February 21, 2019

UOW improves standing among Asia-Pacific universities

A positive result in 2019 Times Higher Education Asia-Pacific rankings.  

The University of Wollongong has improved its standing among universities in the Asia-Pacific region, ranking 37th in the 2019 Times Higher Education Asia-Pacific University Rankings – an improvement of four places from its 2018 result of 41st.

The regional improvement has also been reflected locally, with UOW improving two places in its ranking among the Australian universities assessed.

The annual ranking of more than 300 universities across 13 Asia-Pacific nations, draws on the same data and analysis methods used for the prestigious Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

UOW improved its standing in the 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings from the 251-300 band to the 201-250 bracket.

UOW was also ranked among the world’s leading institutions for Engineering and Technology, and for Computer Science in the 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject, released in November 2018.

The ranking assesses research-intensive universities across their core missions of teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook via 13 performance indicators grouped into five areas: teaching (the learning environment); research (volume, income and reputation); citations (research influence); international outlook (staff, students and research); and industry income (knowledge transfer).

These indicators provide a comprehensive and balanced comparison, with weightings specially recalibrated to reflect the priorities of Asia-Pacific institutions.

UOW’s improvement was driven by growth in the University’s research citations, industry income and international outlook scores.

Research citations measures the number of times the University’s published work is cited by scholars globally and is considered an indicator of a university’s research influence,

Industry income looks at how much research income universities earn from industry as an indicator of its ability to help industry with innovations, inventions and consultancy.

International outlook measures the university’s ability to attract international students and academic staff and the extent of its international research collaboration.

UOW Vice-Chancellor, Professor Paul Wellings CBE, said these results confirmed the positive assessment of the University’s research strengths shown in previous rankings.

“We are consistently improving our performance in the increasingly competitive environment of the Asia-Pacific region,” Professor Wellings said.

“Our achievement, placing in the top 250 universities worldwide in three top-tier rankings systems last year, which has now been confirmed by our improved standing in our region, reflects the drive, ambition, and talent of UOW’s staff, across all faculties and fields.

“Our researchers continue to lead the way in producing quality, accessible research that leads to positive economic and social outcomes.

“UOW’s high ranking for international outlook reflects our commitment to ensuring the University is a player on a global stage, and our students become citizens of the world, as we work towards our goal of being in the top one percent.”