The University of Melbourne rises in rankings but warns against undermining of Australian universities

The Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings has placed the University of Melbourne as 32^nd in the world, up from 33^rd in 2016.

University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor Glyn Davis said this result confirms the University of Melbourne’s position as Australia’s top university.

“That is a testament to our staff and students, who do so much to make it a vibrant and stimulating place to work and study,"Professor Davis said.

“The University of Melbourne has climbed up the THE and other rankings in recent years in part due to the move to the Melbourne Model, a globally competitive curriculum that couples broad undergraduate studies with postgraduate specialisation. This world-class model is being jeopardised by the reform plans to be discussed in Federal Parliament this week.

“Today’s THE rankings also show the fast growth of our regional neighbours, whose heavy investment in their higher education systems is translating into higher rankings.

“Australia needs to understand that our competitors for top international students aren’t just the United Kingdom and the United States, but also countries such as Singapore and China. Even our current higher education funding is likely to see us falling behind our regional neighbours."

The THE  rankings are among the most comprehensive and prestigious in the higher education sector. They are based on thirteen metrics, across five activity areas: research, citations, teaching, international outlook and industry.

The University of Melbourne has seen improvements from 2016 in 10 of the 13 metrics used.

Notwithstanding the University of Melbourne’s strong showing among Australian universities, it has dropped from 3^rd to 4^th in the Asia Pacific region behind the National University of Singapore, Peking University and Tsinghua University.