JCU moves up in world ranks

James Cook University has jumped up the list of the top 500 Universities in the world according to the respected Shanghai Jiao Tong University rankings released today.

Only 15 of Australia’s 38 universities made the list this year with JCU and the University of Queensland being the only two universities from Queensland.

This year JCU is ranked in the 303-401 grouping compared to the 403-510 group in 2007. In the Asia-Pacific region, James Cook University is ranked in the 42-68 grouping of the top 100 and nationally it is ranked in the 10 to 14 grouping. Both are improvements on the University’s ranking in 2007.

The Vice Chancellor of JCU, Professor Sandra Harding, said today that the rankings confirmed the University’s place as one of the leading academic and research institutions in the country.

“I think it is wonderful that Cairns and Townsville and indeed the whole northern Queensland region can boast that it has a world-ranked university. We already knew that but it is good to have it confirmed by an independent assessment,” she said.

She said that the rankings announcement came only days after the University’s teachers were recognised by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC).

“The combination of the national teaching awards and these world rankings show that JCU is one of Australia’s leading universities and is fulfilling its mission of providing a brighter future for northern Queensland,” Professor Harding said.

Professor Harding said that the Jiao Tong rankings were dominated in Australia by the big metropolitan universities, with only three coming from outside a capital city – the universities of Newcastle, Wollongong and of course JCU and all three were ranked at the same level.

“We are very proud to be sharing the status and prestige along with many much older, much bigger and more established universities,” she said. “It is a tribute to the academics and the level of research and teaching that is undertaken at James Cook University.”

Professor Harding said that while JCU was both a regional and middle-sized university in the Australian context, it was holding its own and in some cases surpassing much larger metropolitan universities.

“The fact that 15 of Australia’s institutions make these rankings is proof that Australian tertiary education is of the highest order and it is not just limited – as some would have us believe – to the Group of Eight sandstone universities.”

The Academic Ranking of World Universities is an independent assessmentpublished by the Institute of Higher Education of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University and ranks universities by several indicators of academic or research performance.

Issued: August 13, 2008

Contact: JCU Media Liaison, Jim O’Brien 07 4781 4822 or 0418 892449