Sydney’s Top Universities in THE World Rankings 2024: Who Climbed the Most?

Sydney’s university sector remains a key draw for international students, anchored by four institutions that have carved distinct trajectories in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2024. The University of Sydney (USYD) sits at 60, UNSW Sydney at 71, the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) at 133, and Macquarie University at 175, while Western Sydney University (WSU) enters the 201–250 band. Over the past five years, the biggest climber has been Macquarie University, leaping from the 201–250 bracket in 2020 to 175th — a shift driven by surging research output and rising teaching scores (Times Higher Education, 2024; Study NSW, 2023). This timeline charts the stories behind those rank changes and what they mean for anyone planning to study in Australia’s largest education city.

Ranking Trajectory 2020–2024: The Long View

The five‑year window captures the tail of a pre‑pandemic rankings cycle, the shock of COVID‑19, border closures, and a rapid rebuild. The THE World University Rankings evaluate institutions on five pillars: teaching (the learning environment), research environment (volume, income and reputation), research quality (citation impact), international outlook, and industry income. Even small movements in these metrics can shift a university’s global position by ten or more places.

Year‑on‑year rank change data

The following table summarises the THE World University Ranking positions for Sydney’s four major players from 2020 to 2024, drawing on the official THE lists released each September.

* The 201–250 band in 2020 was estimated to place Macquarie around the 250 mark, meaning the move to 175 represents a rise of up to 75 places. Even at the conservative end, the improvement is at least 26 positions.

USYD seesawed between 51st and 60th, its highest point coming in 2021, when a strong reputation survey and growing research income pushed it to 51. UNSW remained the most stable of the group, drifting only four spots over the period. UTS registered the most dramatic year‑over‑year improvement in absolute terms, jumping 34 places from 2020 to 2021 alone. Macquarie, however, sustained steady gains that saw it exit the 200s and vault to an all‑time high for the institution.

Early pandemic disruption

2020 and 2021 rankings relied heavily on data collected in 2018–2019 and early 2020, meaning the immediate dislocation of border closures was not fully visible until 2022. Yet even then, Australian universities held relatively steady because the methodology weights long‑run reputation surveys (conducted annually) and five‑year publication windows. The Department of Home Affairs recorded a net overseas student visa grant decline of 48% from 2019–20 to 2020–21, but actual enrolments at Sydney‑based universities did not crash until subsequent semesters because many students had already arrived. (Department of Home Affairs, Student visa quarterly reports, 2021)

The 2021 rank for UTS, jumping to 160, reflected strong growth in its citations impact score — up from 52.7 to 59.3 on THE’s 100‑point scale — as well as a 15% increase in international co‑authorship over the preceding three years. Macquarie’s climb from 201–250 to 195 in the same year was propelled by a sharp improvement in research environment, which includes research income per academic staff. NSW Department of Education data shows Macquarie’s total research income rose from $101 million in 2018 to $136 million in 2021 (NSW Department of Education, Research Income Report, 2022).

Post‑border openness acceleration

From 2022 onward, the return of international students and the resumption of face‑to‑face research collaboration began to feed into fresh reputation data and campus‑level metrics. The 2023 edition, for which surveys were fielded in late 2021 and early 2022, captured early reputational recovery. USYD climbed from 58 back to 54, partly thanks to a teaching score that had edged up to 64.2 (from 63.7 in 2022) and a rise in its international‑student‑to‑domestic ratio, hitting 35% in 2022 according to the university’s annual report.

UTS continued its advance, reaching 133 in 2023 and holding there in 2024. The university’s teaching score rose from 51.2 in 2020 to 55.8 in 2024, reflecting deliberate investment in student‑support services and a tightening of its staff‑to‑student ratio. In THE’s 2024 metrics, UTS reported a student‑to‑staff ratio of 18.9, down from 22.4 in the 2020 dataset, strengthening its classroom environment indicator.

Macquarie achieved its 175th spot in 2024 on the back of a research quality score that had jumped from 51.1 to 66.3 across five years. The university’s Field Weighted Citation Impact — a measure of how often its research is cited compared with the global average — crossed 1.1 in 2023, meaning Macquarie’s publications now attract 10% more citations than the world norm in its fields. That gain is one of the largest among Australian universities over the period (Times Higher Education, World University Rankings 2024: Macquarie University profile).

Teaching Quality: Scores That Matter

THE’s teaching pillar accounts for 29.5% of the overall ranking weight and comprises five metrics: a reputation survey (15%), staff‑to‑student ratio (4.5%), doctorate‑to‑bachelor’s ratio (2.25%), doctorates‑awarded‑to‑academic‑staff ratio (6%), and institutional income (2.25%). For students choosing a campus in Sydney, these numbers translate into tangible classroom experiences.

Sydney’s teaching‑score trends

USYD’s teaching score improved 1.8 points over five years, helped by a steady reduction in its student‑to‑staff ratio from 17.2:1 to 15.7:1 (USYD Annual Report, 2023). UNSW has consistently scored highest in teaching among the group, buoyed by a doctorate awards ratio that remains one of the top nationally. In the 2024 reputation survey, UNSW garnered a teaching reputation score of 72.3 (out of 100), the highest in the state.

UTS’s teaching uplift was achieved while the university expanded its domestic and international undergraduate intake. It achieved this by hiring 180 additional continuing academic staff between 2019 and 2023, according to the UTS Annual Report 2023, which allowed small‑group tutorials to remain a feature of first‑year subjects.

Macquarie’s teaching score climbed 5.4 points, the largest absolute gain among the four. The university’s shift to a “Connected Learning” model, which blends on‑campus workshops with asynchronous digital content, and a rise in its doctorate‑to‑bachelor’s ratio from 0.61 to 0.72 contributed to the stronger results. The model drew higher student engagement scores in internal surveys, which feed indirectly into reputation data.

Research Income and Global Standing

The research environment pillar (29% of the total weight) looks at research reputation (18%), research income (6%), and research productivity (5%). For Sydney’s universities, the growth of competitive research income has been a decisive differentiator. NSW Department of Education data reveal the following trajectories for total research income (all sources, including Australian competitive grants, industry contracts, and CRC funding).

Research income, AUD million

Source: NSW Department of Education, NSW Universities Research Income Data, 2024.

The enormous base of research income at USYD and UNSW anchors their high research reputation scores, but the standout on a growth basis is Macquarie, which lifted research income by 63% in five years. Much of Macquarie’s growth came from its success in Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage grants, which reward industry‑university collaboration, and from medical research through Macquarie University Hospital. UTS’s 56% increase was driven by the expansion of its Faculty of Engineering and IT and partnerships with Sydney’s burgeoning tech sector, including Atlassian and Cochlear.

Research income feeds into the ranking not only through the income metric but also through the productivity indicator — publications per academic FTE — because well‑funded labs generate more papers. USYD’s output per FTE rose from 1.8 to 2.1 papers per year over the window; UNSW’s from 1.9 to 2.2 (UNSW Research Output Report, 2023). UTS and Macquarie, from lower bases, saw output grow by 25‑30%, accelerating their climb in the research quality sub‑pillar.

International Student Growth: A Pre‑ and Post‑Pandemic Lens

International students contribute to THE’s “international outlook” pillar (7.5% weight) through the proportion of international students on campus, proportion of international staff, and international collaboration. Study NSW’s International Student Enrolment Data and Department of Home Affairs visa statistics show the ebb and flow.

In 2020, the proportion of international enrolments across Sydney’s universities averaged 29%, with UNSW the highest at 34% and Macquarie the lowest at 22%. Border closures pulled the NSW higher education international student cohort down from 168,000 in 2019 to 117,000 in 2021 (Study NSW, 2022). Enrolments began recovering in 2022 and accelerated in 2023. By Semester 1, 2024, the NSW‑wide international higher education student count had bounced back to 151,000, just 10% below the 2019 peak.

International student share, % of total EFTSL

Sources: USYD Annual Report 2023; UNSW Facts in Brief 2023; UTS Annual Report 2023; Macquarie University Annual Report 2023; Department of Home Affairs, Student visa holders by institution, March 2024.

USYD’s international proportion now exceeds pre‑pandemic levels, adding to the already cosmpolitan atmosphere of its Camperdown and Darlington campuses. The jump at Macquarie from 19% in 2021 to an estimated 28% in 2024 reflects a strategic shift: the university appointed a Pro Vice‑Chancellor (International) in 2022 and launched dedicated pathway colleges in Beijing and Jakarta, directly lifting the pipeline of full‑degree applicants.

International student proportion is not merely a ranking metric; it shapes classroom dynamics. USYD’s Business School now counts over 60 nationalities, while UTS’s Engineering and IT faculty hosts students from more than 90 countries — both facts that appeal to future students seeking a global network.

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