August 16, 2017

UOW climbs 81 places in research world rankings

University placed 251st in prestigious Academic Ranking of World Universities

The University of Wollongong (UOW) has made a dramatic climb up the 2017 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) list, jumping 81 places to be ranked 251st in the world, up from 332nd in 2016.

This is UOW’s best ever placing in the table, making it the 12th highest ranked university in Australia, up from 17th in 2016.

The prestigious ARWU listing is a research-based ranking system, drawn from independently sourced data which is used to rank the world’s top 500 research universities annually.

Universities are ranked by several indicators of academic or research performance, including alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, highly cited researchers, papers published in Nature and Science, papers indexed in major citation indices, and the per capita academic performance of an institution.

Among Australian universities, UOW ranked equal 10th for highly cited researchers; 12th for papers published in Nature and Science; 12th for per capita academic performance; and 15th for papers indexed in major citation indices.

UOW Vice-Chancellor, Professor Paul Wellings, CBE, said the ARWU rankings placed the University among Australia and the world’s leading research-intensive institutions.

“This is a fantastic result. Jumping 81 places in such a competitive and highly regarded world ranking is a significant achievement and testimony to the exceptional work being done by the University’s researchers,” Professor Wellings said.

In addition, UOW ranked highly in a number of individual subject areas, ranking 42nd in the world for Energy Science and Engineering, and 47th for Hospitality and Tourism Management.

UOW also scored well in other Engineering subjects, being ranked in the 51-75 band for Civil Engineering, Transportation Science and Technology, and Metallurgical Engineering; 76-100 for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology; 101-150 for Materials Science and Engineering; 151-200 for Chemical Engineering, Instruments Science and Technology, and Environmental Science and Engineering; 201-300 for Electrical and Electronic Engineering; and 301-400 for Computer Science and Engineering.

In other fields, UOW was placed in the 51-75 band for Geography; 101-150 for Education; 151-200 for Chemistry; 201-300 for Psychology and for Ecology; and 301-400 for Management and for Public Health.