Australian universities are among the top three disciplines in pharmacology, mining and sports in a new and influential ranking.
Monash (Monash University), Victoria, ranks second in pharmacology, second only to Harvard University and even ahead of Cambridge University. This is the second year in a row that Monash won second place, and the total score is up from last year.
The data comes from the latest QS World University ranking-the most commonly used reference list for international students.
(Curtin University) at Curtin University ranks second in the world in teaching minerals and mining. (Sydney University), University of Sydney, and (University of Queensland), University of Queensland, ranked second and third in sports-related research, respectively.
Overall, Australia has five of the world`s top 50 universities, as it did last year, more than both the United States and the United Kingdom.
Of Australia`s 37 public universities, 26 reported higher citation scores-that is, the number of times their research was cited by other universities. 64 percent of international students went up.
The QS ranking assesses six criteria, including employer reputation, academic reputation, teacher-student ratio and number of references.
Australian National University (ANU) ranks first in Australia and 24th globally, down from the previous year`s level of 20. But the University of Melbourne rose from 41 to 39. Sydney University ranks third in Australia, climbing from 50 to 42 globally.
The University of New South Wales was stable at 45th, the University of Science and Technology (UTS) rose 16 places to 160th, while Newcastle University, Woolungong University and the University of West Sydney all improved.
Professor (Chris Porter), director of the Monash Institute for Pharmaceutical Science, said his university did well in the global rankings because it focused on working with other universities.
"the discovery and development of drugs is a very difficult task that requires the involvement of chemists, technologists and logistics experts, but you can`t have all of these people in one place, so we work with other universities," he said. We have worked together to develop the flu drug Relenza and the drug for malaria. "
Professor Porter says the next area of research is inhaled drugs, which are more readily available in developing countries where injecting needles are difficult to supply.
The University of Sydney won fourth place in the world in terms of employer reputation. QS researchers say that raises the question for employers: where should they find the most capable, innovative and productive graduates. The University of Sydney is ahead of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in this regard. The University of Melbourne ranked seventh on the list of employers` reputations.
Globally, American universities dominate the QS rankings. Four of the top five came from the United States, followed by Stanford, Harvard and California Institute of Technology.
The highest-ranked university in China is Tsinghua University in Beijing: 17th, up from 25th last year.
QS researchers said Australia would have performed better had it not been for a cross-rating of academic reputations-a measure that measures the views of more than 70, 000 scholars around the world about other universities.
Worryingly, Australian universities also have a poor faculty-to-student ratio, which measures the extent to which students can "engage meaningfully" with teachers. Of the 37 Australian colleges and universities, 34 have declined in this regard. In this regard, the only three schools to improve are McGregor University, Newcastle University and Charles Darwin University.
Universities in Russia and Malaysia have made the most progress in the past 12 months. But over the past four years, universities in South Korea, Singapore, China`s mainland and Hong Kong have moved ahead with government spending.
Thommassen (Vicki Thomson), CEO of (Group of Eight), the eight major leagues, said that despite growing global competition, especially from Asia, and despite problems with the funding model provided by government, The higher education sector remains a world leader, with strong support from employers.
`We are proud that our graduates are the most popular in Australia, `the employer said. But we also recognize that this is a rapidly changing world and that our graduates need to flourish in an environment beyond their grandparents` imagination. " She said.
