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These 15 Australian universities rank among the top two per cent worldwide

UNSW has been named Australia’s top university by the Centre for World University Rankings

Melissa Woodley
Written by
Melissa Woodley
Travel & News Editor, Time Out Australia
UNSW Library lawn
Photograph: UNSW via Wikimedia Commons
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School’s out in the northern hemisphere, which means university ranking season is officially in session. And so far, Australia’s report card is looking pretty sharp for 2025 – with six of our unis making the esteemed Times Higher Education top 100 and two cracking the latest QS World University Rankings top 20. But don’t pack your bags just yet – there’s another major ranking to add to the study pile.

The Centre for World University Rankings recently released its 2025 Global 2,000 list, assessing almost 21,500 institutions on four key pillars: quality of education, alumni employment, quality of faculty and research performance. This year, 39 Australian universities were included in the top 2,000 – and impressively, 28 of them ranked within the top five per cent of all higher education institutions globally.

According to the quantitative academic ranking, Australia’s number one for 2025 was the University of New South Wales (UNSW), which climbed to 52nd globally – putting it in the top 0.3 per cent worldwide. UNSW earned an overall score of 84.6, largely thanks to its solar cell technology research, which helped boost it’s ranking from 99 in 2024.

The University of Melbourne landed second in Australia, claiming the 64th spot globally with an overall score of 83.8 and an exceptional research ranking of 30. Also placing within the top 0.5 per cent of tertiary institutions around the world were the Australian National University (90th), University of Sydney (94th) and University of Queensland (103rd). Meanwhile, Monash University (117th), University of Western Australia (151st) and University of Adelaide (213th) all landed in the top one per cent. 

These are the 10 best universities in the world according to the Centre for World University Rankings

  1. Harvard University, USA
  2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
  3. Stanford University, USA
  4. University of Cambridge, UK
  5. University of Oxford, UK
  6. Princeton University, USA
  7. University of Pennsylvania, USA
  8. Columbia University, USA
  9. Yale University, USA
  10. University of Chicago, USA

These are the 15 best universities in Australia

  1. University of New South Wales, NSW – 52
  2. University of Melbourne, VIC – 64
  3. Australian National University, ACT – 90
  4. University of Sydney, NSW – 94
  5. University of Queensland, QLD – 103
  6. Monash University, VIC – 117
  7. University of Western Australia, WA – 151
  8. University of Adelaide, SA – 213
  9. University of Technology Sydney, NSW – 314
  10. Curtin University, WA – 329
  11. Macquarie University, NSW – 341
  12. Queensland University of Technology, QLD – 355
  13. Deakin University, VIC – 365th
  14. Griffith University, QLD – 379th
  15. University of Wollongong, NSW – 385

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📚 Check out the QS World Universities Rankings for 2026

🎓 And compare them to the Times Higher Education top 100

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