Claudia Doman
15 September 2015: The University of Canberra has moved up in the new Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, cementing its position in the top five per cent of universities and research institutions in the world.
An improved performance in reputation and citations per staff member saw the University rise to the 551-600 band from its former position in the 651-700 band.
It's the third year in a row that the University has been placed in these major world university rankings, which assess several thousand universities and institutions worldwide.
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Competitive research grants like the ones obtained by UC Centenary Research Professor Thomas Lowrie and his team have boosted UC's research performance. Photo: Katherine Griffiths
The rankings are based primarily on academic reputation, employer reputation and the citation of researchers' work.
An improvement in all these indicators during the past year has boosted the University of Canberra's position in the 2015-2016 QS global ranking.
The recent recruitment of some of the world's best researchers, winning more competitive grants and an improved research performance across the board have largely contributed to the University's growing reputation as an up-and-coming research institution.
The University also recorded its highest ever number of publications at 938 in 2014 and more research students (383) than ever before.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Stephen Parker said that it was pleasing to see that the sharp rise in the University's education and research performance over the past few years was being recognised.
"We are a young university, and have never been specially funded for research, but we are already considered alongside other great world universities with longer track records," Professor Parker said.
"It's good to see that our growing reputation in teaching and research, as well as our excellent performance in graduate employment, are having an effect in these results.
"There is still a long way to go to reach one of our Strategic Plan goals: to be ranked in the top 100 under 50 universities by 2018. Our position in the new QS World University Rankings shows we are heading in the right direction."
