The ANU improved its position from 59^th to equal 54^th spot in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022.

University of Canberra was ranked 170^th in the world, which is up 14 places from the previous year.

Vice-chancellor Paddy Nixon said the continuous improvement in world standing showed the university had reached a level of maturity.

"We're starting to feel more confident about our capacities, about things that we do and the contributions we make. These rankings just reflect that maturity," Professor Nixon said.

"Over the 30 years we've effectively doubled in student size, we've gone up 600 per cent in the amount of research income we produce, we've had a tenfold increase in the number of PhD students that graduate every year.

"So all of those things tell me we're just now a genuinely world-class university that can feel confident that it's part of the leading groups of universities in the world."

Professor Nixon said the university's relative youth had contributed to its resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We're very much used to doing things with a little bit less resource, a little bit more innovation and creativity," he said.

The ANU achieved the second-highest rank out of Australian universities, behind the University of Melbourne at 33 and on an equal rank to the University of Queensland.

ANU vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt said the latest rankings placed the university among the best of the best.

"By any measure, ANU is a world-class university. So, it is always pleasing to be recognised for the exceptional quality of our research, teaching and contribution to society," Professor Schmidt said.

"But rankings are not what drives our mission as a university. We exist to serve the nation and all Australians, as well as our region and the wider world, through truly transformational research and teaching."

The University of Oxford maintained its number one world ranking. California Institute of Technology and Harvard University were equal second place, followed by Stanford University.

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The rankings are based on 13 indicators which measure performance across teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

Times Higher Education chief knowledge officer Phil Baty said the elite universities of the United States and United Kingdom continued to dominate the top of the table, backed by historic reputation, global status and reliable income - but the data was shifting in favour of Asian universities.

"We are already seeing clear disruption to the established norms from mainland China, and record highs for Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong show that Asia is continuing to benefit from the focus and investment in higher education across the continent," he said.

"In the coming years it will be interesting to see whether the US, UK and other world-leading higher education systems can respond to the challenges of COVID-19, including attracting international academic and student talent, and a possibly serious impact on already stretched funding, to hold onto their positions at the very top of the table."

The ranking news came as the University of Canberra announced it would join the Innovative Research Universities network.

UC will be the eighth member of the group, which focuses on increasing access to education, addressing local and regional challenges and researching solutions to real-life problems.

"It allows us to have a much stronger voice as a collective in the higher education policy debate, both locally and nationally," Professor Nixon said.

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