Australian universities plummet in global rankings

Some of Australia’s biggest and most prestigious universities have fallen in the latest global rankings, adding pressure to the beleaguered higher education sector.

Of the 39 Australian universities surveyed, 21 fell in the rankings, which are published annually the Centre for World University Rankings.

This includes the University of Sydney, which dropped from 94 to 100, and the Australian National University, falling from 90 to 93.

The latter has been embroiled in months of scandals that have seen the resignation of former foreign minister Julie Bishop as chancellor, and vice-chancellor Genevieve Bell.

These came as the university faced fierce backlash after it announced plans to reduce $250 million in operating costs by this year through cuts and restructures.

The University of New South Wales in Sydney remains the top university, holding its rank of 52, while the University of Melbourne also held firm at 64.

The University of Technology Sydney managed to move up six places to 308, despite being forced to cut hundreds of jobs and thousands of courses last year as it tried to fill a budget black hole.

The cuts were opposed by the National Tertiary Education Union, with SafeWork NSW ruling in favour of the union when it asked for the job cuts to be blocked.

Western Sydney University fell one place, as it continues to recover from a massive data breach last year when thousands of current and former students were told their degrees were revoked.

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Several Australian universities have been under the microscope in the last 12 months, with a senate inquiry established to investigate governance at Australian higher education providers.

A study by the Australian Human Rights Commission earlier this year found that 69 per cent of respondents experienced some form of racism at universities, whether they were staff or students.

The top three universities – Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Stanford University – are located in the United States, with on the podium, while the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom rounded out the top five.