Best universities in Australia 2023
Find the best universities in Australia with Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings 2023 data
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Top 10 universities in Australia
Scroll down for the full list of best universities in Australia
| Australia Rank 2023 | World University Rank 2023 | University | City | State/territory |
| 1 | 34 | University of Melbourne | Melbourne | Victoria |
| 2 | 44 | Monash University | Melbourne | Victoria |
| 3 | 53 | The University of Queensland | Brisbane | Queensland |
| 4 | =54 | University of Sydney | Sydney | New South Wales |
| 5 | 62 | Australian National University | Canberra | Australian Capital Territory |
| 6 | =71 | UNSW Sydney | Sydney | New South Wales |
| 7 | 88 | University of Adelaide | Adelaide | South Australia |
| 8 | =131 | The University of Western Australia | Perth | Western Australia |
| 9 | 133 | University of Technology Sydney | Sydney | New South Wales |
| 10 | 175 | Macquarie University | Sydney | New South Wales |
If you are looking to study in Australia, you will need to know which are the top universities in Australia.
There are 37 top universities in Australia, according to Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings 2023, and seven of them feature in the prestigious top 100, meaning there is no shortage of choice.
The best Australian universities are spread across the country, from Perth in the west to Brisbane in the east, Darwin in the north and Hobart in the south.
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The best university in Australia, according to the THE rankings, is the University of Melbourne.
Australia has the third-highest number of international students in the world, behind only the UK and the US – pretty impressive for a nation of just 24 million people.
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5. Australian National University
The Australian National University was established in 1946. It is located in Canberra, Australia’s capital city and seat of government.
The university was originally created as a postgraduate research university by the Parliament of Australia.
It counts six Nobel prizewinners among its faculty and alumni, and is even run by a Nobel laureate. Brian Schmidt – who won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics (with Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess) for providing evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating – is the institution’s vice-chancellor.
ANU has many partnerships with international universities, including Yale University, the University of Oxford, ETH Zurich and the National University of Singapore.
4. University of Sydney
Founded in 1851, the University of Sydney is the oldest university in Australia.
Approximately 46,000 students attend the University of Sydney, representing some 134 nations.
The are more than 280 overseas exchange programmes in place with more than 30 countries.
No fewer than five Australian prime ministers attended the university, including Edmund Barton who, in 1901, won Australia’s first ever federal election.
There are more than 90 research centres at the university undertaking globally recognised research in a range of areas.
3. The University of Queensland
The University of Queensland has about 40,000 students enrolled, including 12,000 international students from 141 countries.
It also has one of Australia’s largest PhD cohorts, with about 13,800 postgraduate students registered.
Famous graduates include a Nobel laureate, two Fortune 500 company CEOs, Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush and poet Bronwyn Lea.
The university’s main campus is located in the green and leafy inner Brisbane suburb of St Lucia – one of the most affluent areas of the city. There are two other campuses as part of the university and 40 teaching and research sites.
About a third of the students come from overseas, from more than 142 countries.
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2. Monash University
Monash University was founded in 1958 and is the largest university in Australia.
Famous alumni include musician Nick Cave, Booker-winning novelist Peter Carey, and playwright David Williamson.
The university was named after the engineer, military leader and public administrator Sir John Monash.
Students can choose from more than 6,000 courses across 10 faculties: art, design and architecture; arts; business and economics; education; engineering; information technology; law; medicine, nursing and health sciences; pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences; and science.
The university has many campuses across Victoria and Australia, as well as international campuses in Malaysia, Italy, India and China. It operates several libraries at all its campuses, housing more than 3.2 million items in total.
1. University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne was founded in 1853, making it the second-oldest university in the country.
Nobel prizewinner Peter Doherty (physiology and medicine) and fellows of the Royal Society David Solomon and David Boger all teach or research at Melbourne.
It is home to 47,000 students and 6,500 members of staff, and has 280,000 alumni around the world (some 15 per cent of whom live outside Australia).
More than 12,000 international students are enrolled at the University of Melbourne, and if you do get a place there, you will be joining students from 130 countries.
Top universities in Australia 2023
Click each institution to view its full World University Rankings 2023 profile.
| Australia Rank 2023 | World University Rank 2023 | University | City | State/territory |
| 1 | 34 | University of Melbourne | Melbourne | Victoria |
| 2 | 44 | Monash University | Melbourne | Victoria |
| 3 | 53 | The University of Queensland | Brisbane | Queensland |
| 4 | =54 | University of Sydney | Sydney | New South Wales |
| 5 | 62 | Australian National University | Canberra | Australian Capital Territory |
| 6 | =71 | UNSW Sydney | Sydney | New South Wales |
| 7 | 88 | University of Adelaide | Adelaide | South Australia |
| 8 | =131 | The University of Western Australia | Perth | Western Australia |
| 9 | 133 | University of Technology Sydney | Sydney | New South Wales |
| 10 | 175 | Macquarie University | Sydney | New South Wales |
| =11 | 201–250 | Curtin University | Perth | Western Australia |
| =11 | 201–250 | University of Newcastle | Callaghan | New South Wales |
| =11 | 201–250 | Queensland University of Technology | Brisbane | Queensland |
| =11 | 201–250 | Western Sydney University | Sydney | New South Wales |
| =11 | 201–250 | University of Wollongong | Wollongong | New South Wales |
| =16 | 251–300 | Australian Catholic University | Sydney | New South Wales |
| =16 | 251–300 | Bond University | Gold Coast | Queensland |
| =16 | 251–300 | University of Canberra | Canberra | Australian Capital Territory |
| =16 | 251–300 | Deakin University | Geelong | Victoria |
| =16 | 251–300 | Griffith University | Brisbane, Gold Coast, Logan | Queensland |
| =16 | 251–300 | La Trobe University | Melbourne | Victoria |
| =22 | 301–350 | Flinders University | Adelaide | South Australia |
| =22 | 301–350 | RMIT University | Melbourne | Victoria |
| =22 | 301–350 | University of South Australia | Adelaide | South Australia |
| =22 | 301–350 | University of Southern Queensland | Toowoomba | Queensland |
| =22 | 301–350 | Swinburne University of Technology | Hawthorn | Victoria |
| =22 | 301–350 | University of Tasmania | Hobart | Tasmania |
| =28 | 351–400 | Charles Darwin University | Casuarina | Northern Territory |
| =28 | 351–400 | Edith Cowan University | Joondalup | Western Australia |
| =28 | 351–400 | James Cook University | Townsville City | Queensland |
| 31 | 401–500 | Murdoch University | Murdoch | Western Australia |
| 32 | 501–600 | Victoria University | Melbourne | Victoria |
| =33 | 601–800 | Central Queensland University | Rockhampton | Queensland |
| =33 | 601–800 | Federation University Australia | Brisbane | Victoria |
| =33 | 601–800 | Southern Cross University | Lismore | New South Wales |
| =33 | 601–800 | University of the Sunshine Coast | Sunshine Coast | Queensland |
| 37 | 1001–1200 | Charles Sturt University | Bathurst | New South Wales |
