Last year UNSW cracked the ARWU top 100 – it’s way up this year
The new Academic Ranking of World Universities is pretty much the same as it always is – reflecting the research resources, (for now, at least) of old and rich institutions. Harvard U is number one in the world for the 18th year.
But strategy and spending can deliver change, as UNSW demonstrates again, being =74th in the world. Even better it is equal with the auld enemy, Uni Sydney.
Another ARWU win at UNSW: Last year joy was unconfined at Kensington as UNSW made it into the global top 100, just – rating 94th. VC Ian Jacobs said this was an eight-place improvement on 2018, (institutions above 100 are listed alphabetically in numerical bands, (CMM August 15 2018, August 16 2019).
Cracking the 100 is one thing, improving 26 spots is many more. The ARWU ratings tend to be relatively stable at the top and while a move this big may be due to anomalies in the ranking formula UNSW moving up three straight years looks like a trend.
This follows UNSW’s remarkable performance on the ARWU discipline rankings. It is the first Australian institution on the top 100/50 list this year (37 of 54 subjects), (CMM June 30) and was last year (38 of 54). In 2019 it was in equal first place for appearing on the most discipline lists (52 of 54) with McGill U, Uni Michigan-Ann Arbor and Uni British Columbia (CMM June 27 2019).
Local heroes: All the Aus unis in the ARWU global top 100 this year (with their 2019 and ’18 positions) are:
Uni Melbourne: 35 (41 and 38). Uni Queensland: = 54 (55 and 55). = ANU 67 (76 and 69). UNSW =74 (94 and estimated 102). Uni Sydney: =74 (=80, 68). Monash U = 85 (73,91). UWA =85 (99 and 93.) Uni Adelaide is next in the 151-200 band.
Next set: Universities in the 201-300 band are. Curtin U, Deakin U, Macquarie U, Swinburne U, U Tas, UTS and Uni Wollongong. Swinburne U is up from the 301-400 band last year and James Cook U drops from this band to 301-400.
Across the ditch, Uni Auckland is the only New Zealand institution to make the 201-300 group, same as last year.