Top 200 for Adelaide Uni in prestigious international rankings

Friday, 15 August 2014

The University of Adelaide has been named among the top 200 institutions in the prestigious international university rankings, the Academic Ranking of World Universities 2014 produced by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

"We're pleased to have improved our ranking in what is arguably the key global ranking for higher education," said Professor Warren Bebbington, Vice-Chancellor and President.

"It's a great credit to the quality and depth of our research teams and the focus and dedication they bring to their work every day," said Professor Bebbington.

The University of Adelaide has set a long-term objective to achieve a ranking better than 150 in the ARWU (Shanghai Jiao Tong Rankings) by 2024.

"We're heading in the right direction which is very encouraging," said Professor Bebbington. "We certainly won't be complacent in our determination to be among the very best research-intensive universities in the region."

Just 19 of Australia's 39 universities were listed in this year's top 500 ranking.

The University of Adelaide was the only South Australian institution to make it to the top 200.

"We are enhancing our research capacity and doubling our PhD scholarships," said Professor Bebbington. "And we've already been successful in recruiting more research professors of distinction in fields including health and medical sciences, engineering and agricultural sciences."

Professor Bebbington said that while rankings based on research criteria provided a good indication of an institution's overall standing, they offered little insight for future students considering where to study.

"Rankings capture only part of a university's story. I would always urge people to be cautious before using them on their own as consumer advice," he said.

About the Academic Ranking of World Universities 2014

Starting from 2003, ARWU has been presenting the world Top 500 universities annually based on a set of objective indicators and third-party data. ARWU has been recognised as the precursor of global university rankings and the most trustworthy league table. ARWU adopts six objective indicators to rank world universities, including the number of alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, the number of Highly Cited Researchers, the number of articles published in the journals Nature and Science, the number of articles indexed in Science Citation Index - Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index, and per capita performance. More than 1200 universities are ranked by ARWU every year and the best 500 universities are published.

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