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Wednesday, 26 February 2014

The University of Western Australia's subject areas of Psychology, Education and Earth and Marine Sciences have been ranked in the world's top 40 institutions according to this year's QS World University Rankings by Subject .

UWA featured in the world's elite (top 200) institutions in 24 of the 30 subjects assessed.  Overall, 3002 universities were evaluated and 689 were ranked; 130 million citation attributions analysed and 10,639 programs were verified.

Psychology was UWA's highest ranked subject at 31, while Education was 33rd and Earth and Marine Sciences 39th. Subject areas that featured in the top 51-100 were English Language and Literature, History, Linguistics, Engineering - Civil and Structural, Agriculture and Forestry, Biological Sciences, Medicine, Accounting and Finance and Law.

UWA Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Johnson said the success in rankings followed the most recent ARWU ranking by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which placed UWA 91st in the world and fourth in Australia while retaining its position in Life and Agricultural Sciences (26), Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy (51-75) and Chemistry (76-100).

"It demonstrates that our strategy to attract world-class staff to strengthen our leading research and teaching profile, and to increase international journal publication of world-quality UWA research is working," Professor Johnson said.

"I'd like to congratulate our staff, students and researchers who have dedicated their considerable energies to the pursuit of international excellence."

Professor Johnson said UWA's School of Psychology had developed an impressive international research reputation over many years. Winthrop Professor Colin MacLeod , a Professorial Fellow in UWA's School of Psychology, is acknowledged as one of the world's leading experts on emotions and among Australia's most highly cited psychologists.

UWA's Faculty of Education is recognised for its postgraduate programs at masters and doctoral level, which offer a world-class standard of education, as well as its highly cited research. Professor Simon Clarke , Deputy Dean of UWA's Faculty of Education, recently received a 2013 Australian Council for Educational Leadership National Fellowship for his outstanding contribution to education.

And UWA's Faculty of Science boasts 10 of the University's 13 highly cited researchers, counted among the world's 250 top academics whose studies are most cited in other research articles over a 20-year rolling period. They include one of the world's foremost oceans researchers and Director of UWA's Oceans Institute , Winthrop Professor Carlos Duarte , coral reef expert and Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow, Winthrop Professor Malcolm McCulloch , Director of the Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative , Winthrop Professor Stephen Powles and Winthrop Professor Hans Lambers from UWA's School of Plant Biology .

Media references

David Stacey (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 3229  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716

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