News

ACU reaches top two per cent of international universities

Australian Catholic University (ACU) has entered the 351–400 band on THE World University Rankings 2020, putting it in the top two per cent of all universities worldwide.*

This is the University’s third yearly improvement since joining the rankings in the 601–800 band in 2016.

ACU’s rapidly growing reputation is in line with its steady expansion and a focus on advancing its research profile.

As one of the fastest growing universities in Australia, ACU has experienced the second largest increase of domestic undergraduate students in the country, nearly doubling its student population between 2009 and 2018.

At the same time, the University committed to building a research program aligned with its areas of strategic priority – education, health, and theology and philosophy – all of which support an overarching commitment to social justice and the common good.

ACU Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Greg Craven said it had been rewarding to see the success of the University as it had grown from a small amalgamation of colleges to become an esteemed institution for learning, teaching and research.

“This endorsement from Times Higher Education demonstrates ACU’s renown as an emerging Australian success, and as one of most significant Catholic universities in the world: a leader in its research specialisations and known for quality in teaching, learning, research and institutional performance.”

“Not only is ACU producing credible and meaningful research, but there is tangible evidence of what a powerful impact this research has on areas of genuine importance and need.”

In the latest Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) assessment, ACU ranked first or equal first for 10 fields of research in Australia, and the University performed strongly in the Australian Research Council’s inaugural 2018 Engagement and Impact index.

ACU’s rise to prominence includes THE recognition for the following:

• Ranked in the top 80 in the Asia-Pacific region ¹.
• Ranked 351-400 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings ².
• Ranked as one of the top 100 young universities in the world ³.
• Included in the top 40 of Generation Y universities ³.
• One of the top 10 Catholic universities globally ².

Times Higher Education (THE) has conducted rankings for 16 years. The THE rankings compares 1,396 institutions from 92 countries, drawing on data points on over 1,800 of the world’s leading research universities and more than 21,000 academic reputation survey responses. The survey analyses 12.8 million research publications and 77.4 million citations over five years, based on bibliometric data from Elsevier.

For further details about ACU’s reputation and rankings, visit acu.edu.au. 

1. Times Higher Education Asia-Pacific University Rankings 2019
2. Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020
3. Times Higher Education Young University Rankings 2019, where “young universities” are defined to be less than 50 years old and “Generation Y universities” are universities established between 1986 and 1999