Australian unis have dropped again in global rankings. Here’s why we can’t just shrug it off |
More than half of Australia’s universities dropped in global rankings this week.
Individual results always bounce around. But this drop, via the Centre for World University Rankings, suggests the decline of Australia’s standing in many global rankings systems is more than a blip.
Centre for World University Rankings president Nadim Mahassen [warned]:(https://www.smh.com.au/national/undermines-the-country-s-long-term-future-more-than-half-of-australia-s-universities-dive-in-global-rankings-20260527-p60129.html)
Australian universities are struggling to deliver high-quality education, attract and retain talent, and produce quality research at scale.
Australian universities are struggling to deliver high-quality education, attract and retain talent, and produce quality research at scale.
Mahassen explained this is “not just an academic problem” but one that undermines Australia’s “long-term future”.
The rankings also follow a high-profile opinion piece by academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who wrote last week how she had told her teenage stepdaughter to think twice about going to uni:
right now kids are taking on tens of thousands of dollars in debt to have a terrible campus experience while being graded on who can write the best AI prompts.
right now kids are taking on tens of thousands of dollars in debt to have a terrible campus experience while being graded on who can write the best AI prompts.
What are rankings and what did they show?
Global university rankings aim to evaluate all universities in the world through a single framework. Each ranking system has a slightly different focus and methodology.
The Centre for World University Rankings measured more than 20,000 universities globally on four factors: education, employability of graduates, number of faculty members who have received top academic distinctions, and research output.
Of the 39 Australian universities included in the exercise, 14 improved their rank compared with last........