The 7 best universities in NSW for 2026, according to Time Magazine’s first-ever ranking

If you ask us, the fact that many of us are expected to make one of the biggest decisions of our lives – choosing which university to attend – at just 17 or 18 years old is pretty damn wild. At that age, most of us are still working out how to do our own laundry or nail a reverse park, so choosing where to head to determine the rest of your life path feels like as pretty big jump. If you’re prepping to make the big decision this year, Time Magazine has just revealed its first-ever ranking of the World’s Top Universities – and 25 Australian universities made the top 500.

Now, we know there are plenty of reputable university rankings out there, like Times Higher Education and QS World University Rankings. But Time Magazine’s inaugural list takes a fresh approach, measuring success by tangible student outcomes rather than traditional prestige – from patents filed and start-ups launched to leadership roles in business.

Partnering with data analytics firm Statista, the study evaluated 500 universities globally across three key pillars – academic capacity and performance, innovation and economic impact, and global engagement – with scores aggregated to produce the final ranking.

Mirroring THE’s 2026 ranking, the University of Oxford topped Time’s inaugural list with a score of 90.20, earning the title of the world’s best university. It was joined in the top five by prestigious US institutions, including Yale, Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago. But, in good news for NSW prospective students who don’t want to travel too far from home, a handful of local unis made the list – with the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales both ranking in the top 70 globally.

The University of Sydney was the highest-ranking NSW-based university, coming in at 58th place globally. Nearby, UNSW ranked 65th on the list, with the next NSW institution to rank (University of Newcastle) coming in 261st place on the list. 

Further north, the University of Queensland was our nation’s highest-ranked institution for 2026, placing 28th globally with a total score of 73.6. It was also Australia’s highest-ranked university in the Innovation and Economic Impact category. The University of Melbourne was the only other Aussie institution to crack the global top 50, landing 42nd with a total score of 70.14.

While Canberra’s Australian National University ranked sixth nationally, it was the top performer in the Academic Capacity and Performance pillar. Meanwhile, Murdoch University in Perth, ranked 14th in Australia, topped the Global Engagement category. You can explore Time Magazine’s World’s Top Universities of 2026 here, or see where every Australian institution ranked below.

The best universities in Australia for 2026, according to Time Magazine

1. University of Queensland (28th globally)
2. University of Melbourne (41st)
3. University of Sydney (58th)
4. University of Western Australia (60th)
5. University of New South Wales (65th)
6. Australian National University (67th)
7. University of Adelaide (70th)
8. Monash University (88th)
9. Curtin University (197th)
10. James Cook University (227th)
11. Deakin University (254th)
12. University of Newcastle (261st)
13. University of Wollongong (278th)
14. Murdoch University (288th)
15. University of Technology, Sydney (301st)
16. Griffith University (305th)
17. Queensland University of Technology (308th)
18. University of South Australia (329th)
19. La Trobe University (346th)
20. University of Tasmania (363rd)
21. Bond University (370th)
22. Swinburne University of Technology (383rd)
23. Victoria University (408th)
24. Western Sydney University (465th)
25. Macquarie University (486th)

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