By Jessica Washington
SYDNEY, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Australia has some of the world's best universities, according to new global rankings released on Thursday, which placed five Australian universities in the top 50 worldwide.
The 2018 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings revealed most Australian universities have moved up the ranks compared to last year's results, with 7 universities making the top 100.
The Australian National University was the top ranked Australian university, securing 20th place in the competitive global rankings, which assess institutions based on their teaching, employability of graduates, and research efforts.
The University of New South Wales (UNSW) was Sydney's highest ranked university at 45th place, the University of Melbourne secured 41st place, the University of Queensland came in at 47th, while the University of Sydney slipped four places from last year to fall to 50th place, and became the only Australian university not to improve upon its ranking from the year previous.
The results are a "great testament" to Australian education, according to UNSW International Pro-Vice Chancellor Laurie Pearcey, who told Xinhua on Thursday that Australian universities should be proud of the progress they have made in a relatively short amount of time.
"Australian universities have been known for many years for punching above their weight in terms of the education quality and international research. It's worth reflecting that our universities are relatively young compared to some of the ancients like Oxford and Cambridge," Pearcey said.
"Our universities are young and we are in a young country, but our universities are very well known for training students and producing high quality research on an extremely large scale that is well regarded internationally."
The 959 universities pitted against one another in the global rankings are also judged on their international academic reputation, and according QS research director Ben Sowter, Australia is performing extremely well in this aspect.
"Improvements in academic reputation can be attributed to both the type of teaching innovations and the standard of research emanating from Australia's universities," Sowter said.
Australia is one of the top 5 most popular destinations for international students, according to UN statistics, and its reputation for quality education has attracted more than 110,000 Chinese student enrollments, making China the number one source country for international students in Australia, and according to Belinda Robinson, the chief executive of Universities Australia, these rankings are an important tool in attracting even more international students.
"When these reports come out, it reinforces to those contemplating an international education that Australia is a great place to study. The rankings show an indication of the quality of the system as a whole and it really does provide a tick of approval for the quality of Australian higher education," Robinson told Xinhua on Thursday.
"What the rankings show is that if you come to Australia, no matter which institution you choose, you are basically guaranteed a world class education."
However, Robinson said the recent government funding cuts, which saw hundreds of millions of dollars slashed from university investment, may eventually take a toll on the quality of education, and put Australia at risk of falling behind.
"Many countries in our region, including China, are investing very heavily in their own education systems because they recognize that education, research and innovative are the keys to long term economic sustainability," Robinson said.
"The rankings reinforce that the Australian higher education system is a national treasure that we should be nurturing and celebrating. We have to be very careful that we understand what we have and what we could lose if we continue to erode the system through cuts."
