La Trobe top improver in Global Rankings

La Trobe has risen 46 places to claim its new spot at 316 of the top 1422 universities from around the world.

The steep rise makes La Trobe the strongest improver in Australia, and secures its best ranking position in the last decade.

Vice-Chancellor Professor John Dewar AO said it reflects the University’s continuous focus on high-impact, internationally recognised research.

“Whether it’s helping solve issues like global food insecurity, protecting the world’s biodiversity, understanding and preventing disease, or leading social change and equity, La Trobe is at the forefront of impactful research,” Professor Dewar said.

“This result is, in large part, due to a strong increase in academic citations per faculty, meaning our talented academics are continually producing world-class research that makes a difference.”

Professor Dewar said the University’s focus on providing an outstanding experience for staff and students also factored into the achievement.

“Our exceptional teaching and learning, strong graduate employment outcomes, and longstanding reputation as an employer of choice, all contributed to this year’s performance,” Professor Dewar said.

“International students from countries like India, China, Sri Lanka, and many other parts of the world, seek out La Trobe as a destination to gain a world-class education, while forging strong links with industry, and setting themselves up for successful careers in their chosen field.”

QS described La Trobe’s rise of 46 places as “extraordinary”.

“(The University) owes this meteoric rise principally to improved performance in the Citations per Faculty indicator,” the organisation’s press release reads.

“La Trobe University has grown its research output by 37.7% since 2016, nearly three times the national average (13.1%). Half its research is in Medicine, which constitutes 44.8% of research output in this field. This includes highly cited work on disability management and cancer.”

There were 1422 ranked institutions in this round of the QS World Rankings, landing La Trobe’s performance in the top 23 percentile.

As part of the process 16.4 million academic papers and 117.8 million citations were analysed and recorded. The ranking also considered the perceptions of over 151,000 academics and 99,000 employers around the world.

QS considers each university’s academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per faculty, academic staff to student ratio, international academic staff ratio and international student ratio.