Times Higher Education publishes dodgy university rankings for Australian universities.

THE Times university awards

Times Higher Education (THE) publishes a world university ranking that includes Australian universities. Each rating demonstrates how prestigious a uni is regarded by overseas academics.

THE University Rankings for Australia: 2026

Just ahead of the 2026 academic year, here are the latest ratings for the top universities in Australia.

Aust rank World rank University State
1 37 University of Melbourne VIC
2 53 University of Sydney NSW
3 58 Monash University VIC
4 73 Australian National University ACT
5 79 UNSW Sydney NSW
6 80 University of Queensland QLD
7 133 University of Adelaide SA
8 145 UTS NSW
9 153 University of Western Australia WA
10 166 Macquarie University NSW
11 225 Deakin University VIC
11 225 QUT QLD
11 225 University of Wollongong NSW
14 275 Curtin University WA
14 275 La Trobe University VIC
14 275 RMIT University VIC
14 275 Swinburne VIC
14 275 University of Newcastle NSW
14 275 University of Tasmania TAS
14 275 Griffith University QLD
21 325 Flinders University SA
21 325 Western Sydney University NSW
23 375 Edith Cowan University WA
23 375 UniSQ QLD
23 375 James Cook University QLD
26 450 Australian Catholic University NSW
26 450 Bond University QLD
26 450 Charles Darwin University NT
26 450 Murdoch University WA
26 450 University of Canberra ACT
26 450 Central Queensland University QLD
26 450 Southern Cross University NSW
33 550 Federation University Australia VIC
33 550 Victoria University VIC
33 550 University of the Sunshine Coast QLD
36 700 Charles Sturt University NSW
37 900 University of Notre Dame NSW
WP Table Builder

Problems with Times Higher Ed

Times Higher Education (THE) publishes Australian university rankings using a composite performance measure. Rankings are based on research publications and academic prestige. The largest components are "Citations of journal articles" and "Research prestige".

The rankings demonstrate how highly a given university is regarded among academics. To produce world rankings, THE surveys many thousands of academics worldwide each year. THE rankings are comparable to QS and Shanghai rankings.

While THE’s survey is more extensive than U.S. News... it still falls prey to the inherent statistical flaws and response biases of reputation scoring.

Ranking Components

ACADEMIC RESEARCH AND INCOME (70%)

Citations of journal papers 30%
Research prestige among academics 18%
Journal papers per academic 6%
Research income per academic 6%
Industry income per academic 3%
% of journal articles with a foreign co-author 3%
Ratio of international to domestic staff 3%
Institutional income per academic 2%

TEACHING PRESTIGE AND STUDENT RATIOS (22%)

Teaching prestige among academics 15%
Academic-to-student ratio 5%
Ratio of international to domestic students 3%

DOCTORAL PROGRAM SIZE (8%)

Doctorate graduates per academic 6%
Doctorate-to-bachelor degree ratio 2%

Value of THE University Rankings

For students, THE rankings are useful for quantifying how much regard society (including employers) may hold for a degree from a particular university. If academics hold an institution in high regard, obtaining a degree from that institution may help your career by conferring status.

  • The rankings are based on 13 measures. Almost 70% of a university's rating is determined by researcher output, income and affiliations.
  • Teaching prestige is also a factor, accounting for 15%. This measures teaching quality as perceived by academics in other institutions, which is highly correlated with overall prestige.
  • There is a strong emphasis on doctoral programs, with over 8% of a university's score based on the number of doctorates awarded.

Misleading Statements

Time Higher Education claims to provide the only global university performance tables to judge research-led universities across all their core missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. The publisher also claims to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons, which are trusted by students, academics, university leaders, industry and governments.

Our advice to students is to not trust the Times Higher Education claims nor their rankings. The rankings have not been constructed with students in mind.

  • The teaching prestige measure is flawed because it only considers the opinions of academics. How does an academic from one university have any great insight into teaching standards in another?
  • Despite its flaws, it is odd that teaching prestige is given a lower rating than research prestige (15% versus 18%). The weightings just tilt the balance further towards academic research.
  • The heavy weighting on doctoral program size is also strange. Why does this indicate better performance and why it is given a heavy weighting? THE claims that undergraduates tend to value working in a rich environment that includes postgraduates. You would think undergraduates care more about the quality of services delivered to them.

About the Author

Dr Andrew Lancaster, PhD (Economics) is an Australian higher-education analyst and economist. He holds a PhD in Economics from the Australian National University (ANU).

Since 2013, he has researched and written about Australian universities and global ranking systems. His work covers Times Higher Education (THE), QS, ARWU (Shanghai), and Webometrics.

His analysis focuses on ranking methodology, weighting systems, reputation bias, and signalling effects. A core theme is separating genuine institutional brand value from misleading assumptions about teaching quality and student experience.

Dr Lancaster has advised thousands of university students on how to interpret rankings realistically when choosing a degree. He is the founder and editor of AustralianUniversities.click, which publishes independent, data-driven analysis of Australian higher education.

Connect with Dr Andrew Lancaster on LinkedIn

More Australian Uni Rankings