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Some of the state’s biggest universities have managed to reverse recent slides in a prestigious global league table.
The University of Sydney ranked 53rd in the world in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026, followed by UNSW at 79th and The University of Technology at 145th.
The University of Sydney is the best institution in NSW, according to the rankings.Credit: Louise Kennerley
The Times world rankings assess institutions by performance in teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.
Some Australian institutions tumbled in the rankings last year due to poor scoring on international research collaboration and international talent metrics.
The rankings are billed as the most comprehensive and balanced assessment of research universities, assessing 2191 institutions based on 19 million research papers, 1.5 million votes in an academic reputation survey and detailed institutional data.
Macquarie University improved its ranking for the second year in a row, rising 12 places to score its best performance at 166th, while the beleaguered Australian National University, whose vice-chancellor recently stepped down, maintained its 73rd rank.
Charles Sturt University also had its best performance, now in the top 800 after previous placings in the top 1000. The University of Notre Dame Australia also had its best performance, jumping from the top 1500 to the top 1000 category.
Oxford University again ranked first in the world. The top 10 comprised of only US and UK universities.
Phil Baty, Times Higher Education’s chief global affairs officer, said there was a global shift from long-established institutions of the West to rising stars of the East as the US and western European institutions lost ground to Chinese universities.
“But Australia is in a unique position, emerging strongly from stymied internationalisation during COVID to buck the Western trend and see solid improvements in the rankings this year,” he said.
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In the US, the Trump administration has frozen billions in research funding and revoked Harvard University’s ability to enrol international students.
“There’s a real opportunity for Australia, and indeed New Zealand, to capitalise on the shifting dynamics of global higher education,” Baty said.
The University of Melbourne was Australia’s top performer in 37th place thanks to improvement to teaching reputation and research reputation scores.
University of Sydney vice-chancellor Mark Scott commended his staff on its performance.
“This welcome recognition of our teaching excellence reflects our ongoing commitment to providing a transformative experience for our students, bolstered by our unprecedented investment in 220 new specialist education-focused roles through our Sydney Horizon Educators initiative,” he said.
UTS vice-chancellor Andrew Parfitt, whose institution recently proposed plans to shut its school of education, said the strong results reflected the excellence and hard work of academics and professional staff during a difficult time for universities.
“Our world-class expertise in disciplines ranging from artificial intelligence to nursing or delivering practical solutions with industry such as construction robots or coral reef restoration, are all examples of what we can be proud of at UTS,” he said.
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