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Best universities in Australia 2024

Find the best universities in Australia with Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings 2024 data

  • Best universities in
September 27 2023
The University of Melbourne - the top ranked institution in Australia

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Top 10 universities in Australia 2024

Scroll down for the full list of best universities in Australia

Australia Rank 2024 World University Rank 2024  World University Rank 2023 University City State/territory
1  37   34  University of Melbourne Melbourne Victoria
2  54   44  Monash University Melbourne Victoria
3  60   =54  University of Sydney Sydney New South Wales
4  67   62  Australian National University Canberra Australian Capital Territory
5  70   53  The University of Queensland Brisbane Queensland
6  84   =71  UNSW Sydney Kensington New South Wales
7  =111   88  University of Adelaide Adelaide South Australia
8  =143   =131  The University of Western Australia Perth Western Australia
9  148   133  University of Technology Sydney Sydney New South Wales
10  180   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. 

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There are 37 top universities in Australia, according to Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings 2024, and six 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 25 million people.

Top 5 universities in Australia

5. 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.

4. 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 National University of Singapore.

3. 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.


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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 Prize-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 2024

Click each institution to view its full World University Rankings 2024 profile

Australia Rank 2024  World University Rank 2024   World University Rank 2023 University City State/territory
1  37   34  University of Melbourne Melbourne Victoria
2  54   44  Monash University Melbourne Victoria
3  60   =54  University of Sydney Sydney New South Wales
4  67   62  Australian National University Canberra Australian Capital Territory
5  70   53  The University of Queensland Brisbane Queensland
6  84   =71  UNSW Sydney Kensington New South Wales
7  =111   88  University of Adelaide Adelaide South Australia
8  =143   =131  The University of Western Australia Perth Western Australia
9  148   133  University of Technology Sydney Sydney New South Wales
10  180   175  Macquarie University Sydney New South Wales
11  =199   201–250  Queensland University of Technology Brisbane Queensland
=12  201–250   201–250  Curtin University Perth Western Australia
=12  201–250   201–250  University of Newcastle Callaghan New South Wales
=12  201–250   301–350  Swinburne University of Technology Hawthorn Victoria
=12  201–250   201–250  University of Wollongong Wollongong New South Wales
=16  251–300   251–300  Deakin University Geelong Victoria
=16  251–300   251–300  Griffith University Brisbane, Gold Coast, Logan Queensland
=16  251–300   251–300  La Trobe University Melbourne Victoria
=16  251–300   301–350  RMIT University Melbourne Victoria
=16  251–300   301–350  University of Tasmania Hobart Tasmania
=21  301–350   301–350  Flinders University Adelaide South Australia
=21  301–350   301–350  University of South Australia Adelaide South Australia
=21  301–350   201–250  Western Sydney University Sydney New South Wales
=24  351–400   251–300  University of Canberra Canberra Australian Capital Territory
=24  351–400   351–400  Edith Cowan University Joondalup Western Australia
=24  351–400   351–400  James Cook University Townsville City Queensland
=24  351–400   401–500  Murdoch University Murdoch Western Australia
=24  351–400   301–350  University of Southern Queensland Toowoomba Queensland
=29  401–500   251–300  Australian Catholic University Sydney New South Wales
=29  401–500   251–300  Bond University Gold Coast Queensland
=29  401–500   351–400  Charles Darwin University Casuarina Northern Territory
=29  401–500   501–600  Victoria University Melbourne Victoria
=33  501–600   601–800  Central Queensland University Rockhampton Queensland
=33  501–600   601–800  Southern Cross University Lismore New South Wales
=33  501–600   601–800  University of the Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast Queensland
36  601–800   601–800  Federation University Australia Brisbane Victoria
37  801–1000   1001–1200  Charles Sturt University Bathurst New South Wales
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