The University of Sydney has continued its strong performance in global rankings, with three research areas in the top 10, seven in the top 20 and 17 in the top 50 globally, in the latest ShanghaiRanking league table.
The prestigious ShanghaiRanking - formerly Academic Ranking of World Universities or ARWU - Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) for 2024 ranked our Transportation Science & Technology 8th, Nursing 10th and Public Health 10th.
GRAS rankings use a range of objective academic indicators and third-party data to measure the performance of world universities in respective subjects. Metrics include research output, research influence, international collaboration, research quality and international academic awards.
"I commend all our staff on our continued excellence in these rankings, including our notable improvements in maths, earth sciences and physics. Our overall results demonstrate the significant contribution our research expertise makes nationally and internationally. Our commitment to maintaining our outstanding research is why we have invested a record $420 million in the Sydney Biomedical Accelerator to fast-track scientific discovery and revolutionise the science of healthcare and appointed 40 Sydney Horizon Fellows to address climate change, health and sustainability, said Professor Mark Scott, Vice-Chancellor and President.
Overall, 32 Sydney research areas were ranked in the top 100 globally. This year 17 University of Sydney subjects ranked in the top 50:
- Transportation Science - 8
- Nursing - 10
- Public Health -10
- Telecommunication Engineering -11
- Agricultural Sciences - 13
- Library & Information Science - 17
- Computer Science & Engineering -19
- Veterinary Sciences - 24
- Communication - 26
- Finance - 30
- Civil Engineering - 32
- Clinical Medicine - 32
- Business Administration - 32
- Human Biological Sciences - 36
- Management - 36
- Dentistry & Oral Sciences - 41
- Electrical & Electronic Engineering - 42
Sydney is ranked first in Australia for seven subjects up from four in 2023.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Emma Johnston said, "The University of Sydney's strong results on rankings is one of the measures which reflect the quality, depth and range of our research and its real-world influence.
"For example, this year we are leading a new approach to reducing the number of young people vaping and smoking in a trial in schools across the country, developing an AI method to reduce the energy required by data centres and continuing our major research on work and transport patterns post-COVID."
Some more of this year's important research includes work on:
- the lack of workplace safety measures to protect Australian welders who are being exposed to high levels of dangerous, potentially cancer-causing fumes
- a new technique which turns methane emissions from landfill into sustainable jet fuel, that could help create a circular economy
- an architectural study on more than 580,000 new homes in Australia, examining the relationship between big design and inefficient energy use
This year the University also ranked 18th in the world and second in Australia in the 2025 QS World University Rankings including being placed first in Australia and 7th globally for sustainability as part of that ranking.
In this year's Academic Ranking of World Universities 2024, the institutional rankings also released by the ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, the University of Sydney ranked first in NSW and third in Australia. It ranked 74th in the world, maintaining its place in the top 100.
