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 2019, 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 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 (49), University of Sydney (=59), University of Queensland (69) and Monash University (=84)
Australia has the third highest number of international students in the world behind the UK and the US – pretty impressive for a nation of just 24 million people.
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 45,000 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 prizewinner 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 is located in Canberra, Australia's capital city and seat of government.
It counts six Nobel prizewinners 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.
The university has many partnerships with international universities such as Yale University, the University of Oxford, ETH Zurich, and the National University of Singapore among others.
3. University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is the oldest university in Australia (founded in 1851).
Currently, 43,000 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.
