Australia’s top five universities have slid down the rankings in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025, released on Wednesday.
Out of Australia’s 17 universities that fell this year, seven achieved their worst ever performance since the 2016 edition of the ranking
The University of Melbourne was Australia’s highest ranked tertiary institution in 39th place, two places lower than in 2024.·
Australia’s second highest ranked institution, Monash University, fell four places to joint 58th, while the University of Sydney got its worst ever performance since the 2018 edition of the ranking.
The University of Oxford is the world’s top ranked university – coming first for a record-breaking ninth year.
More than 2,000 universities were ranked in the 2025 edition – the largest number ever.
Overall, Australia had a total of 38 ranked universities this year, with one in the top 50, six in the top 100 and 10 in the top 200.
Perth’s University of Notre Dame was the only newcomer.
Australia’s average international student metric score also fell for the second year running, dropping by 0.2 points to 85.6.
Last year it fell sharply by almost four points due to a reduction in the percentage of international students. Australia has also declined in terms of international staff and international co-authorship.
The ongoing repercussions of the Covid19 pandemic are considered the main cause of the declining results.
