This Sydney institution has ranked as Australia’s best university

Show me a Sydneysider and I’ll show you a person who isn’t shy about singing the praises of our stunning Harbour city. Top tier dining – we got it. Beautiful beaches – we got ‘em. World renowned universities – tick, tick, tick.

According to a worldwide university ranking from the Centre for World University Rankings (CWUR) we’ve now got the stats to back up our boastful ways with UNSW landing a spot on the list. UNSW was also the highest-ranking NSW uni on the prestigious QS World University Rankings, which were released last month. 

Coming in at number 52 on the CWUR list, UNSW claimed victory as Australia’s top university – beating the likes of University of Melbourne, Australian National University, University of Sydney and University of Queensland.

More than 21,000 universities were ranked to make a top 2,000 list, which makes UNSW’s top 100 place a rather commendable achievement when stacked up against some of the most renowned tertiary facilities in the world.

The quantitative academic ranking assessed each university by taking a look at key areas including the quality of education, alumni employment, quality of faculty and research performance.

UNSW received an overall score of 84.6, in large part thanks to the university's solar cell technology research, which helped boost their ranking from 99 in 2024.

These are the top 10 universities in the world according to the Centre for World Universities

1. Harvard University, USA
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),USA
3. Stanford University, USA
4. University of Cambridge, UK
5. University of Oxford, UK
6. Princeton University, USA
7. University of Pennsylvania, USA
8. Columbia University, USA
9. Yale University, USA
10. University of Chicago, USA

Here’s how Aussie universities stacked up:

1. UNSW, NSW - 52
2. University of Melbourne, VIC - 64
3. Australian National University, ACT - 90
4. University of Sydney, NSW - 94
5. University of Queensland, QLD - 103
6. Monash University, VIC - 117
7. University of Western Australia, WA - 151
8. University of Adelaide, SA - 213
9. University of Technology Sydney, NSW - 314
10. Curtin University, NSW - 329

The UNSW campus sits in Kensington which no doubt makes it an appealing choice for prospective students – a ten minute drive to Coogee Beach for a post lecture dip? A+

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