University of Canberra, Australian National University drop in world rankings 2023

The Australian National University has dropped eight places to 62th position, in the Times Higher Education world university rankings 2023.

After successive years of climbing up the rankings, the University of Canberra was knocked out of the top 200 to the 251-300 section.

The University of Canberra reached its best position at 170 last year but was unable to maintain the gains.

Deputy vice chancellor research and enterprise Professor Lucy Johnston said they anticipated the drop in rank because there was a drop in research citiations.

"We had a very nice spike in our citations for a period of three or four years, which have then settled back down, as it were, to a more sustainable level, and with each progressive year, one of those spike years is dropped off," she said.

As with all Australian universities, international student mobility was hampered during 2020 and 2021 due to travel restrictions.

Despite this, the University of Canberra saw an improvement in its score for international co-authored research but had lower scores on the teaching and research reputation surveys.

"As a relatively young university that is maturing in the research space, we haven't got that machinery where we really are out there shouting about our strengths and our reputation," Professor Johnston said.

"That's something we need to do because there is some fantastic research and some fantastic teaching that's going on and we need it recognised."

Professor Johnston said the institution would focus on increasing the number of doctorates by actively recruiting students and offering more scholarships.

Melbourne now hosts Australia's top two universities on the rankings scale, with the University of Melbourne ranked 34th and Monash University ranked 44th.

The Australian National University was the second-best university in Australia for many years but has now slipped to fifth position on the national leader board.

Its best ranking in the past 12 years was 37th in 2013. This year's rank is the worst global position since 2011.

An ANU spokesperson said the university was consistently among the best globally by a range of rankings.

"ANU is home to four out of five of Australia's university-based Nobel laureates. We are also the most cost-effective research university in Australia and among the world's top 50 universities for research output by cost," the spokesperson said.

"So, it is always pleasing to be recognised for the exceptional quality of our research, teaching and contribution to society."

The rankings are based on analysis of research publications and citations as well as an annual academic reputation survey. Institutions are measured across 13 metrics which encompass the teaching environment, international outlook and industry links.

Oxford University was ranked the world's top university for the seventh consecutive year. Harvard University was second and University of Cambridge and Stanford University were equal third.

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Times Higher Education's chief knowledge officer Phil Baty said the fallout from the pandemic hasn't fully hit the rankings data.

"The COVID response hit Australia harder than many of its key competitor nations, in terms of border controls, and the rankings are increasingly competitive, with more universities from more countries taking part than ever before - with consistent gains for several East Asian nations, led by China, real improvement in the Middle East and greater competition from Africa," Mr Baty said.

"You have to run very fast to stand still in the global rankings and losing ground can risk a vicious circle of gradually losing access to global talent and partnerships."

Mr Baty said the picture remained remarkably healthy in Australia due to good research funding levels over the past 15 years, strong research productivity, international collaboration and long-term success in the overseas student market.

More Australian universities gained ground in the rankings this year, with seven institutions in the top 100 universities, up from six the previous year.

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