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Higher rankings may boost income for Australian universities

Meld Magazine

Mon May 20 2013

Graduate

WITH research suggesting a link between league tables and enrolments, Australian universities may see the material benefits of performing well. Gayertree Subramaniam and Nkandu Mwenge look at why rankings matter in the competitive market for education.

Graduate

Photo: pamhule via Flickr

Scoring highly on the latest QS World University Reputation Rankings could result in a boost in applications and income for Australian universities.

According to researchers at the University of London, there is a noticeable relationship between a university’s performance on league tables and the number of applications it receives from foreign students.

Based on data from Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) and the subject-specific Guardian league tables, the study found high scoring university departments saw up to 15 per cent growth in applications.

Moreover, the majority of these applications were made by overseas students.

Similar outcomes in enrolment figures from international applicants could be expected in Australia.

How Australian universities ranked

Overall, Australian institutions were best represented for Education, with the University of Melbourne, Monash University and the University of Sydney claiming spots in the global top ten.

In the recently released rankings, six Australian universities made the global top ten in at least one of the 30 subjects covered. A total of 35 Australian institutions featured in the global top 200 in at least one discipline.

The QS World University Reputation Rankings provides the most comprehensive comparison of the top 700 universities both globally and at an individual subject level.

Institutions that pioneered research and produced outstanding graduates in a given discipline were identified based on surveys of some 70,000 academics and graduate employers.

Overall, Australian institutions were best represented for Education, with the University of Melbourne, Monash University and the University of Sydney claiming spots in the global top ten.

For those wanting to study psychology, communications and media studies, law or sociology, Australia was also presented as a recommended destination.

Australian National University ranked in at 24th internationally, trumping the University of Melbourne’s 36th place.

However, the University of Melbourne counted among the global top 10 in six disciplines: Education, Law, Linguistics, Psychology, Accounting and Finance and Medicine.

Monash University, which ranked 61st around the world, received top-ten rankings in Education as well as Pharmacy and Pharmacology.

In 39th place was the University of Sydney, which scored best overall with Accounting and Finance, Education and Law. The University of Queensland ranked 7th globally in Agriculture and Forestry, 9th in Environmental Sciences and 10th in Education.

QS head of research, Ben Sowter, acknowledged that the strong performance by several Australian institutions is a reflection of their high-impact research and outstanding reputations.

Challenges ahead

Australian universities may stand to face competition from its Asian counterparts.

The rankings also considered the number of international student enrolments and international faculty members.

International students are seen as a lucrative source of income by universities around the world because they pay full-fees. Australia is already a popular destination for these students who contribute around $15 billion annually to the economy.

However, impending cuts of $3.8 billion to tertiary education funding has eroded confidence in the sector.

Belinda Robinson, Chief Executive of Universities Australia, said the funding cuts “will challenge the ability of universities to maintain the quality of education and research”.

“Every dollar that is lost to university investment represents a reduction in the long-term dividend to the nation,” Ms Robinson said.

Shifts in global economic power are transforming the international higher education landscape in the region, with Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore also having secured top spots amid rankings.

As a result, Australian universities may stand to face competition from its Asian counterparts.

An international student from Singapore, who wished to remain anonymous, noted that even while there might be equally reputable universities in Asia, she would still have chosen to study in Australia.

“The lifestyle, cultural experience, prestige of having an overseas degree as well as the possibility of beginning my career here were all incentives for me in picking to study in Australia over Singapore.”

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