2016 Australian University Rankings

Institution Administrator Admin Salary 2015 ($000) Surplus 2015 ($m) Revenue 2015 ($m) Students 2014 Shanghai 2016 Rankings Times 2016 Rankings QS 2016 Rankings Expenditure (Estimate) ($m) Expenditure per Students ($)
Sydney Michael Spence 1385 159.7 1911 56,000 82 60 46 1751.3 31,273
ACU Greg Craven 1335 43 477 29,600   600+ 701+ 434 14,662
Flinders Colin Stirling 1195 14.3 460 24,300 300+ 350+ 550+ 445.7 18,341
Melbourne Glyn Davis 1119 145.4 2115 55,500 40 33 42 1969.6 35,488
UQ Peter Hoj 1089 58.5 1730 50,700 55 60 51 1671.5 32,968
QUT Peter Coaldrake 1065 33.7 960 47,200 200+ 200+ 276 926.3 19,625
Monash Margaret Gardner 1025 162.1 1900 67,000 79 74 65 1737.9 25,938
Adelaide Warren Bebbington 1023 50 935 27,100 100+ 142 125 885 32,656
UNSW Ian Jacobs 1015 78 1761 53,500 100+ 78 49 1683 31,457
UWA Paul Johnson 985 33.1 946 26,300 96 125 102 912.9 34,711
Griffith Ian OConnor 980 50.9 881 45,300 300+ 250+ 336 830.1 18,324
RMIT Martin Bean 955 67.7 1160 59,000 400+ 400+ 252 1092.3 18,513
JCU Sandra Harding 951 26.3 525 22,200 200+ 250+ 340 498.7 22,463
Deakin Jane den Hollander 935 68 949 49,000 200+ 250+ 355 881 17,979
Macquarie S Bruce Dowton 925 20.8 930 39,700 200+ 250+ 247 909.2 22,901
Wgong Paul Wellings 915 51 671 31,000 300+ 250+ 218 620 20,000
UniSA David Lloyd 875 55.9 551 32,000   250+ 288 495.1 15,471
La Trobe John Dewar 855 63.4 715 35,000 300+ 350+ 386 651.6 18,617
Swinburne Linda Kristjansen 855 15.3 566 34,600 400+ 350+ 440+ 550.7 15,916
WSU Barney Glover 835 41.3 755 44,000 300+ 400+ 550+ 713.7 16,220
Canberra Stephen Parker 805 17 288 16,900   400+ 550+ 271 16,035
Curtin Deborah Terry 785 63.4 909 50,500 200+ 400+ 306 845.6 16,744
Newcastle Caroline McMillen 765 61.6 718 37,500 300+ 200+ 245 656.4 17,504
Sunshine Coast Greg Hill 726 15.1 216 11,600   500+   200.9 17,318
UTS Attila Brungs 725 36.99 827 39,000 300+ 250+ 193 790.01 20,256
UNE Annabelle Duncan 725 17.2 325 21,500     701+ 307.8 14,316
Charles Sturt Andy Vann 720 7.7 510 39,200     701+ 502.3 12,813
Southern Cross Peter Lee 697 -3.7 199 14,500   500+   202.7 13,979
FUA David Battersby 695 6.4 273 14,200       266.6 18,774
VU Peter Dawkins 695 -11.8 420 28,000 300+ 350+ 228 431.8 15,421
ECU Steve Chapman 615 28.9 389 26,700   500+ 701+ 360.1 13,486
USQ Jan Thomas 614 81.6 369 27,500   600+ 701+ 287.4 10,450
CQU Scott Bowman 588 15 359 19,300   400+ 600+ 344 17,823
CDU Simon Maddocks 578 -14 308 11,500   250+ 550+ 322 28,000
Murdoch Andrew Taggart 525 -4.5 318 24,100   400+ 500+ 322.5 13,381
ANU Ian Young       22,400 77 47 22    
UTas Peter Rathjen       29,200 200+ 300+ 370    

Sources: The Australian, Australian Department of Education, Times Higher Education, Shanghai Ranking Consultancy, Quacquarelli Symonds

Extrapolating from the data,

  • The Top 10 Australian universities by Administrator Salary shows a mix of Group of Eight universities, smaller institutions "Australian Catholic University" and "Flinders University", and the "Queensland University of Technology" (ATN-affiliated) making the cut.
    • Administrator salary is not a strong indicator of other performance metrics, nor the quality of the institution
    • In some cases, this metric highlights the sharp unbalance between treatment towards Staff and Students
  • The Top 3 Australian universities by Surplus are Group of 8 universities, whilst the rest of the Top 10 consist of universities from a mix of affiliations, consisting of RUN, ATM, IRU, and independents.
    • The Surplus of the institution typically reflects their revenue, as there is a correlation between universities with high revenue and high surplus
    • This suggests that universities with high revenue are able to attain surplus more easily than universities without
  • The Bottom 4 Australian universities by Surplus appear to be in financial strife, with negative surplus.
  • Group of Eight universities dominate the Top 10 Revenue rankings, with non-Go8 universities RMIT placing 6th, QUT placing 7th and Deakin University placing 8th.
    • Including the correlation with Surplus data, Top 10 Universities with high revenue also have over 40,000 students, with the exception of Go8 university - The University of Western Australia (26,000 students).
    • This strongly suggests that revenue is mostly derived from tuition fees and research grants, which increases with student population
  • The University of Melbourne takes the crown for the 2016 world rankings, topping 2 global ranks (relative to Australia).
  • The Group of Eight take the top 8 positions in all major World University Rankings (Shanghai, Times, QS).
  • The Queensland University of Technology (9th) and Macquarie University (10th) make it into the Top 10 (in Australia) in the Shanghai Rankings - Tie breaking on other rankings
  • The Queensland University of Technology (9th) and Newcastle University (10th) make it into the Top 10 (in Australia) in the Times Rankings - Tie breaking on other rankings
  • The University of Technology Sydney (9th) and Wollongong University (10th) make it into the Top 10 (in Australia) in the QS 2016 Rankings
  • Top 5 Universities in this scale are Group of Eight universities, which implies that Group of Eight universities invests more financially into their students then other Australian University Groups.

Conclusion

Group of Eight universities dominate rankings in terms of Australian universities, and although not as strong as America's Ivy League, the Group of Eight are able to compete on an international level (in most cases, making the Top 100).

The Australian Technology Network are a promising new group that looks to upstage Group of Eight universities, and already has made themselves into global university rankings.

Universities of other affiliations in Australia are also able to make it into global rankings.