World Rankings

The University of Adelaide is ranked in the world's top 100 universities. We are recognised globally as a leading research university.

This is measured by the best-known world university ranking methodologies available – US News Best Global Universities Rankings, QS World University Rankings, Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and the ShanghaiRanking Academic Ranking of World Universities.

The University of Adelaide ranked 74th in the 2023 US News Best Global Universities . The 2023 rankings measured 1750 global universities over thirteen metrics including Research Reputation, Publication Output, Citations, Highly Cited Papers and International Collaboration.

The University of Adelaide ranked 89th in the 2024 QS World University Rankings . The 2024 rankings measured 1500 global universities over five metrics – Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Faculty/Student Ratio, International Faculty and International Students.


The University of Adelaide ranked 111th in the 2024 THE World University Rankings. The 2024 rankings measured 1600+ global universities over five performance areas – Teaching, Research, Citations, Industry Income and International Outlook.

The University of Adelaide ranked 151-200 in the 2023 Academic Ranking of World Universities. The 2023 rankings measured 1000 global universities over six metrics – Alumni Awards, Staff Awards, Highly Cited Researchers, Nature & Science Papers, Publication Output and Per-Capita Academic Performance.

The University of Adelaide ranked 90th in the 2022 Aggregate Ranking of Top Universities 

The 2022 rankings measured 2,052 global universities based on aggregating their most recent ranks in the Shanghai Ranking Academic Ranking of World Universities, QS World University Rankings and Times Higher Education World University Rankings schemes.

The University of Adelaide ranked 5th in the Australian Financial Review’s Best Universities Ranking. The ranking evaluates performance under five pillars: student satisfaction, research performance, global reputation, career impact, and equity and access.

The University of Adelaide was ranked in the global Top 100 for 16 subject areas in the 2023 US News Best Global Universities Subject Area Rankings .

At subject level, US News uses various bibliometric measures, including publications and citations, as well as indicators for global and regional reputation in each specific subject.

Top 100 Subject areas for 2023:

 

Subject area Ranking
   
Artificial Intelligence 7
Electrical and Electronic Engineering 25
Computer Science 41 (tied)
Physical Chemistry 45
Engineering 46 (tied)
Water Resources 52 (tied)
Plant and Animal Science 59
Chemistry 65
Nanoscience and Nanotechnology 71
Physics 74 (tied)
Geosciences 88
Civil Engineering 93
Public, Environmental and Occupational Health  95
Environment/Ecology 96 (tied)
Energy and Fuels 97 (tied)
Chemical Engineering 98

The University of Adelaide was ranked in the global Top 100 for 14 subject areas in the 2024 QS World University Rankings by Subject. At subject level, QS assesses universities over five metrics – Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Citations, H-Index and International Research Network which are weighted according to subject area.

Top 100 subject areas for 2024:

Subject 2024
Petroleum Engineering 7
Mineral & Mining Engineering 19
Dentistry 39
Anatomy & Physiology 48
Agriculture & Forestry 76
Environmental Sciences 90
Veterinary Science 51-70
Classics & Ancient History 51-90
Philosophy 51-100
Archaeology 51-100
Nursing 51-100
Earth & Marine Sciences 51-100
Geology 51-100
Geophysics 51-100
 

The University of Adelaide was ranked in the global Top 100 for 3 subject areas in the 2024 THE World University Rankings by Subject. At subject level, THE assesses universities over the same five performance areas as per their World University Rankings, with the weightings recalibrated for each subject area. Top 100 subject areas for 2024:

Subject Area
Ranking
Clinical & Health 71
Computer Science 85
Education 97
 

The University of Adelaide was ranked in the global Top 100 for 15 subject areas in the 2022 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects . At subject level ShanghaiRanking assesses universities over five metrics - Q1 Journal Impact Factor Publications, Category Normalized Citation Impact (CNCI), International Collaboration, Papers Published in Top Journals and Staff Awards.

Top 100 subject areas for 2023:

Subject Rank
Mining & Mineral Engineering 15
Dentistry & Oral Sciences 27
Water Resources 50
Automation & Control 51-75
Computer Science & Engineering 51-75
Veterinary Sciences 51-75
Civil Engineering 76-100
Chemical Engineering 76-100
Energy Science & Engineering 76-100
Environmental Science & Engineering 76-100
Nursing 76-100