News Archive

New rankings released recently indicate that our University continues to move positively towards its ambitious goal of being counted among the world's best 100 universities in 2013 - the year we celebrate our centenary.

This is a goal based not on ego, but on an understanding that by improving the strength of our university through the quality of our teaching, learning and research, the greater can be our contribution to the communities we serve.

We were very pleased to receive positive endorsements recently from two premier independent ranking agencies - one international and one national.

Within days of each other, both the Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Academic Ranking of World Universities and Australia's Good Universities Guide confi rmed that we continue to achieve international excellence.

The universities analysed in the ARWU ranking are compared and evaluated on the basis of quantitative indicators, including the quantity and quality of research productivity; while Australia's foremost independent university rating body, the Good Universities Guide, provides comprehensive comparative information about institutions.

We estimate the ARWU ranking places us at 110th in the world in 2011. Within specific fields of research, UWA was ranked 33rd in the world in Life and Agricultural Sciences; between 51-75 in the world for Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy; and between 76-100 in the individual subject of Chemistry.

Asked from time to time to put the rankings into context, I highlight the fact that depending on how you define ‘university', it is generally accepted that there are somewhere between 9,000 and 10,000 such institutions in the world. So our university is right up there with the top one percent of leading universities - a fact of which we can all be proud.

In Australia, the Good Universities Guide places our University equal first in the nation (along with the Australian National University) on key performance measures including graduate starting salaries, positive graduate outcomes, staff qualifications, student/staff ratios, research intensity, research grants and student demand.

This excellent feedback from two well-recognised rating agencies augurs well for our ambitious agenda.

It is also a very positive message as we move next week into the spring ceremonies that will see another 1,800 students graduate from our University across all areas of study.

We can be confident that the University continues to produce graduates whose qualifications are recognised alongside those from other leading universities in Australia and overseas, and who can contribute positively to their local communities and to society more widely.

Our graduates - many of whom will live and work internationally - help to drive local economies, support civil society and lead effective governments.

Vice-Chancellor Alan Robson

• UWA News 5 September 2011