| An assessment carried out by reveals that Australia | | | | In order to make inter-country comparisons, calculates |
| has a high density of the World's Top-500 universities | | | | the number of universities in the World’s Top-500 |
| compared to other OECD countries. is an independent, | | | | per million inhabitants. The overall number of universities |
| global and interactive website where visitors can | | | | per million inhabitants is 0.4 for OECD, with the highest |
| obtain information about universities (global rankings, | | | | densities found in small countries in Western Europe |
| student reviews, university news and campus pictures). | | | | (Sweden (1.2), Finland (1.1) and Switzerland (1.0)) and |
| The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) | | | | New Zealand (1.2). |
| is produced by the Institute of Higher Education at the | | | | The number of universities in the World’s Top-500 |
| Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Several indicators of | | | | universities that are located in Australia is 0.7 per million |
| academic or research performance are used to | | | | inhabitants. Other large industrialized countries have the |
| establish the ranking, these include highly cited | | | | following figures: Australia (0.7), the Netherlands (0.7), |
| researchers, articles indexed in major citation indices | | | | United Kingdom (0.7), Canada (0.6), United States (0.5), |
| and staff winning Nobel Prizes. | | | | Germany (0.5), France (0.4), Italy (0.4), Japan (0.2), |
| The World’s Top-500 universities (2008) are | | | | Spain (0.2) and South Korea (0.2). |
| mainly located in Europe (n=210; 40%), the Americas | | | | At the top of the ARWU ranking, there are three |
| (n=190; 40%) and the Asian/Pacific region (n=100; 20%). | | | | Australian universities in the World’s Top-100 |
| There are 15 universities located in Australia, | | | | universities. This compares to 54 for the US, eleven |
| representing 3% of the World's Top-500 universities | | | | for the UK, six for Germany, four each for Canada, |
| and 15% of the universities in the Asian/Pacific region. | | | | Japan and Sweden, and three for Australia, France |
| The Top-5 universities in Australia are: 1. Australian | | | | and Switzerland. All other countries have fewer than |
| National University (ranked 59th in the world); | | | | three universities in the World’s Top-100 universities. |
| 2.University of Melbourne (73rd); 3.University of Sydney | | | | In conclusion, Australia performs well when its |
| (97th); 4. University of Queensland (101-151) and | | | | universities are compared to other OECD countries. It |
| University of Western Australia (101-151). As with many | | | | has a relatively high density of top universities per |
| countries, the top university is located in the capital city | | | | million inhabitants and has three universities in the |
| (Canberra). | | | | World's Top-100. |