The University has risen to first in Australia in the US News Rankings and placed equal 25th globally with Princeton in the QS World University Rankings, both announced this week—cementing our position among the top universities worldwide. 

These results reflect continued strong performance across a range of measures, including research and sustainability, global reputation among academics for the quality of our research, and among employers for the employability of our graduates. 

We ranked third in Australia in the QS World Rankings. In the US News Rankings, which focus on research excellence, we maintained our 2024 position, placing 29th globally.  

In the QS World Rankings, we ranked first in Australia and 12th globally for international student diversity. We also placed second in Australia for employer reputation and 11th globally for sustainability. For academic reputation—which measures institutions’ research standing by surveying academic experts—we ranked second in Australia and improved our global position to 29th. 

Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Mark Scott AO, said: “We’re incredibly proud to be ranked first in Australia in the recently released US News Rankings, with key research disciplines placing in the global top 20 – and to again be ranked among the top 25 universities globally in the QS World University Rankings.  

“We’re pleased to be one of six Australian universities in the QS global top 50, and we’ve performed strongly across several areas, including ranking first in Australia and 12th globally for international student diversity – a wonderful recognition of our commitment to broadening access for underserved communities. Rankings fluctuate year to year, and this year is no exception, with minor changes across the board in both major rankings,” he said.  

The US News Ranking results reflect our continued strong performance across research, placing highly among key disciplines, including endocrinology and metabolism where it climbed two places to 7th globally. We are now ranked 12th for electrical engineering, 17th for social sciences and public health, 18th globally for artificial intelligence, and 20th globally for arts and humanities. 

“From pioneering sustainability science to breakthroughs in AI, health, and engineering, our researchers are tackling the world’s most pressing challenges and delivering real-world impact,” said Professor Scott. “It’s particularly pleasing to see our strength recognised across such a wide range of disciplines—from endocrinology and public health to the arts and humanities. These rankings reflect the dedication of our staff and the power of multidisciplinary collaboration across our community.” 

Interim Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Julie Cairney, said: “I congratulate our staff on their continued success in these two prestigious world rankings. Their dedication to pioneering, high-quality research with real-world impact is what makes us one of the world’s top research institutions.” 

“It is wonderful to see this recognised globally, particularly in sustainability. Just this week, Professor Arunima Malik was awarded the Frontier Planet Prize for her work in sustainability science—further evidence of our commitment to world-leading research that drives positive change for everyone’s benefit.” 

This week’s achievements follow the University’s strong showing earlier this year in the 2025 QS World University Rankings by Subject, which placed five subjects in the global top 20 and 35 in the top 50. 
 
The US News Rankings 2025-2026 evaluate over 2,346 universities and rank 2,250, including 38 institutions from Australia. The QS World University Rankings 2026 evaluate over 8,467 universities and rank 1,501, including 36 institutions from Australia.  

Examples of the University’s most recent successes in research, teaching and sustainability include:

• Professor Arunima Malik was awarded USD$1 million (A$1.54 million) as recipient of the Frontiers Planet Prize to advance her and her team’s pioneering work in sustainability science, developing scalable solutions to help keep humanity within planetary sustainability boundaries 
• an undergraduate engineering student who used AI for good while on placement at Accenture, crunching thousands of hours of rare whale song in aid of minke whale conservation 
• global research which found combining antibiotics and antimalarials could significantly lower child malarial deaths 
• an experimental cancer treatment which has now paved the way for a clinical trial
• the launch of our Sydney Equity Scholarship, with students from Kenya, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, India and Romania joining us for their postgraduate studies 
• similarly, our Sydney International Undergraduate Academic Excellence Scholarship, which was launched last year, is helping high-achieving students from diverse global backgrounds study in Sydney. 
• we developed our very own, in-house AI ‘stunt double’ to assist teachers with their work: being named a winner in the Australian Financial Review 2025 AI Awards 
• the design work of First Nations and first-generation Australian students was featured on the world stage at the Venice Biennale
• the development of a ‘curious’ polymer, that could prevent blood clotting in medical implants developed by engineers, helping create next-generation catheters and stents  
• breaking ground on the $780 million Sydney Biomedical Accelerator (SBA), an innovative partnership to create a world-class facility to fast-track scientific discovery into real life health outcomes