There is friendly rivalry between Sydney, NSW and Melbourne, Victoria.
Okay, not so friendly, we don't like each other, LOL.
Victorian universities are doing well but not so for NSW.
If you read through the article, you will find that "money talks, bullsh*t walks".
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SEPTEMBER 22 2016
Times Higher Education rankings: Australia's success not guaranteed as Asia rises
Eryk Bagshaw, The Sydney Morning Herald
The University of Sydney has dropped four places in the world's most prestigious university rankings list, the latest report from
Times Higher Education has revealed.
According to the report, due to be released around the world on Thursday, Australia took out 23 places in the world's top 400 universities.
The nation's oldest tertiary institution, the University of Sydney, dropped from 56 to 60 this year, tying with the University of Queensland, while its Sydney rival UNSW moved up four places to 78.
The University of Melbourne is once again the country's highest ranking institution at No. 33, while Australian National University came in second as the 47th best university in the world.
For the first time in the ranking's 13-year-history the University of Oxford took out top spot.
For the first time in the ranking's 13-year-history the University of Oxford took out top spot, knocking off the California Institute of Technology, which has held the crown for the past six years.
The
Times ranking system relies on surveys completed by academics as well as the number of research citations per academic. It attempts to take into account teaching quality by measuring factors such as the number of doctorate students to bachelor students.
Phil Baty, the editor of the
Times Higher Education World University Rankings, said Australia's ranking success cannot be guaranteed in the long-term while
more of Asia's leading universities join the top of the list.
"
Australia will have to watch out for Asia's continuing ascent. The higher education superpower has two new entries in the top 100 and a further four institutions joining the top 200," he said.
University of Sydney dropped from 56 to 60, tying with the University of Queensland. Photo: Paul Jones
China now has two top 40 universities, while the National University of Singapore – at 24th – comes in nine places higher than Melbourne University.
The statistics will worry the Australian international student market, now the country's third-biggest export worth nearly $20 billion a year.
Melbourne University is the highest-ranked university in Australia. Photo: Joe Armao
"Australia is a key research partner for many Asian universities so the nation can capitalise on the region's success, although it may find it harder to attract top Asian students and academics," Mr Baty said.
The warning was echoed by federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham.
"While these results are positive, we must continue to foster excellence and innovation in our universities to remain internationally competitive," he said.
UNSW's deputy vice-chancellor of research, Nicholas Fisk, said universities were just as likely to be competing with institutions down the road as they were with ones thousands of kilometres north.
"The competition is completely global these days. Good research is done by large interdisciplinary teams, all the centres of excellence have nodes in other universities in Australia," he said. "It is a very international outlook.
"These days there are more and more universities on the list and with the huge rise in east Asian universities, even staying still is a huge achievement."
The Group of Eight, which represents Australia's top eight ranked universities, said the rankings should be a reminder about the importance of research funding as the federal government stalls on university funding reform.
A $3.2 billion "zombie" university funding cut has remained in the Turnbull government's budget with little hope of passing the Senate after twice being rejected.
"If Australia's leading research-intensive universities cannot in the future maintain their excellent rankings, then Australia will take an economic and jobs hit that the nation can ill afford," Go8 CEO Vicki Thomson said.
"This is why the Go8 continues to be vocal about the need to ensure our research is sustainably funded because that is the foundation of future success," she said.
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