By LEONIE KOLMAR
THE Australian National University has slipped one place in the latest Times Higher Education (THE) QS World University Ranking, dropping from 16th to 17th in the world, making it the only Australian university to drop a place this year.
However, despite this very minor setback the ANU has still managed to beat all of its Asian, European and Canadian counterparts, securing its place as Australia’s top ranking university. It is now the highest placed institution outside of the United Kingdom and United States.
ACT Education Minister Andrew Barr is excited about the ANU’s ranking among the world’s most prestigious universities.
“This is great news for Canberra drawing attention to our city as a world-class provider of tertiary and vocational education through the University of Canberra, the Canberra Institute of Technology, the Australian Catholic University, ADFA and the Australian National University,” he said.
Australia continues to have nine institutions in the world top 200 universities list, with the ANU leading by 19 places followed by Melbourne University (see full rankings).
ANU Vice-Chancellor was contacted but was unavailable for comment.
Times Higher Education has reported that Asian Universities, particularly those in Hong Kong and Japan are growing in stature primarily due to the heavy investment in higher education and a push to internationalise their higher education institutions over the past several years. New Zealand on the other hand has not fared so well, with Times Higher Education predicting that there will be severe academic shortages there by 2020.
