An impressive 18 Australian engineering schools are featured in this year’s list of the top 200 universities for engineering in the world, up from 11 last year.
The University of New South Wales (UNSW) took out Australia’s top spot in engineering in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021 by subject, climbing the rungs from 71 to 48 in the world.
This year, the rankings assessed more than 1500 institutions in 93 countries, looking at teaching, research, citations, international outlook and industry income.
Australian engineering schools took 9% of the world’s top slots, and ranked fifth overall behind world leaders the United States, China, the United Kingdom and Germany.
The prestigious Group of Eight universities all featured in the top 200. While four of Australia’s eight top ranked schools lost ground this year, the highlight is undoubtedly the increased number of local schools featured in the list.
The 18 Australian universities in the top 200 of this year’s rankings are:
| University | 2021 rank | 2020 rank | Change |
| UNSW Sydney | 48 | 71 | ↑ |
| University of Sydney | 66 | 60 | ↓ |
| Monash University | 71 | 75 | ↑ |
| University of Melbourne | 74 | 32 | ↓ |
| The University of Queensland | 88 | 66 | ↓ |
| University of Wollongong | 92 | 201-250 | ↑ |
| University of Adelaide | 100 | 120 | ↑ |
| Australian National University | 100-125 | 50 | ↓ |
| University of Technology Sydney | 100-125 | 194 | ↑ |
| University of Western Australia | 126-150 | 131 | — |
| Curtin University | 151-175 | 251-300 | ↑ |
| Deakin University | 151-175 | 301-350 | ↑ |
| Edith Cowan University | 151-175 | 401-500 | ↑ |
| Griffith University | 151-175 | 201-250 | ↑ |
| Queensland University of Technology | 151-175 | — | ↑ |
| RMIT University | 176-200 | 351-400 | ↑ |
| Swinburne University of Technology | 176-200 | 351-400 | ↑ |
| Victoria University | 176-200 | 301-350 | ↑ |
Overseas, Harvard University topped the rankings for the first time, followed by the University of Oxford and Stanford University.
Welcome good news
The Times subject rankings come on the heels of the US News and World Report Best Global Universities rankings for 2021, which assessed academic research and overall reputation.
Australian universities again had seven spots in the top 100, with UNSW leading in 23rd place, followed by the University of Adelaide (25th), University of Technology Sydney (32nd) and University of Sydney (40th).
The two rankings results were a welcome boost for Australia’s university sector, which has the third highest intake of international students in the world, and has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
UNSW entered the Times top 50 in engineering for the first time, and also topped the computer science list for Australian universities.
UNSW Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Nicholas Fisk said that it was an “amazing” result, “with the gains largely attributable to UNSW’s burgeoning research reputation and citations”.
Sydney University meanwhile said in a statement that the improvement in many subjects was a result of better scores in quality teaching indicators, in particular teaching reputation.