Best Universities in Australia 2020

If you are looking to study in Australia, then you are going to need a little information about your university options.

There are 35 top universities in Australia, according to Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings 2020, 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 to Hobart in the south.

The best university in Australia, according to the rankings, is the University of Melbourne – one of two universities in the country to make the top 50 of the overall world ranking (=32). It is followed by the Australian National University (50), University of Sydney (60), University of Queensland (66) and Monash University (=75)

TOP 5 UNIVERSITIES IN AUSTRALIA

1. University of Melbourne

The University of Melbourne was founded in 1853, making it the second oldest in the country (keep reading to find out the oldest).

It is home to 42,000 students and 6,500 members of staff, and has 280,000 alumni around the world (some 15 per cent of whom live outside Australia).

There are more than 12,000 international students enrolled at the University of Melbourne, and if you do get a place there, you will be joining students from 130 different countries.

You will also be rubbing shoulders with some pretty famous scholars. Nobel prize winner Peter Doherty (physiology and medicine) and fellows of the Royal Society David Solomon and David Boger all teach or research at Melbourne.

2. Australian National University

Established in 1946, Australian National University (ANU) was originally created as a postgraduate research university by the Parliament of Australia.

It counts six Nobel prize winners 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.

3. University of Sydney

The University of Sydney is the oldest university in Australia (founded in 1851).

Currently, 42,000 students attend the University of Sydney, representing some 134 countries. About 280 overseas exchange programmes are 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.

Sydney is also considered one of the best university cities for students.

4. University of Queensland

The University of Queensland’s (UQ) motto is Scientia ac Labore, which is Latin for “by means of knowledge and hard work” – so be prepared to do some grafting!

UQ has about 38,000 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 former students 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.

5. Monash University

Monash University in Melbourne, Victoria, is named after engineer and military leader Sir John Monash, and it was the first university in Australia to be named after a person rather than a place.

The university, which has about 44,000 undergraduates and a further 20,000 graduate students, has five bases in Victoria, as well as one in Malaysia. Monash also has a research and teaching centre in the Italian town of Prato, a research school in Mumbai, India, and a grad school in Jiangsu Province, China.

Famous alumni include musician Nick Cave, Booker Prize-winning novelist Peter Carey, and playwright David Williamson.

TOP UNIVERSITIES IN AUSTRALIA 2020

Click each institution to view its full World University Rankings 2020 profile

Australia Rank 2018	World University Rank 2018	University	City	State/Territory
1	=32	University of Melbourne	Melbourne	Victoria
2	50	Australian National University	Canberra	Australian Capital Territory
3	60	University of Sydney	Sydney	New South Wales
4	66	University of Queensland	Brisbane	Queensland
5	71	University of New South Wales	Kensington
6	=75	Monash University	Melbourne	Victoria
7	=120	University of Adelaide	Adelaide
8	=131	University of Western Australia	Perth
9	=179	Queensland University of Technology	Brisbane
10	193	University of Canberra	Canberra
11	=194	University of Technology Sydney	Sydney
=12	201–250	Griffith University	Brisbane, Gold Coast, Logan
=12	201–250	James Cook University	Townsville City	Queensland
=12	201–250	Macquarie University	Sydney
=12	201–250	University of Wollongong	Wollongong
=16	251–300	Curtin University	Perth
=16	251–300	Flinders University	Adelaide
=16	251–300	La Trobe University	Melbourne
=16	251–300	University of South Australia	Adelaide, Whyalla, Mount Gambier	South Australia
=16	251–300	Western Sydney University	Sydney
=21	301–350	Deakin University	Geelong
=21	301–350	University of Newcastle	Callaghan	New South Wales
=21	301–350	University of Tasmania	Hobart
=21	301–350	Victoria University	Melbourne
=25	351–400	Australian Catholic University	Sydney
=25	351–400	RMIT University	Melbourne
=25	351–400	Swinburne University of Technology	Hawthorn
=28	401–500	Bond University	Gold Coast
=28	401–500	Edith Cowan University	Joondalup
=28	401–500	Murdoch University	Murdoch
31	501–600	Charles Darwin University	Casuarina	Northern Territory
=32	601–800	Central Queensland University	Rockhampton
=32	601–800	Southern Cross University	Lismore
=32	601–800	University of Southern Queensland	Toowoomba
=32	601–800	University of the Sunshine Coast	Sunshine Coast	Queensland