Australia places 24 universities on the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026 for Computer Science & Information Systems, making it the ninth most-represented country out of 79 nations with entries in this subject. The country’s best result is The University of Melbourne at rank 31, which means no Australian institution reaches the global top 30 in this field. A median rank cannot be computed for Australia’s 24 listed universities: the institution at the median position has only a published rank range (251-300), and QS publishes only a rank range for some institutions rather than an exact rank.
How Australia Sits in the Global Picture
The 2026 subject ranking covers 850 universities worldwide. Australia’s 24 entries place it alongside Spain at 24, and behind Canada (25), Italy (26), France (31), Germany (33), India (44), China (Mainland) (57), the United Kingdom (59), and the United States (106). While Australia is not among the top five most-listed countries, its presence is substantial relative to its population and university system size.
The country’s strength is concentrated rather than evenly distributed. Three Australian universities appear in the top 50, and eight are inside the top 100. Beyond that, the numbers thin out quickly: 10 institutions are within the top 150, 12 within the top 200, and 13 within the top 300. The remaining 11 universities appear in published rank bands rather than exact ranks: one is in the 251-300 band, two in the 351-400 band, four in the 401-450 band, one in the 451-500 band, one in the 551-600 band, one in the 651-700 band, one in the 701-750 band, and one in the 751-850 band.
| Country/Region | Ranked Institutions |
|---|---|
| United States of America | 106 |
| United Kingdom | 59 |
| China (Mainland) | 57 |
| India | 44 |
| Germany | 33 |
| France | 31 |
| Italy | 26 |
| Canada | 25 |
| Australia | 24 |
| Spain | 24 |
The Top Tier: Three Universities in the Global Top 50
Australia’s best performance in Computer Science & Information Systems comes from The University of Melbourne at rank 31. It is joined in the top 50 by two other institutions, giving the country three entries in the 31–50 rank band. None of Australia’s universities reach the top 10, top 20, or top 30 bands.
The top 100 contains eight Australian universities in total. Beyond the three in the top 50, five more sit in the 51–100 range. This means that one-third of Australia’s ranked computer science programs are globally competitive at the top level, a meaningful concentration of quality even without a single institution in the top 30.
The score distribution reinforces this picture. Six Australian universities score 70 or above in the overall QS subject score, and six more fall in the 60–69 band. Among the 12 Australian institutions with a published overall score, six score 70 or above and six fall in the 60–69 band; the other 12 are listed with a rank or rank band but no overall score, and a missing overall score does not mean the institution scored below any threshold. The country’s strongest programs are solidly in the 60–79 range, with the very top performers clustered in the 70s.
The Middle Tier: Institutions Ranked 101–300
Four Australian universities fall in the published rank bands between 101 and 300: two in the 101–150 band and two in the 151–200 band, with none in the 201–300 band. Breaking this down by rank band: two sit in the 101–150 range, two in the 151–200 range, and none in the 201–300 range. This middle tier represents programs that are well-regarded internationally but do not compete with the global leaders in this subject.
No median rank can be computed for this group, because the institution at the median position has only a published rank range (251-300). Beyond the published rank bands up to 300, the remaining Australian institutions appear only in published rank bands such as 351-400, 401-450, 451-500, 551-600, 651-700, 701-750 and 751-850, which shows that the country’s computer science education extends well beyond its most prestigious institutions.
What the Scores Tell Us
The QS subject ranking for Computer Science & Information Systems draws on academic reputation, employer reputation, and citation metrics, among other indicators. Australia’s score profile shows a clear separation between its top programs and the rest. Six institutions achieve overall scores of 70 or above, and six more fall in the 60–69 band. Among the 12 Australian institutions with a published overall score, none falls below the 60–69 band; the other 12 are listed with a rank or rank band but no overall score, and score bands cover only institutions whose score was published.
This distribution suggests that Australia’s computer science programs, as measured by QS, are generally above the global median for this subject, but the country lacks the very highest-scoring institutions that dominate the top of the world rankings. The gap between the best Australian program and the global leaders is reflected in the absence of any Australian institution in the top 30.
| Subject Rank | Institution | Country/Region | Academic Reputation | Employer Reputation | Citations | Overall Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | The University of Melbourne | Australia | 69.4 | 79.6 | 86.8 | 76.6 |
| 38 | The University of Sydney | Australia | 64.2 | 76.3 | 94.5 | 75.1 |
| 48 | Australian National University (ANU) | Australia | 65.9 | 75 | 91.3 | 73.3 |
| 51 | Monash University | Australia | 59.5 | 74.5 | 93.5 | 72.6 |
| 54 | The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney) | Australia | 59.3 | 74.8 | 91 | 72.4 |
| 55 | University of Technology Sydney | Australia | 62.1 | 67.1 | 94.9 | 72 |
| 73 | Adelaide University | Australia | 54.1 | 72.3 | 95.2 | 69.6 |
| 99 | The University of Queensland | Australia | 55.3 | 69.9 | 89 | 67.6 |
| 101 | Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia) | Australia | 58.4 | 66.6 | 88 | 67.4 |
| 117 | RMIT University | Australia | 55 | 65.4 | 85.7 | 65.4 |
| 160 | Queensland University of Technology (QUT) | Australia | 53.7 | 58 | 88.7 | 62.9 |
| 172 | Deakin University | Australia | 50.7 | 57.1 | 91.2 | 62.5 |
| 251-300 | The University of Western Australia | Australia | 45 | 62.3 | 89.8 | — |
| 351-400 | Swinburne University of Technology | Australia | 39.2 | 51.9 | 93.8 | — |
| 351-400 | University of Wollongong | Australia | 37.8 | 57.5 | 87.4 | — |
| 401-450 | Curtin University | Australia | 37.1 | 57.1 | 84.7 | — |
| 401-450 | The University of Newcastle, Australia (UON) | Australia | 36.9 | 53.7 | 90.7 | — |
| 401-450 | La Trobe University | Australia | 39.9 | 52.3 | 89 | — |
| 401-450 | Griffith University | Australia | 37.7 | 48.2 | 94.1 | — |
| 451-500 | Western Sydney University | Australia | 38.3 | 54 | 83.3 | — |
Data Notes
The figures in this article are drawn from the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026, published by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), with a data reference date of 2026-04-03. The rankings cover 60 subject-specific tables and incorporate academic reputation, employer reputation, citations, H-index, and international research network indicators. The official page is QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026
The analysis presented here is based on parsing the subject table for Computer Science & Information Systems and filtering for institutions located in Australia. Rank values are taken as the lower-bound integer. The country leaderboard reflects the number of ranked institutions per country across the full global list of 850 universities in this subject. No median rank is calculated across Australia’s 24 listed institutions, because the institution at the median position has only a published rank range (251-300). The score bands and rank bands are derived from the same dataset and represent the distribution of Australian universities across the global ranking structure.