The University of Queensland has again moved up the ladder of the world's top 50 universities, climbing from 46th to 43rd position overall in the QS World University Rankings released today.
UQ President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Høj thanked and congratulated the UQ community for achieving the overall result of 43 and propelling all five of UQ’s broad disciplinary areas into the top 50.
“The results confirm that UQ is in the company of the world’s best universities, not only for research but also for reputation among employers and peers, and the international diversity of students and staff,” Professor Høj said.
The 2013 rankings see UQ move up 18 places in Natural Sciences, from 61 in 2012 to 43 in 2013.
UQ Engineering and Technology improved eight places, from 55 to 47, and Arts and Humanities climbed from 56 to 50.
UQ consolidated its strong position in Social Sciences and Management, climbing from 47 to 40, and retained its position in the top 50 in Life Sciences and Medicine.
“The University’s ‘employer reputation’ score rose significantly, moving into the top 10 percentile reflecting the high quality of UQ graduates and the commitment of staff who contribute to their development,” Professor Høj said.
“The national picture shows four Australian universities in the top 50 and seven in the top 100, which is a terrific result for a nation of this size - particularly given the funding cuts that even QS has remarked on.
“This collective performance sends a clear message that Australia’s top universities deliver robust returns on public investment and are seasoned contributors to all ‘five pillars’ of the economy.
“If we were to have better levels of investment, stronger industry partnerships, and policies that continued to leverage our strengths, universities would be even stronger stimulants for economic strength and international regard for Australia,” Professor Høj said.
“Conversely, recent cuts to university funding will see us slide in the wrong direction and put at risk our ability to support the broader economy in general and to maintain and further grow our third largest export segment, namely education services,” Professor Høj said.
The QS World University Rankings consider more than 3000 universities worldwide and evaluate the top 800, ranking the top 400.
QS Rankings are based on six indicators: academic reputation (40 per cent), employer reputation (10 per cent), faculty to student ratio (20 per cent), citations per faculty (20 per cent), international students (5 per cent) and international faculty (5 per cent).
In the past 12 months UQ’s position has improved in the four key global university rankings systems: the Academic Rankings of World Universities, Times Higher Education World University Rankings, QS, and the National Taiwan University Ranking.
Media: UQ Corporate Relations Manager Carolyn Varley, 3365 1120, 0413 601 248, c.varley@uq.edu.au.
