UQ achieves world rankings for biological sciences and chemistry

8 May 2013

The University of Queensland (UQ) has been ranked in the top 25 in the world for biological sciences and the top 100 in the world for chemistry in the latest QS World University Subject Rankings.

Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) Director Professor Brandon Wainwright said the results reflected the quality of both the research and teaching of biology and chemistry at UQ.

“IMB is proud to have contributed to this result through our world-class research and the delivery of undergraduate lectures in the Faculty of Science.”

“The ranking of biological sciences as 22 in the world is a particularly pleasing result as it means UQ has risen 16 places since last year.”

UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Høj said the QS rankings increasingly highlighted the global quality of Australian higher education.

“Governments of all persuasions need to recognise what a great asset Australia has in its universities,” he said.

“We need to protect and grow the global opportunities that our universities are opening for Australia. This is a view we see coming through strongly in recent opinion polls.”

Professor Høj said the QS rankings were an important tool for students comparing universities and their strengths around the world.

Ben Sowter, QS head of research, said when Australia's universities were ranked against each other, UQ came second in the nation for biological sciences.

Studies in four key disciplines at The University of Queensland rank in the international top 10 in the latest QS World University Subject Rankings.

Psychology, education, agriculture and forestry, and environmental sciences were UQ's highest-rated areas and among the highest in the world.

Additionally, QS reports in its 2013 assessment – released today – that UQ has nine further subject areas in the world's top 30.

These are: English language and literature, computer science and information systems, chemical engineering, civil and structural engineering, biological sciences, sociology, pharmacy and pharmacology, accounting and finance, and communication and media studies.

In the world's top 50, UQ subject areas include linguistics, modern languages, medicine, geography, materials science, mathematics, economics and econometrics, law, politics and international studies, and statistics and operational research.

QS rankings are based on surveys of about 70,000 academics and graduate employers, research citations and an analysis of research impact.

More than 46,000 academics identified the leading institutions for research within their field and region of expertise. Employers identified institutions that had produced outstanding graduates in given discipline areas.

UQ is one of only three Australian universities ranked in the top 100 of the most respected global higher education rankings systems, including QS, Shanghai Jiao Tong Academic Ranking of World Universities and Times Higher Education Rankings.

The QS World University Rankings had been in existence since 2004, and the separate subjects ranking assessment was added in 2011.

You can support biological sciences and chemistry research at the IMB by calling (07) 3346 2132 or donating online at www.imb.uq.edu.au/donate

The Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) is a research institute of The University of Queensland that aims to improve quality of life by advancing personalised medicine, drug discovery and biotechnology.

Contact:

Bronwyn Adams, IMB Communications, 0418 575 247 or b.adams@imb.uq.edu.au; Fiona Cameron, UQ Communications ph +61 7 3346 7086, communications@uq.edu.au; Ben Sowter, Head of Division, QS Intelligence Unit. http://www.iu.qs.com/

About QS: Quacquarelli Symonds, founded in 1990, is a global provider of higher education and careers information and independent research. Its activities span 50 countries, it has 250 staff and it works with more than 2000 universities and business schools. QS is headquartered in London and has other main offices in New York, Paris, Singapore and Stuttgart. It has satellite offices in Alicante, Beijing, Johannesburg, Philadelphia, Shanghai, Sydney and Washington DC.

QS World University Rankings by Subjects are designed to provide comparative information at discipline level and to highlight the excellence of institutions in specialist areas. The rankings take into account the views of academics and employers and the impact of the research produced the citation per paper indicator, where applicable. Not all disciplines can be considered equal and their research activities or popularity among employers varies greatly hence a variable adaptive weighting has been applied to each criterion and to each subject. Visit the QS website to view the detailed methodology.

 

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