August 16, 2015

Latest world rankings strengthen UOW research credentials and global standing

UOW's research credentials and standing among the top two per cent of world universities have been further strengthened by the release of the latest Academic Rankings of World Universities.

The Academic Rankings of World Universities (ARWU), published at the weekend, revealed UOW's international standing had improved from its previous ranking of 329th to 262nd.

Also called the Shanghai Jiao Tong rankings after the Chinese university that publishes them, the ARWU has ranked the world’s top 500 universities annually according to a transparent methodology and reliable data since 2003.

This is UOW’s best ever ranking in the table, moving the University into a higher ranking bracket and from 13th in Australia to tenth place behind the Group of Eight universities and Macquarie University.

Among the five subject areas specifically monitored by the rankings, UOW rose from the 151-200 band into the 101-150 band for social sciences and debuted in computer science rankings in the 151-200 band.

UOW’s elevation in the highly-respected global ranking reflects an increase in the number of its researchers being cited by academics around the world.

Deputy Vice Chancellor (Global Strategy) Professor Joe Chicharo said: “This fantastic result cements UOW’s place as an internationally recognised research-intensive university that sits among the top two per cent in the world and attracts world-class researchers to do world-leading research.

“For example, we are particularly proud of the scientists in our Centre of Archaeological Science, whose research to answer fundamental questions of human evolution has been closely followed internationally and been a significant contributor to this result.” Professor Chicharo said.

This latest international endorsement follows similar recent improvement in UOW’s standing in the UK Times Higher Education Top 100 Under 50 rankings and its receipt of two prestigious business awards for its higher education export activities in Hong Kong and China.