The University of Queensland rankings as per the latest release highlight the academic, teaching, and research excellence of the university. As per Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World rankings, the university has made it to the top 50 list for the past three consecutive years. Times Higher Education rankings for The University of Queensland has been honored among the top 70 in the world for over seven years.

The university is placed within top 50 for 23 of its subjects as per QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021. Similarly, as per ARWU, UQ is the only one among Australian universities with four of its subjects ranked in the top 10. It is also honoured among the top 50 list for 19 of its subjects as per Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). The MBA program at UQ is ranked 1st for student quality in the world for 5 years in a row by The Economist (2021).

The University of Queensland is currently ranked among the top 5% of the institutions globally. Alongside the global and subject rankings, the University has also been honoured among a variety of other world rankings. Some of these include UQ’s performance in world reputation rankings top 100 as per Times Higher Education Rankings (2021).

The University of Queensland Ranking Highlights

  • #1 in Australia for research in CWTS Leiden Ranking, 2021
  • #2 in Australia in the Academic Ranking of World Universities, 2021
  • #36 in the US News Best Global Universities Rankings, 2021
  • #47 in the world in the QS World University Rankings, 2022
  • #51 in the Academic Ranking of World Universities, 2021
  • #54 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, 2022

47 UQ subjects are ranked within world top 100 in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, 2021

The University of Queensland World Rankings

The University has ranked globally under the top 50 by QS World University Rankings repeatedly for years. This attracts students from worldwide to complete their higher education here. As per the Economist Intelligence 2021, The University of Queensland is situated in the 10th most liveable city in the world that is ranked for its affordability, clean environment, and public services. Ranking agencies consider research excellence, academic rigor, and the impact of education on graduate life while ranking the university.

The global rankings of The University of Queensland is as follows:

Ranking Website/Agencies Global Rankings 
QS Ranking 47 (2022)
Times Higher Education 54 (2022)
US News & World Report 36 (2021)
Academic Ranking of World University 51 (2021)

Being familiar with a university’s rankings makes it easier for an international student to choose from the pool of study abroad institutions. The most prestigious and widely-recognized rankings of the world universities have certain specific criteria for placing any university among their top lists. The details of these criteria as per agencies and UQ’s performance in these are discussed in details below:

The University of Queensland QS Ranking

The university has been maintained its global ranking by QS under the top 50. For the year 2022, QS ranked it among 47th in the world. Being among the top 50 global universities means being in the top 1% of the world. Given below is the ranking of UQ in the past few years by QS WUR as following:

Year Ranking
2022 47
2021 46
2020 47
2019 48
2018 47
2017 51

QS Ranking is one the most reputed ranking agency which is acknowledged all over the world. It considers some distinct criteria while granting global ranking. With the overall score of 76.6 the parameter considered is as follows:

Parameter Score
Academic Reputation 88.2
Employer Reputation 80.2
Citations per faculty 89.4
Faculty-student ration 25.4
International faculty ratio 100
International student ratio 100

QS Graduate Employability Rankings

Apart from the global ranking of an institute, the graduate employability ranking is equally considered as one of the vital factors while opting for any university. UQ has consistently ranked in the top 60 under in the following 4 years. The Graduate Employability ranking is following:

Year Ranking
2022 63
2020 57
2019 48
2018 49
2017 51-60

The graduate employability indicators are helpful for a student planning to pursue a masters degree from UQ.

The University of Queensland Times Higher Education Ranking

UQ has listed 54th in the World University Ranking 2022 by Times Higher Education. In the five following years, it has been placed regularly among the top 70 in the world. It also has defined parameters on which universities are ranked globally. The parameter is provided below:

Parameter Score
Research 61
Teaching 54.3
Citations 85.9
Industry Income 81
International Outlook 93
Overall 69.4

The University of Queensland ARWU Ranking

The University of Queensland has improved its ARWU ranking over the years and listed among the top 55 universities since 2016. According to the latest 2021 ranking, it has ranked 54th best global university. The previous five years ranking can be checked below:

ARWU Ranking Year
54th 2021
54th 2019
55th 2018
55th 2017
55th 2016

The University of Queensland Ranking by US News & World Report

Likewise any other ranking agency, US News has certain parameters on which it ranks universities globally. UQ has ranked 36th best global university 2021 with a global score of 76.9. The ranking indicators on which US News ranked this university is following:

Ranking Indicator Relative Ranking
Regional Research Reputation 3
Global Research Reputation 79
Books 46
Publications 32
Conferences 290
Total Citations 35
Normalized Citation Impact 268
International Collaboration 390
International Collaboration- relative to Country 628
Number of Highly Cited Papers that are among Top 1% of the Field 39
Percentage of highly cited papers that are among the top 1% most cited 254

The University of Queensland Australian Rankings

Every applicant considers the national ranking of a university while applying for admissions. The University of Queensland is the third best university in Australia. It has topped the nation's Natural Science ranking. For the year 2021, Times Higher Education has ranked it 4th best university in the nation while US News & World Report has ranked it 3rd best Australian University. UQ has also ranked in top national universities by several ranking websites.

The ranking of The University of Queensland in Australia by some top-ranked agencies are listed below:

Ranking Agency/Website Year of Ranking Ranking
US News & World Report 2021 3rd
THE 2021 4th
QS Ranking 2022 5th
Shanghai Ranking of ARWU 2020 2nd
NTU Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities 2020 3rd
Nature Index 2021 1st
CWTS Leiden Ranking 2021 3rd

When applying for Australian Universities, international students must make sure that they go through universities national rankings and recognition awarded to the university for its contribution to the country.

The University of Queensland Subject Specific Rankings

When planning to study in Australia, a student's decision of opting between any university is highly dependent on the program they wish to pursue. There are a number of programs, fields and subjects of The University of Queensland that make it to the global ranking lists. 

The subject-specific ranking 2021 by US News & World Report is following:

Subject/Program Ranking
Agricultural Sciences 15th
Biotechnology and Applied Microbiology 10th
Environment/Ecology 6th
Infectious Diseases 20th
Microbiology 27th
Molecular Biology and Genetics 27th
Plant and Animal Sciences 19th
Psychology/Psychiatry 36th
Environment and Public Health 25th
Arts & Humanities 44th
Biology and Biochemistry 50th
Civil Engineering 89th
Computer Sciences 71st
Energy and Fuel 67th
Engineering 90th
Immunology 41st

The latest subject-specific ranking by Shanghai Ranking of Academic Ranking of World University (ARWU) is listed below:

Subject/Program Ranking
Nursing 5th
Biotechnology 7th
Hospitality and Tourism Management 9th
Food Science & Technology 14th
Ecology 15th
Mining & Mineral Engineering 16th
Geography 17th
Agricultural Sciences 22nd

Some other subject-specific rankings of The University of Queensland are as follows:

  • It is one of the top two Australian universities from where 15 subjects have been ranked in the top.
  • 11 subjects taught at UQ including Mining and Mineral Engineering, Water Resources, Public Health, and Psychology has been named in the top 50 in the nation by Shanghai global ranking of academic subjects 2020.
  • UQ is 1st for research in Australia as per CWTS Leiden Ranking, 2021.

The University of Queensland Research Specific Ranking

The University of Queensland is one of the best universities for research excellence. It has more than 100 research centers that give access to its faculty and students to excel in research. Its research keeps an impact nationally and globally in the field of environment, economics, and social challenges. The research ranking of UQ is following:

  • CWTS Leiden Ranking has ranked it in the top three in Australia for global research output
  • UQ has consistently awarded with a 5-star rating for research intensity in the Good University Guide

UQ is the university that is behind Australia’s biggest biotech deal till date with its drug development for nerve and chronic inflammatory pain. Recognizing the abundance of initiative in research, the university has been consistently honoured amongst some of the other top universities across the globe.