But it coincides with a warning that Australia's future success is "not guaranteed" due to the impressive rise of Asian universities.

Six Australian universities finished in the top 100 of the Times Higher Education world university rankings, which were released on Thursday.

The University of Melbourne was again ranked 33rd, followed by the Australian National University (47th), the University of Queensland (equal 60th), the University of Sydney (equal 60th), Monash University (74th) and the University of New South Wales (78th).

Victorian universities achieved solid results, with Victoria University making its debut in the grouped rankings at 351-400.

Deakin University climbed to the 251-300 band, while La Trobe and Swinburne remained in the 351-400 band and RMIT finished at 401-500.

Phil Baty, editor of the rankings, said that Australia needed to watch out for the "higher education superpower" – Asia. Four Asian institutions from Hong Kong, South Korea and China have joined the top 200, while China has two universities in the top 40.

"Australia's success at the top of the rankings cannot be guaranteed in the long-term while more of Asia's leading universities soar to join the world elite," he said.

Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham said increasing competition in the Asia-Pacific region made it more important to focus on the quality of higher education.

"The latest Times Higher Education rankings highlight the increasing competitiveness of universities in our region and the need for Australia to continue to foster innovation and excellence," he said.

Mr Birmingham said he looked forward to more discussions about higher education reforms.

These funding reforms are in limbo, with Universities Australia urging the Turnbull government to abandon a $3.2 billion "zombie" cut which remains in the budget but has little hope of passing the Senate.

The rankings are considered a big deal because they attract lucrative international students. They are based on 13 indicators including citations, industry income, teaching and international outlook. Only 5 per cent of the world's higher education institutions made the list of the top 980 universities, and Oxford University was ranked number one.

Victoria University vice-chancellor Professor Peter Dawkins said the university's result had exceeded expectations.

"We have been investing in being an increasingly high-quality university, investing in our teaching, research and international engagement," he said. Located in Melbourne's west, VU brands itself as a university of opportunity and welcomes students from diverse and low socio-economic backgrounds.

"We think it is very important to be a world-class university with excellent scholars and researchers at the same time, Professor Dawkins said.

University of Melbourne acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Margaret Sheil said a lot of hard work was involved in being the top Australian university.

"It is wonderful that all that effort is reflected in Melbourne being consistently rated as one of the finest institutions in the world," she said.

Australian universities secured 23 places in the world's top 400 universities, up from 22 places the previous year.