 251–300 Flinders University
• 251–300 James Cook University
• 251–300 University of Newcastle
• 301–350 RMIT University
• 301–350 University of South Australia
• 301–350 Swinburne University of Technology
• 301–350 University of Tasmania
• 401–500 Edith Cowan University
• 401–500 University of Southern Queensland
• 401–500 Victoria University
• 501–600 Bond University
• 501–600 Charles Darwin University
• 501–600 Murdoch University
• 601–800 Federation University Australia
• 601–800 Southern Cross University
• 601–800 University of the Sunshine Coast
• 801–1000 Central Queensland University
• 801–1000 Charles Sturt University

– Times Higher Education World University Rankings