A turbulent year for Australian universities has culminated in a sharp fall in the global QS World University Rankings, raising concerns about the country’s academic standing amid shifting international dynamics. Meanwhile, India has recorded its strongest-ever performance, emerging as a rising global education powerhouse.
The 2026 edition of the QS rankings, released on Thursday, shows that the University of Melbourne, long Australia’s highest-ranking institution, fell seven places to 19th globally. The University of Sydney dropped from 18th to 25th, while the University of New South Wales slipped to 20th from 19th. The latest rankings, released on Thursday by global education consultancy Quacquarelli Symonds, evaluated 1,501 universities across 106 countries using data from over 127,000 academics.
In total, 25 of Australia’s 36 ranked universities (69%) lost ground, with only seven improving. This represents the third-worst national performance globally, trailing only Austria (88% decline) and Russia (85%). The steep fall is attributed to a combination of domestic policy changes and international political dynamics.
The rankings, compiled by global education consultancy Quacquarelli Symonds, draw on insights from over 127,000 academics and measure institutions on reputation, research impact, teaching quality, internationalisation, and sustainability. The drop in Australian performance comes against the backdrop of increased competition in the Asia-Pacific, strained government support, and external political interference.
“Over the past five years, we have seen the reputation of Australian universities gradually decreasing,” Angel Calderon, Director of Strategic Insights at RMIT and a member of the QS advisory board, told The Guardian.
“Organisational restructuring, staff movements, operational deficits and any kind of disruption are likely to influence institutional perceptions elsewhere.”
The fall was particularly evident in academic and employer reputation metrics, with 20 and 30 Australian universities declining in those categories respectively. While Australia maintained strength in research citations and international faculty representation, the broader narrative is one of reputational decline and policy uncertainty.
QS CEO Jessica Turner flagged multiple “areas of concern” for Australia’s higher education sector. “International students have been drawn into a wider national debate in Australia around migration and housing, where they are sometimes perceived as contributing to systemic pressures,” she said.
Policy shifts — including tougher visa rules, higher English-language requirements, and the slowing of international student processing from so-called “high-risk” countries — have created uncertainty for universities that depend heavily on global student enrolments. Simultaneously, the Trump administration in the US has suspended research programmes at at least seven Australian universities, and a dozen institutions were asked to respond to a politically sensitive questionnaire on their alignment with US interests.
Vicki Thomson, chief executive of the Group of Eight (Go8), said in a LinkedIn post that the ranking showed that Australian higher education continues to “punch above its weight” and is testimony to the quality of our universities and our academic and research staff right across the entire sector.
“At a time when global collaboration underpinned by quality has never been more important, the ranking result for Australia and in particular the Go8, is impressive,” she said.
“That we have two Go8 members ranked in the top 20 and six in the world’s top 50, is an outstanding result and must not be taken for granted but rather leveraged in these contested times.”
While Australia grapples with its academic identity, India is experiencing an extraordinary rise, reshaping the higher education map.
The 2026 rankings include 54 Indian institutions, the country’s highest representation to date. With eight new entrants — more than any other country — India has become the fourth most represented nation globally, behind only the US, UK, and China.
At the forefront of this growth is IIT Delhi, which jumped more than 70 places to secure the 123rd spot globally — a striking improvement from 197th just two years ago. It was joined by IIT Bombay and IIT Madras, ranked 129th and 180th respectively, along with IISc Bengaluru, IIT Kanpur, University of Delhi, and Anna University. Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), known for its strong social sciences and humanities profile, was ranked 555th globally and was commended for its sustainability efforts.
These gains are not merely symbolic. Nearly 48% of India’s ranked universities improved their positions this year, and five institutions made it into the global top 100 for Employer Reputation, a sign of growing international confidence in Indian graduates. In the metric of Citations per Faculty, a key indicator of research excellence, eight Indian institutions ranked in the global top 100, with India achieving an average score of 43.7 — outperforming research leaders such as Germany, the UK, and the US.
QS analysts highlighted the role of deliberate government reform in India’s success. A decade of steady growth, driven in part by the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP), has transformed India’s academic ecosystem, promoting quality, research, and international collaboration.
India is now the fastest-growing G20 nation in the QS rankings, with a remarkable 390% increase in representation over the past decade. “These outcomes reflect the growing global trust in India’s education ecosystem and the momentum created by NEP 2020 and reforms promoting quality, research, innovation, and international collaboration,” noted QS in its India report.
The contrast between Australia and India underscores a larger realignment in global education. As Western institutions struggle with policy volatility, internal restructuring, and external pressures, countries in the Asia-Pacific — led by India and China — are investing heavily in education to seize leadership in global academia.
For Australia, the rankings serve as a wake-up call. As Calderon warned, “Universities are calling for sustainable research funding models and greater policy certainty around international education. These are critical to safeguarding and strengthening one of Australia’s greatest national assets, particularly as the country faces growing competition from across the APAC region.”
If India’s current trajectory continues, it may soon not send students abroad but also compete directly with the world’s top study destinations — a shift that could fundamentally reshape international education flows in the decade ahead.
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