• Australian universities have managed to climb higher up the global ranks once more during the pandemic.
• ANU once more topped Australia’s foray into the QS World University Rankings, coming in at 27th globally.
• But as Australia’s borders remain shut, QS head of research Ben Sowter warned the country’s standing is in jeopardy.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

Australia has spectacularly landed five of its universities into the top 50 global rankings, but risks losing serious ground next year unless it can return international students to campuses.

Published on Wednesday, the QS World University Rankings saw Australia post overwhelmingly positive progress, as the majority of institutions overtook their overseas rivals.

The Australian National University (ANU) was crowned the country’s best, coming in at 27th globally and breaking back into the top 30 once more. The University of Melbourne leapfrogged the University of Sydney (USYD) to be placed 37th and 38th respectively.

Just behind was the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in 43rd, and the University of Queensland (UQ) in 47th place. Monash University and The University of Western Australia (UWA) meanwhile rounded out the top 100, at 58th and 93rd place each.

In total, sixteen of Australian universities improved their rankings, with Curtin University (194th) and Macquarie University (200th) achieving their best performance in more than a decade.

“Australian successes in the QS World University Rankings are based on two key factors: outstanding research impact and high levels of internationalisation,” QS director of research Ben Sowter said.

“Eight Australian universities achieve perfect scores for our International Faculty Ratio indicator, and twelve achieve a score of 80/100 or above for International Student Ratio. In other words: the continued strength of Australian higher education is predicated on its enduring appeal to the global academic community.”

But while global appeal may have helped Australia shot towards the top of the rankings, its star looks to now be fading. Closed international borders have shut out the international student community, undermining its allure as an education destination and threatening a major source of funding. Education agents have even begun instructing students to go elsewhere.

“While the country has drawn well-deserved commendation from spectators across the world for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, falls in international enrolments – particularly from its two biggest markets, China and India will not only present a financial threat to its institutions – with international students contributing A$9.8 billion in revenue to Australia’s universities in 2019 alone – but will also jeopardize the intellectual diversity and exchange that are causing Australia’s institutions to thrive,” Sowter said.

The financial risk has been made clear with universities forced to lay off tens of thousands of staff since 2020 in a desperate attempt to fill the funding gap.

While Morrison government’s one-off $1 billion for university research has been welcomed by the sector it has also cut public funding to 2009 levels without providing any kind of clear guide as to when international students may be allowed to return.

Taken on balance, Australian universities may have to savour this year’s results as a high watermark.

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