Australia’s top universities shoot up the international rankings thanks to a huge increase in Chinese enrolments
- Academic Ranking of World Universities has Australia in top three for prestige
- Only US and UK ahead based on number of universities ranked in the top 100
- List is compiled by a Shanghai-based company linked to Jiao Tong University
- Seven of Australia’s Group of Eight universities are among this top 100 elite list
- University of Sydney’s Salvatore Babones pointed to high Chinese student intake
Australia’s most elite universities have shot up an international rankings chart as their intake of China international students has surged.
The Academic World Ranking of Universities league table featured seven of Australia’s Group of Eight universities in the top 100 list.
After the United States and the UK, Australia came third when it came to having the most number of universities in the upper echelons.
In 2003, Australia came ninth in the world – in terms of having the most universities on this top 100 list.
Australia’s most elite universities have shot up an international rankings chart as their intake of China international students has surged. Pictured: Chinese students from a UNSW group
University of Sydney associate professor Salvatore Babones, a China expert, said the Group of Eight universities also, between them, sourced 68 per cent of their international students from China.
‘How did Australia climb from tied-ninth to third in the world in less than two decades in the world’s premier research-based university rankings?,’ he said.
‘In two words: Chinese students.
‘Until the coronavirus struck, they were the ‘cash cows’ that funded Australian universities.’
Last year, before coronavirus, Australia’s education exports to China were worth $12billion.
The AWRU list is also compiled by the Shanghai Rankings Consultancy, a commercial spin-off from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
The University of Melbourne was ranked at No. 35, putting it ahead of the Sorbonne in Paris at 39.
The University of Queensland in Brisbane came in at 54.
The University of Melbourne (pictured) was ranked at No. 35, putting it ahead of the Sorbonne in Paris at 39
Australian National University in Canberra was 67.
The University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales both came in at No. 74 in the world.
Monash University in Melbourne and the University of Western Australia both came in at 85.
The University of Adelaide was the only Group of Eight university not to make the top 100 but it was placed in the 151 to 200 band.
A day after the list was unveiled, South Australia announced it would allow 300 students from China, Hong Kong and Japan to fly to the state and quarantine for 14 days.
Parklands at entrance to the University of Queensland St Lucia Campus in western Brisbane
SA is banning Victorians but allowing people from New South Wales to enter the state on the proviso they self quarantine.
Trade Minister Simon Birmingham, who hails from Adelaide, defended the state government’s decision to allow the students to enter SA and quarantine for two weeks.
‘We are taking a very cautious approach in terms of the return of international students to Australia,’ he said.
‘We have though successfully demonstrated, particularly in states like South Australia that they can return Australians from all corners of the world, safely quarantine them, and provide no exposure to the South Australian community.’