UNSW continues its path to becoming a top 50 global university

UNSW Sydney advances in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, rising to 67th.

UNSW Library Lawn and building

UNSW’s rise in the THE rankings solidifies last year’s leap of 25 places.

UNSW has climbed four places to 67 in the 2021 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings.

The University’s rise in the THE league table builds on last year’s leap of 25 places, and the recent and unprecedented increase in the 2020 ShanghaiRanking’s Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) ratings where UNSW jumped 20 places to 74th.

UNSW President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Jacobs congratulated the dedicated UNSW community on the strong result.

“Our students, staff, alumni and supporters can take great pride in the outstanding achievements that have led to this recognition,” Professor Ian Jacobs said.

“Continued progress in the THE rankings reflects UNSW’s commitment to research, education, innovation, equity, thought leadership and global impact, which is underpinned by our Strategy 2025.”

The rankings are calculated from scholar surveys and measure universities using 13 performance indicators across five pillars: teaching, research, citations, international outlook, and industry income. This year’s rankings analysed over 80 million citations across more than 13 million research publications and included responses from 22,000 scholars globally.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research, Professor Nicholas Fisk noted that UNSW’s 2021 THE scores improved across all five pillars, with the best performing in the Australian context being international outlook and research.

“I am delighted to see this validation of our academics, staff and students, and the continuous improvement right across THE’s broad teaching and research domains,” Prof. Fisk said.

This year, 1527 institutions – including 37 from Australia – from 93 countries were measured in the THE rankings, making them the largest and most diverse university rankings to date. UNSW is one of six Australian universities ranked in the top 100.

Read the 2021 THE World University Rankings.

Read UNSW’s 2025 Strategy Update.

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