This post has been republished with permission from UTS Newsroom.
The Young University Rankings, previously known as the THE 150 Under 50, have been extended to include 200 institutions. They apply the same performance indicators as the overall THE World University Rankings, with young universities measured on their teaching, research, citations, international outlook and industry income.
THE says the methodology has been carefully recalibrated, with reputation counting for less, to reflect the special characteristics of younger universities.
“Australia is one of the leading nations in this list of the world’s best young universities, claiming 23 of the top 200 places; it trails only the UK on quantity,” Times Higher Education Rankings Editor Phil Baty said.
“Nearly all of these universities have also improved their standing since last year. Its top performer the University of Technology Sydney has jumped six places to 15th, thanks to improved scores for its research environment and influence (citations).
“A key strength for Australia in this ranking is that it has representatives that were founded in every decade between the 1960s and 1990s, suggesting that the country has a promising future in the Under 50 list in the years to come.”
UTS Vice-Chancellor Professor Attila Brungs said that even among the world’s best universities under the age of 50, UTS is a young university – just 29 years old this year.
UTS is also top-ranked young university in Australia in the QS Top 50 Under 50 ranking, in which the university is placed 8th in the world.
“While our aim is to become a world-leading university of technology, compared to many other leading universities of technology, particularly those in Asia, UTS doesn’t have a narrow definition of ‘technology’ limited to the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines,” Professor Brungs said. “We rather see technology as tools which change society; hence social science and arts, for example, are at least as important to our focus.
“The average young Australian is likely to have up to five career changes and seventeen jobs in their lifetime. Added to this picture is the rapidly transforming technology landscape – up to 60 per cent of jobs university students are currently studying for are likely to be automated in the future.
“UTS is responding to these changes by increasing its offerings in transdisciplinary education.
“Over the next five years UTS is looking to significantly increase its academic scale by employing an additional 500 academics. These academics will support the university’s goals for an innovative teaching and learning model that is both practice-oriented and research inspired as well as high-impact, solutions-driven research.”