As school leavers wrap up their final year exams, The Australian Financial Review today releases the most comprehensive university ranking compiled in Australia, revealing the University of Queensland as the country’s best learning institution.  

Spread over a 12-page liftout, this is the second annual Financial Review Best Universities Ranking, which lists the full diversity of Australian universities using a more thorough range of measures compared to traditional rankings featured in overseas mastheads.

Calculating a university’s rank based on four categories, Best Universities Ranking recognises traditional notions of excellence, such as research and teaching alongside important measures of career impact and equity.

The University of Queensland has again taken out the top spot, marginally beating The Australian National University, with Monash University and University of New South Wales coming joint third, followed by The University of Adelaide in fifth place. The rankings also highlight a boon for the group of eight universities which have all placed highly. 

While the Top 10 list is dominated by universities in NSW and Victoria, institutions in Western Australia, Canberra, South Australia and Queensland also feature. 

Julia Feder, Managing Editor of the Financial Review, said: “The Best Universities Ranking is an invaluable resource for prospective students as they weigh up an important decision about their education. They can use the detailed information to focus on their own priorities for a university experience, while also gaining an insight into which institutions perform well across the board.”

Professor Deborah Terry, vice-chancellor of the University of Queensland, says she is “absolutely delighted” to again take out the pole position.

“The great thing about The Australian Financial Review ranking, from my perspective, is that it does what international rankings are not able to do. They can’t compare core outcomes like quality of teaching, equity and graduate outcomes across jurisdictions,” Terry says. “This ranking has given the sector a much more holistic look at how Australian universities are performing.”

Created in consultation with statistician, former director of the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute and former deputy vice-chancellor of research at La Trobe University Professor Tim Brown, the Best Universities Ranking uses only credible and verifiable public data that minimises selective use of information. Most international rankings require institutions to share data with the rating agency.  

HIGHEST RANKED UNIVERSITIES
1 – The University of Queensland
2 – The Australian National University
3 – Monash University, University of New South Wales
5 – University of Adelaide
6 – The University of Melbourne 
7 – The University of Western Australia
8 – The University of Sydney
9 – Bond University, University of Wollongong

For further information, please contact:
Adrian Motte
Senior Communications Manager – Trade & Publishing
amotte@nine.com.au 

Thursday, November 14, 2024