Swinburne University of Technology has been promoted into the world’s top 400 universities in the prestigious Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) released recently.
Its Vice-Chancellor Professor Linda Kristjanson said Swinburne was entering the top 400 university rankings for the first time, having been in the top 500 since 2009.
Swinburne is now ranked equal tenth among Australian universities and third within Victoria.
| Rank | Victorian universities |
| 1 | Melbourne (57) |
| 2 | Monash (101-150) |
| 3 | Swinburne (301-400) |
| 4 | La Trobe (401-500) |
| Not ranked | ;Ballarat |
| Not ranked | Deakin |
| Not ranked | RMIT |
| Not ranked | Victoria University |
Swinburne has also maintained its enviable ranking in the top 100 universities for Physics, alongside the Australian National University and the University of Melbourne – making Swinburne the only Australian university outside the Group of Eight to achieve a top 100 rating in a science discipline.
“Swinburne’s move up the ladder proves the success of our focus and investment in research and research infrastructure, along with our strength in science, innovation and technology,” said Professor Kristjanson.
“Earlier this year, astrophysicist Professor Karl Glazebrook was named one of the 12 most influential Australian researchers at the 2012 Thomson Reuters Australia Citation and Innovation Awards,” said Professor Kristjanson.
“Last month, four 2012 ARC Future Fellowships were awarded to Swinburne researchers totalling more than A$2.6 million,” she said.
Swinburne is planning for a stronger research future. From 2014, Swinburne’s Faculty of Design will return from Prahran to Hawthorn, improving the opportunities for interdisciplinary research collaboration with Swinburne’s existing areas of strength in Engineering and Industrial Sciences, Information and Communications Technology, Life and Social Sciences and Business.
The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) was formerly known as the Shanghai Jiao Tong index, first published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China in 2003.
The rankings are increasingly seen as an important measure of a nation’s economic health and competitiveness.
The ARWU uses six objective indicators to rank world universities, including the number of alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, number of highly cited researchers selected by Thomson Scientific, number of articles published in journals of Nature and Science, number of cited articles and per capita performance with respect to the size of an institution.