The University of Queensland has been ranked in the top 100 universities in the world for the second year in a row in the Academic Ranking of World Universities announced today.
UQ was ranked one of the top three Australian universities with a world ranking of 90.
UQ improved its ranking in life and agricultural sciences from 50 last year to be ranked 45th in the world this year.
It also ranked in the world’s top 100 universities in medical sciences (51-75 band) and engineering (76-100).
UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor Debbie Terry said congratulations were due to the UQ staff whose sustained high performance gave UQ altitude in all of the major global rankings.
“The ARWU is strongly focused on research, so this result reflects particularly on our researchers at all levels – from research students through to very senior people – who contribute to UQ’s global renown for discovery.
"This very high rating buoys the global research reputation of UQ and indeed of Queensland and Australia.
“The major rankings systems use different measures and methods, but this is one of the longest-running and is based entirely on publicly-available objective data.
“UQ is ranked in the top 100 in all of the major international rankings. Today’s result reaffirms UQ’s place in the high echelon of universities worldwide.
“The result will help attract excellent students and staff from around the world to come to UQ to make strong contributions to the state, national and global communities,” Professor Terry said.
UQ is the only university in Queensland with a top 100 ranking.
UQ’s researchers further improved their performance in the most highly cited category and the overall publications score.
The Academic Ranking of World Universities was first published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China in 2003 and is updated annually.
Since 2009, it has been published and copyrighted by an independent organisation, the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy and was released today by the Center for World-Class Universities of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Universities are ranked by several indicators of academic or research performance, including alumni and staff with Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, highly cited researchers, papers published in Nature and Science, papers indexed in major citation indices, and the per capita academic performance of an institution.
1200 universities were ranked by ARWU this year, with the best 500 published on the web at http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2012.html
The ARWU rankings publication marks the start of the University rankings season.
Find out more about UQ at the UQ Open Day on Sunday, August 19 at the Gatton campus from 9.30am to 3pm. Details: http://youruq.com/openday
Media: Jan King 0413 601 248
