ANU has come 25^th in the Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings for 2014 – up two places from last year.

It comes equal 25^th with Duke University in the United States, just one place after the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, and three places behind the National University of Singapore.

The QS ranking is one of the three most influential international league tables of university performance, alongside the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and the Academic Ranking of World Universities produced by China's Shanghai Jiao Tong University – the latter two having posted consecutive drops for ANU over the past year.

Acting vice-chancellor, Professor Margaret Harding, said the ranking reflected the "quality of the university's staff, and their commitment to excellence in teaching and research".

"Rankings are imperfect measures, and move around year to year, but they do tell you the company you are keeping. It is great to be alongside other great universities of the world," Professor Harding said.

"It is the energy and quality of ANU staff and students that is reflected in our international reputation for excellence. Every day at ANU, people do extraordinary things that change the world for the better."

Professor Harding noted that in the past week, Dr Steve Lee from the Research School of Engineering won a Eureka Prize for science for inventing a cheap lens that can convert a smart phone into a microscope. Costing less than a cent each, the lenses could potentially revolutionise science and medicine in developing countries and remote areas.

She also noted the international nature of the ANU "carries across our teaching and research, from Nobel Prize winning research in astronomy and medical science, to hosting world leaders, including most recently the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe".

This week, the ANU School of Music is hosting 11 of the world's most talented young pianists at the Australian International Chopin Piano Competition.

QS also ranks fourteen subject areas at ANU in the top 20 in the world, including Politics (7), Geography (11), Linguistics (11), Environmental Studies (=12), Earth and Marine Sciences (=12), Philosophy (13), Modern Languages (=14), Sociology (=14), History and Archaeology (15), Law and Legal Studies (15), Computer Science and Information Systems (17), Economics and Econometrics (18), Agriculture and Forestry (20), and Mathematics (20).

Just last month, the ANU fell eight places on the most rigorous global research league table – the Shanghai Jiao Tong survey - which saw it place 74th this year, down from 66th last year.

Similarly it has also fallen in the Times Higher Education ranking - from 42nd last year to between 61st and 71st earlier this year.