The University of Melbourne has taken top honours in the 2025 Times Higher Education Reputation
Rankings, after a survey of 55,000 academic experts named it Australia’s most prestigious university, globally.
Australian universities hold 10 of the 300 spots, with the University of Melbourne coming in at number 47. The University of Sydney was ranked 60th on the list, while Monash University was not far behind at 63.
The Reputation rankings align with the 2025 Times Higher Education rankings for the “top” institutions worldwide based on teaching, research, industry and international outlook.
At a time when many local controversies impacted university life for staff and students – including inconsistent policies related to international students, anti-Semitism on campus and governance issues – made regular headlines, the issues didn’t seem to impact the overall reputation of Australian universities, with a number of institutions climbing up the rankings ladder.
Monash University improved its position by almost 20 places since the last 2023 ranking results were revealed, while the University of Queensland moved about ten places up to 78.
All ‘Group of Eight’ research universities made the list, with Australian National University and UNSW Sydney also listed in the top 100.
Internationally, America’s Harvard University held the sought-after top spot for the 14th year straight, reinforcing its reputation as the world’s most powerful university brand. Joint second place was shared by The University of Oxford (UK) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US).
Of the 300 universities included in the ranking, 71 were American and 39 were from the United Kingdom.
Times Higher Education chief global affairs officer Phil Baty says, “academic reputation is a powerful currency in global higher education”.
“It shapes student choices, faculty movement, institutional collaborations and investments.”
The results of The Times Higher Education’s Academic Reputation Survey came from more than 750,000 votes from a survey of more than 55,000 expert academics worldwide, which Baty says “provides the definitive view of the world’s most prestigious universities – the top global academic brands”.
“While the global university super-brands from the United States and United Kingdom remain strongly in place, there are some clear emerging new forces,” he says.
Only 15 per cent of the 300 ranked universities come from Asia – a statistic that points to the immense growth opportunities in the region that many Australian universities are already endeavouring to take advantage of, with a number already focused on creating and nurturing campuses, as well as strengthening partnerships, in the region.
