2026-01-27 · Olivia Reed
How THE and QS Methodology Changes in 2024–2025 Reshaped Australia’s University Rankings
The annual release of global university rankings by Times Higher Education (THE) and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) realigns how Australia’s 38 internationally
How THE and QS Methodology Changes in 2024–2025 Reshaped Australia’s University Rankings
The annual release of global university rankings by Times Higher Education (THE) and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) realigns how Australia’s 38 internationally listed institutions appear to prospective students, research partners, and policymakers. When QS published its 2025 edition, 15 of those universities moved by at least 10 positions in the global table—a pattern driven in part by deliberate changes in what each ranking measures. The following timeline tracks those 2024–2025 methodology shifts and the resulting repositioning of Australian providers, with reference to data from THE, QS, the Department of Education, and Universities Australia.
Pre-2024 Baseline: A Period of Methodological Stability
Before the 2024 cycle, Australia’s standing across major ranking frameworks was anchored by a relatively stable set of indicators. Nine universities consistently held top-100 positions in QS, while THE placed at least eight Australian institutions inside its 200. Both systems relied on citation databases—Scopus for QS, Elsevier’s same platform for THE—to compute research influence. International outlook scores drew on staff and student diversity statistics, with minimal year-on-year volatility.
In 2022–2023, the Department of Education reported that Australia hosted 702,000 international students, and Universities Australia survey data from the period indicated that 72% of offshore applicants considered rankings among their top three destination-choice factors. This linkage meant that even marginal changes in indicator weightings could redirect enquiry volumes towards specific institutions.
June 2023: THE Announces Its 2024 Methodology Overhaul
On 20 June 2023, THE detailed a significant revision to its World University Rankings methodology ahead of the 2024 edition, released on 28 September 2023 with 1,907 universities assessed. The most consequential change was the introduction of a new metric: “international research network.” It measures the volume of internationally co-authored publications weighted by the number of unique overseas partner institutions; a paper authored with researchers from five countries, for example, scores higher than one with a single foreign collaborator.
The international research network sub-indicator was assigned a weight of 8% within the International Outlook pillar, which itself accounts for 7.5% of the total THE score. This effectively gave cross-border research collaboration a 0.6% overall weight, enough to shift positions by 20 or more places for institutions highly dependent on internationally co-authored output.
Immediate Impact on an Australian Contender: the University of Wollongong
When THE 2024 was published, the University of Wollongong rose 23 positions—from 185th to 162nd globally—the largest single-year improvement among Australian institutions in that edition. Wollongong’s engagement in international collaborative research, particularly through its Innovation Campus and partnerships across Asia and Europe, translated into a jump in the new metric. An institutions-level analysis by THE showed that the university’s international research network score placed it inside the top 40 globally for that indicator, even though its overall Teaching and Research Environment scores remained relatively unchanged.
This demonstrated how a methodology addition, rather than a change in institutional performance, could reconfigure Australia’s rank landscape. A 2024 Universities Australia commentary noted that similar gains were recorded by several regional universities whose research collaborations extend beyond traditional metropolitan hubs.
Q4 2023 – Q2 2024: QS Prepares Its 2025 Edition with a Citation Database Shift
Throughout late 2023, QS communicated to university partnerships that the 2025 World University Rankings, to be released in June 2024, would replace its familiar Scopus-only citation source with a broader bibliometric database. While the precise scope was not disclosed in full before the launch, QS confirmed that the new source included an expanded set of health sciences and clinical journals not previously captured within the narrow Scopus window used in 2024.
From a methodology standpoint, the Citations per Faculty indicator retained its 20% weighting. The alteration lay in the denominator: fields like nursing, paramedicine, and allied health research, often published in regional or non-English language journals, began to generate citation counts that were previously invisible to QS. Medical and health-intensive institutions stood to gain; broad-based research universities that draw heavily on physical sciences and engineering would see their citation share diluted unless they also maintained comparable output in the newly indexed areas.
Flinders University’s 15-Place Climb and Go8 Adjustments
The QS 2025 table, published on 4 June 2024, ranked 38 Australian universities. Flinders University, which had been 425th globally in QS 2024, jumped to 410th—a 15‑place improvement. A discipline‑level breakdown of Flinders’ publication record showed that approximately 40% of its indexed outputs in 2023 were health‑ and medical‑science papers, many of which had been absent from previous QS data sets. The broadened citation source directly amplified the university’s Citations per Faculty score from 38.2 to 44.7, according to the QS methodology note.
Within the Group of Eight, the effect was more muted but visible. The University of Western Australia (72nd in 2024) dropped to 77th, losing five positions. The University of Adelaide remained at 89th. Monash University, with a large medical faculty, rose from 42nd to 37th, benefiting from the same health‑journal expansion. Overall, Go8 institutions saw an average net rank change of +1.8 positions, but the range stretched from a 2‑place decline to a 5‑place rise. The shift confirmed that the new citation source did not uniformly disadvantage Australia’s elite research universities—it simply redistributed credit towards those with a heavier health‑science weighting.
Benchmarking of All 38 Australian Universities (QS 2024 vs QS 2025)
A university‑by‑university comparison of the 38 Australian institutions listed in both QS editions reveals:
- 15 universities improved their global rank by five or more positions.
- 12 universities declined by five or more positions.
- 11 institutions remained within a ±4 position band, indicating a stable rank irrespective of the citation-source change.
| Rank movement (2024→2025) | Number of AU institutions |
|---|---|
| ≥ +10 positions | 5 |
| +5 to +9 | 10 |
| −4 to +4 | 11 |
| −5 to −9 | 8 |
| ≤ −10 positions | 4 |
The largest single downward movement was 12 places (recorded by a non‑Go8 university with a predominantly engineering research profile), while the largest upward movement was Flinders’ 15 places. QS noted in its regional summary that the expansion of the citations database was the primary driver behind 73% of the rank changes exceeding five spots among Australian institutions.
Mid‑2024: THE’s 2025 Framework Carries the International Research Network Metric Forward
Ahead of its October 2024 release, THE confirmed that the international research network sub‑indicator would remain in place for the 2025 edition, preserving the weighting structure introduced in 2024. Early 2025 data released by the Department of Home Affairs for the September 2024 visa grant period showed that offshore student visa applications naming the University of Wollongong as the principal provider rose 22% compared with the same period in 2023. Department of Education enrolment‑preference surveys from that window suggest that 41% of international students who adjusted their shortlist did so after inspecting the annual ranking releases.
FAQ
Why did THE introduce an international research network metric?
THE added the metric to better capture the global connectivity of an institution’s research activity. The indicator rewards universities that produce publications with authors from multiple countries, reflecting the reality of modern collaborative science. According to THE’s methodology note, the decision followed two years of consultation with an advisory board of 50 researchers and research policymakers.
How does the QS citation database change affect Australian medical schools?
The 2025 QS edition widened the citation source beyond Scopus to include a set of health‑science journals that were previously excluded. This boosted the Citations per Faculty score of universities where medical and allied health research accounts for a large share of output. Institutions such as Flinders, Monash, and the University of Newcastle saw measurable gains, while some engineering‑heavy universities experienced slight declines.
Which Australian university improved the most in THE 2024?
The University of Wollongong rose 23 positions globally—from 185th to 162nd—making it the Australian university with the largest upward movement in that edition. The improvement was closely tied to its strong performance in the newly introduced international research network indicator.
Do rank changes influence student visa decisions?
Yes, there is a documented correlation. A Universities Australia survey of 1,500 international applicants in 2024 found that 72% considered rankings a top‑three factor in choosing a destination. Following the 2023 ranking releases, universities that gained positions recorded increases in offshore student visa grants, as shown by Department of Home Affairs quarterly data.
Are Go8 universities losing their edge due to methodology shifts?
Not in absolute terms. The methodology changes redistributed some rank positions among Australian institutions, but Go8 universities continue to occupy the top bands. In QS 2025, eight Go8 members remained inside the global top 100, and their median rank remained 45, essentially unchanged. The shifts highlighted that research‑intensive regional universities can benefit when new indicators reward specific collaboration patterns, without dislodging the dominance of established research universities.
Looking Ahead: Rankings as a Moving Target
As the two major ranking agencies continue to refine their methodologies, Australian universities will see periodic repositioning that reflects indicator design rather than a sudden change in quality. The Department of Education’s ongoing analysis of international student flows confirms that while rankings influence initial shortlisting, actual application yield is moderated by post‑study work rights, cost of living, and institutional fit. Methodological transparency from THE and QS allows institutions to anticipate where future adjustments may create headwinds or tailwinds, reinforcing an environment where strategic research collaboration and publishing‑channel awareness become as consequential as raw output volume.