by ANGEL CALDERON
In this commentary I focus on how the various Australian university networks performed, relative to international peers, across subject areas in the latest QS Rankings by Subject, released on April 6 2022.
I will first provide some context about university networks and their historical research performance in terms of earned research funding and number of publications.
University networks
Out of the 43 Australian universities, 29 are members of one of four established domestic alliances or networks. The goal of these networks, like any other interest group, is to influence public policy directions that advance their objectives. Membership is on an application basis rather than automatic, and this is influenced by institutional affinity, strategic alignment, and other factors.
The Group of Eight (Go8) and the Australian Technology Network (ATN) were both established in 1999. The Innovative Research Universities (IRU) was established in 2003 and the Regional Universities Network (RUN) was established in 2011. Over the years, composition of these networks has changed.
Distribution of research income
The proportion of total research income across these networks has remained relatively stable in the 27 years of published data from the Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC). In brief, as a proportion of total research income:
* Go8 institutions received 69.4 per cent in 1994 and decreased to 67.8 per cent in 2020.
* ATN institutions received 9.1 per cent in 1994 and increased to 11.5 per cent in 2020.
* IRU institutions received 9.6 per cent in 1994 and decreased to 8.1 per cent in 2020.
* RUN institutions received 2.5 per cent in 1994 and increased to 2.8 per cent in 2020.
Over the same period, there are small variations when it comes to the share of Category One (Australian Competitive Grants) by university network but the pattern is consistent with the total research income. The significant variability in funding across universities is seen in the share of income derived from
international students. Over the period between 2011 and 2020, Go8 universities increased their national share of international student fees from 43.1 per cent to 53.1 per cent. By comparison, ATN institutions have seen a decline in its share of income from international students from 21.1 per cent in 2011 to 17.8 per cent in 2020. IRU’s share has also declined from 11.4 per cent to 9.5 per cent.
Scopus indexed publications
The total volume of Scopus indexed publications for 39 of the Australian universities increased from over 22,450 in 1996 to more than 116,000 in 2020. In brief:
* Go8 institutions had over 14,000 publications in 1996 and increased to over 83,600 by 2020. Go8’s share over time decreased from 65.1 per in 1996 to 52.8 per cent by 2020.
* ATN institutions had over 2,000 publications in 1996 and increased to over 25,800 by 2020. ATN’s share increased from 8.9 per cent in 1996 to 16.5 per cent by 2020.
* IRU institutions had over 2,680 publications in 1996 and increased to over 19,000 by 2020. IRU’s share was 11.9 per cent in 1996 and increased minimally to 12.0 by 2020.
* RUN institutions had over 720 publications in 1996 and increased to over 6,270 by 2020. RUN’s share increased from 3.2 per cent in 1996 to 4.0 per cent by 2020.
Australian university networks performance
As noted in CMM (April 7 ) ,Go8 universities are ranked first to eighth by the number of total listings in the 2022 edition of QS Rankings by Subject.
Go8 universities have 98 per cent of its subjects ranked in the world’s top 200 (across all 51 subject areas) compared to 56 per cent for the ATN (across 31 subjects) then 42 per cent for the IRU (across 22 subjects). Of the 11 ranked subjects for RUN institutions (across six subjects), five sit in the 151-300 range.
All other universities (i.e., non-aligned to one of the four networks) have 60 per cent of ranked subjects in the top 200.
| Table 1: Distribution of subjects ranked in QS Rankings by Subject top 300 by university network | ||||||
| ATN | Go8 | IRU | RUN | Unaligned | Total | |
| Number of times listed | 154 | 341 | 101 | 11 | 129 | 739 |
| Of which ranked in… | ||||||
| Top 20 | 2% | 13% | 0% | 0% | 1% | 7% |
| Top 50 | 12% | 46% | 5% | 0% | 9% | 26% |
| Top 100 | 27% | 79% | 14% | 0% | 27% | 49% |
| Top 200 | 56% | 98% | 42% | 9% | 60% | 73% |
| Top 300 | 84% | 100% | 71% | 45% | 84% | 89% |
Of the 739 times Australian universities are listed in the subject rankings, the highest proportion fall in the Social Sciences and Management (30.3 per cent), followed by the Natural Sciences (20.7 per cent) and Life Sciences and Medicine (20.2 per cent), and then the Arts and Humanities (15.1 per cent).
The faculty area with the lowest proportion of ranked subjects is Engineering and Technology (13.7 per cent). Australia’s strength in Social Sciences and Management is unsurprising. It is significantly above the proportion of times subjects are ranked for China (17 per cent) and is just below the United Kingdom’s proportion of ranked subjects (31.1 per cent). However, Australia is significantly below the proportion of times subjects are ranked in the Natural Sciences compared to China (31.4 per cent) and Engineering and Technology (19.7 per cent). Australia is marginally above the United Kingdom in the proportion of subjects ranked in the Natural Sciences (by 0.7 points) and Engineering and Technology (by 0.8 points).
Domestic performance by faculty area
The ATN’s highest proportion of subjects listed is in the Social Sciences and Management (33 per cent), with 51 instances across 12 subjects. Comparatively, the Go8’s proportion is 29 per cent (98 times across 15 subjects) and 32 per cent for IRU (32 times across eight subjects).
In the Natural Sciences, the Go8 has a higher proportion of 20 per cent (71 times across nine subjects) compared to the ATN (20 per cent, with 31 times across eight subjects) and IRU (17 per cent with 17 times across four subjects). per cent
In Life Sciences and Medicine, IRU institutions have the highest proportion of its subjects ranked with 31 per cent (31 times across six subjects), compared to the Go8 with 17 per cent (58 times across nine subjects) and ATN with 20 per cent (31 times across six subject areas).
In Engineering and Technology, the ATN has a higher proportion of its subject ranked with 19 per cent (29 times across seven subjects) compared to 14 per cent for Go8 (48 times across seven subjects) and 5 per cent for IRU (five times across three subjects).
In the Arts and Humanities, Go8 institutions have a higher proportion of its subjects ranked with 19 per cent (66 times across all the 11 subject areas which comprise this faculty area), compared to IRU with 16 per cent (16 times across nine subjects) and 8 per cent for the ATN (12 times across four subjects).
| Table 2: Distribution of subjects ranked in QS Rankings by Subject by faculty by university network | ||||||
| Faculty | ATN | Go8 | IRU | RUN | Unaligned | Total |
| Arts & Humanities | 8% | 19% | 16% | 18% | 12% | 15% |
| Engineering & Technology | 19% | 14% | 5% | 0% | 15% | 14% |
| Life Sciences & Medicine | 20% | 17% | 31% | 55% | 18% | 20% |
| Natural Sciences | 20% | 21% | 17% | 9% | 25% | 21% |
| Social Sciences & Management | 33% | 29% | 31.7% | 18% | 31% | 30% |
International comparisons
Let us now consider the performance of Australia’s university networks against selected overseas networks.
In the case of the ATN, comparisons are made against one other national network and two regional networks: Germany’s Technical Universities (TU9), which was established in 2003 with nine universities as members; the IDEA League, established in 1999 and currently comprises five institutions from five different countries; and the CESAER network (established in 1990) which comprise 58 science and technology institutions from 28 European countries.
In the case of the Go8, comparisons are made against two other national networks and one regional network: The United Kingdom’s Russell Group, established in 1994, which comprise 24 universities; the Canadian Research Universities (U15C), established in 1991 with 15 member institutions; and the League of European Research Universities (LERU), established in 2002, which comprise 23 universities from 12 countries.
In the case of the IRU, comparisons are made against one other national network: The US University Innovation Alliance (UIA), established in 2014 with 11 member institutions, and one regional network (the European Consortium of Innovative Universities – ECIU, established in 1997 with 13 member institutions from 13 different countries).
Globally, there is not another university network similar in scope and mission by which the RUN could be benchmarked, therefore, the IRU is excluded from further analysis.
Performance of technology-oriented institutions
ATN institutions have the lowest proportion of subjects ranked in the top 20, top 50, top 100 and 200 compared to its international peers. However, the ATN is second in the number of subjects ranked in the top 200 per institution – 14.3 compared to 17.6 to the IDEA League. The ATN is ahead of its international peers in the number of times listed per institution: 25.7 compared to 19.8 to the IDEA League, 16.2 for CESAER, and 15.8 for the TU9.
ATN institutions have the lowest proportion of subjects ranked in Engineering and Technology (18.8 per cent) compared to its international peers. The TU9 have the highest proportion at 30.3 per cent, followed by the IDEA League (29.3 per cent) and CESAER (27.3 per cent). Also, the ATN have the lowest proportion of subjects ranked in the Natural Sciences (20.1 per cent) compared to its international peers. Again, the TU9 have the highest proportion at 36.6 per cent, followed by the IDEA League (33.3 per cent) and CESAER (28.4 per cent).
ATN have the highest proportion of subjects ranked in the Social Science and Management (33.1 per cent) and is distantly followed by CESAER at 19.3 per cent. Also, the ATN have the highest proportion of subjects ranked in Life Sciences and Medicine at 20.1 per cent, whilst the proportion of subjects ranked for its international peers (TU9, IDEA and CESAER) are at least 6.7 points behind the ATN.
ATN institutions have a relatively lower proportion of subjects ranked in Arts and Humanities compared to the IDEA League and CESAER; but they are ahead of the TU9.
It can be concluded that ATN institutions perform relatively well in QS Rankings by Subject against international peers, whilst recognising that ATN institutions gained university status thirty years ago. As the ATN institutions continue to scale up their research endeavours, they are likely to increase their relative global competitiveness. In 1996, the ATN’s volume of scholarly outputs represented less than one fifth of the volume of outputs of the TU9. By 2020, the ATN’s scholarly output was two thirds of the TU9.
Performance of research-intensive institutions
Go8 institutions have a lower proportion of subjects ranked in the top 20 (13.2 per cent) compared to the Russell and LERU universities (20.0 per cent and 20.6 per cent respectively). However, the Go8 is ahead of its international peers in the proportion of subjects ranked in the top 50, top 100, top 200, and top 300.
On the number of times listed per institution, the Go8’s 42.6 instances outperform all its international peers: 35.5 for the Russell Group, 33.9 for the LERU, and 21.4 for the U15Ca universities. The Go8 underperforms relative to its international peers in the times listed per institution for the number of subjects ranked in the top 50 but outperforms in the times listed per institution in the top 50, top 100, and so forth.
The key area for improvement for the Go8 institutions will be to uplift performance, primarily in the academic reputation survey, if it is to strengthen its standing in the number of subjects ranked in the world’s top 20.
Go8 institutions have a lower proportion of subjects ranked in Arts and Humanities (19.4 per cent) compared to the Russell Group (20.3 per cent) and LERU (21.7 per cent); but is above the UC15Ca (15.3 per cent).
In Engineering and Technology, the Go8 have a higher proportion of subjects ranked (14.1 per cent) compared to the Russell Group (12.4 per cent) and the LERU (9.2 per cent) but is below the U15Ca (15.9 per cent).
Go8 institutions have a higher proportion of subjects ranked in the Life Sciences and Medicine (17.0 per cent) compared to the Russell Group (16.2 per cent) but the Go8 have a lower proportion compared to the UC15 (19.1 per cent) and LERU (17.6 per cent).
In the Natural Sciences, the Go8 have a lower proportion of subjects ranked (20.8 per cent)) compared to its international peers: 22.0 per cent for the Russell Group, 23.5 per cent for the UC15 and 23.2 per cent for LERU. Then, in the Social Science and Management category, the Go8 is below the Russell Group (28.7 per cent and 29.1 per cent, respectively) but is above the U15C (26.1 per cent) and LERU (28.3 per cent).
It can be concluded that Go8 institutions performs very well against international peers – except for its relative performance in the times subjects are listed in the world’s top 20. Universities from the Russell Group and LERU have the advantage of a long historical reputation which helps to legitimise why these universities outperform all others.
Performance of innovative research institutions
IRU institutions and their international peers have relatively a small number of subjects which rank in the world’s top 50. IRU institutions underperform compared to its peers across the proportion of subjects ranked in the top 50, top 100, top 200, and top 300.
IRU institutions are below international peers in the number of times listed per institution at 12.6 compared to 22.3 for the University Innovation Alliance (UIA) and 13.2 for the European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU).
IRU institutions have a higher proportion of subjects ranked in the Arts and Humanities (15.8 per cent) compared to the UIA (12.7 per cent) and the ECIU (11.7 per cent). IRU institutions have a higher proportion of subjects ranked in the Social Science and Management (31.7 per cent) compared to 27.3 for the UIA and 28.1 per cent for the ECIU.
The strongest faculty area for IRU institutions is Life Sciences, in which they have a higher proportion of subjects ranked (30.7 per cent) compared to the UIA (18.4 per cent) and the ECIU (17.0 per cent). In contrast, the weakest faculty area is Engineering and Technology, in which they have a lower proportion of subjects ranked (5.0 per cent) compared to the UIA (15.5 per cent) and the ECIU (20.5 per cent). IRU also under-performs in the proportion of subjects ranked in the Natural Sciences (16.8 per cent) compared to the UIA (26.1 per cent) and the ECIU (22.8 per cent).
It can be said that IRU institutions underperform compared to its international peers for subjects ranked in the top 50, top 100 and 200. However, IRU institutions reduce the gap considerably against international peers once proportion of subjects ranked in the top 300 are included.
To conclude, Go8 institutions measure up relative to their international peers – except in proportion of times listed in the top 20.
ATN institutions perform relatively well against their selected international peers, whilst IRU institutions are yet to shine against their peers, over the long term, higher levels of funding and improved revenue streams are key to realising improvements for these institutions.