The word “rate”, when considering the quality of education is always worth investigating with an open mind, not least when searching for a high-rating university in Brisbane, (or the world). What does highly rated even mean? Does it mean your Brisbane teen is more likely to get a job? Will it mean a higher standard of education and better future prospects? Will it mean access to more research opportunities or will it lead to a better overall university experience?
In researching this question we discovered that universities can be rated against all sorts of metrics and their rating depends on the how they are being judged and who they are being judged against.
While we have focused this article on Brisbane Universities, we have made comment where other Queensland Universities have achieved high ratings knowing your teen is most likely considering them as an option in their higher education. ย The links in this article will take you to ranking sites where you can view information about universities across Australia and the world.
Queensland Universities
- Australian Catholic University (ACU)
- Billy Blue College of Design at Torrens University
- Bond University
- CQUniversity
- Griffith University
- James Cook University JCU
- Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
- Southern Cross University (SCU)
- University of Queensland, The (UQ)
- University of Canberra
- University of Southern Queensland USQ
- University of the Sunshine Coast (USC)
Summary of Rankings
Below you will find numerous ranking systems and within each ranking system, you can filter results often by country, subjects, regions and more. Overall there are three Universities in Brisbane that ranked consistently higher than all other Brisbane Universities.
Number 1: The University of Queensland
Number 2: Griffith University
Number 3: Queensland University of Technology
World University Ranking Systems
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings lists the top 1000 Universities in the world. Its core missions consider teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. They look at over 13 different performance indicators grouped into 5 areas.
- Teaching (the learning environment)
- Research (volume, income and reputation)
- Citations (research influence)
- International outlook (staff, students and research)
- Industry outlook (knowledge transfer)
Their judging is independently audited by PricewaterhouseCoopersย making it the only global ranking process to be subjected to such intense independent scrutiny. Remarkably the top 1000 universities represent just 5% of the 20,000 higher educational facilities in the world.
What we like about their ratings: They show male to female ratios and the percentage of international students and they look at staff to student ratios to give you an idea of the level of attention a student can expect. They also offer pillars of excellence around the areas of teaching, research, industry income and internationalist, recognising the top 50 in these areas.
Conclusions: In 2018 the University of Queensland ranks 65, QUT ranks 201-250 and Griffith University ranks 251-300.
The Australian Catholic University ranks 501-600 and Bond University and Central QLD University and the University of the Sunshine Coast sits at 501-600, while the University of Southern Queensland sits at 601-800. In terms of Australia, UQ sits in 4th, behind University of Melbourne, Sydney and the Australian National University.
You can read more about The World University Rankings, their criteria, breakdowns and exclusionsย here
CWUR World University Rankings
CWUR claims to be the, “Only global university ranking that measures the quality of education and training of students as well as the prestige of the faculty members and the quality of their research without relying on surveys and university data submissions.”
Conclusions:ย UQ ranks at 99 or 3rd in Australia. It has been third for the all of the previous 2 rankings.ย Griffith is 573 or 16th in Australia and QUT is 610 or 17th in Australia
No other Queensland University ranks.
Read the complete CWUR World University Rankings
US News Australian University Rankings
The US News World Rankings is new to the world of ranking universities on a global scale but has been doing so within the United States for some time.
They are clear about how they work out their results.
* 12.5%ย Regional research reputation
* 12.5%ย Publications
* 10%ย Normalized citation impact
* 10%ย Total citations
* 12.5%ย Number of publications that are among the 10 percent most cited
* 10%ย Percentage of total publications that are among the 10 percent most cited
* 10%ย International collaboration
* 5%ย Number of Ph.D.s awarded
* 5%ย Number of Ph.D.s awarded per academic staff member
Conclusions:ย Within an Australian region, UQ ranks third only after the University of Melbourne and the University of Sydney. Griffith University sits in the 13th position while the Queensland University of Technology sits down further in rank 17.
No other Queensland University sits in the top 31 Australian ranking (31 because there was a tie at place 20).
UQ sits at 52 in the world rankings
Griffith at 307 (massive 100 place + improvement from 2016-17)
QUT sits at 319 on the world rankings.
Read more about US News University Rankings
ARWU Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities Australian Rankings 2017
The Shanghai ranking is a little different because it only evaluates a select number of universities worldwide which means, just to be accepted is quite an achievement and from there, they only rank 800. They have been around since 2003 claiming to be independent and not bound to a single university.
ARWU uses six objective indicators to rank world universities,
- Number of alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals
- Number of highly cited researchers selected by Thomson Reuters
- Number of articles published in journals of Nature and Science
- Number of articles indexed in Science Citation Index – Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index
- Per capita performance of a university.
Their ranking process is quite mathematical in nature, open to very little scrutiny or human intervention and is therefore considered to be one of the worlds most influential in terms of rankings. Their data is used by universities both as something to use in marketing but the data is also used to establish benchmarks, set goals and plan for future improvements. The ARWU also rate withinย subjects which we won’t go into here but might be helpful if your Brisbane teen is planning to enter a particularly competitive space.
Conclusions:ย The University of Queensland ranked 55 in 2017 which in Australian terms is only second to the University of Melbourne in 39. QUT ranked 201-300 and Griffith further down at 301-400.
No other Queensland university ranked.
Read more hereย http://www.shanghairanking.com/
Australian University Ranking Systems
The Good Universities Guide
The Good Universities Guide have criteria that include; social equity, staff qualification, student demand, student retention, student/staff ratio, learner engagement, learning resources, overall quality, skills development, student support, ย teaching quality, graduate salary and getting a job.
Conclusions:ย Bond University ranks in position 1 (for all of Australia), with 90.20% of students satisfied with their experience overall. The University of the Sunshine Coast ranks next (4 overall) and Griffith University at number 5. ACU and QUT are in the top 10 of Australian Universities for student experience which hits 82.50 at number 10 showing that over 85% of all students are happy with their experiences in these top 10 Institutions (overall).
Their ratings can be narrowed down to each particular area so if student support is essential to an experience or graduate salary matters then you can easily decide which University rates better.
you can read a lot about the university options in Australia and all the features and benefits by heading toย https://www.gooduniversitiesguide.com.au
Webometrics Web Rankings
Webometrics publishes web rankings of Australian universities as part of their world rankings considering the volume of material posted on the Internet by the University and the number of external links to that material. While this ranking system may not be useful as a stand alone ranking, it can be useful to validate other more comprehensive ranking systems and offer another viewpoint.
Conclusions:ย The University of Queensland ranked at number 2 in 2017, with Queensland University of Technology at 12 and Griffith University in position 13. Only UQ ranked in the top 100 worldwide.
Read more about Webometrics.
University Reviews
Uni Reviews presentsย independent reviews, ratings and rankings of Australian universities. University ranking are made by subject, considering 19 different study fields across Australian Universities in 2017.
Each university is given scores out of 100 for faculty size, graduation satisfaction and graduate salaries (within each study field. The scores are then added to give a score out of 300 for each subject within each University.
Access the University Reviews
Conclusions: (ranking 1st, second or 3rd within subjects within Australia)
Business and Management: University of Southern Queensland (3rd)
Communication: Griffith University (2nd)
Creative Arts: Griffith Uni (1st) QUT (2nd)
Dentistry: University of Queensland (3rd)
Education: Australian Catholic University (1st), Queensland University of Technology (2nd)
Engineering: University of Southern Queensland (3rd)
Law: QUT (2nd)
Nursing: ACU (2nd)
Physio/Occupational Therapy: ACU (2nd), UQ (3rd)
Science: UQ
They also offer student reviews for each University which can be helpful in gaining some real testimonials. Obviously, these need to be considered knowing that individual experiences don’t necessarily determine the reality of all experiences or future experiences but they can be helpful none the less.
International Student Focused Ranking Systems
QS Best Student Cities
Brisbane ranks 20th in the world for International Students. This ranking considers affordability, desirability and employer activity. Now obviously if you are reading this you might wonder the relavance to a Brisbane teen. What it demonstrates is that Brisbane is a real world contender in higher education and that Brisbane highschool students have no need to look beyond their own city when seeking further education beyond school.
Find out more about the best cities in the world for higher education
Other places you might like to look for information on Universities is using the reddit search function, Whirlpool and Facebook groups. Regardless of what you read, remember we live in the best city in the world and Brisbane teens are literally choosing from the some of the finest educational facilities in the world. There aren’t any losers when it comes to choosing a university in Brisbane, Queensland or Australia. We wish you and your Brisbane teen the best of luck with your university selection!
All the data in this resource was collected in 2017 and while every effort is made to ensure the integrity of the content, we always suggest checking the resources we have provided in the event that updates or changes are made.ย
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