Nursing #6 and transportation science #8 globally  

The University of Sydney has continued its strong performance in global rankings, with two research areas in the top 10, five in the top 20 and 17 in the top 50 globally, in the latest ShanghaiRanking league table.

Ranked sixth globally, up four positions from 2024, nursing is our top discipline worldwide in the prestigious ShanghaiRanking - formerly Academic Ranking of World Universities or ARWU - Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) for 2025.  

Transportation Science and Technology continued to be ranked 8th globally and Public Health is ranked 12th. 

GRAS rankings use a range of objective academic indicators and third-party data to measure the performance of world universities in respective subjects. Metrics include research output, research influence, international collaboration, research quality and international academic awards. 

The global ranking considers 2,000 institutions across 100 countries and regions on 57 subjects across Natural Sciences, Engineering, Life Sciences, Medical Sciences, and Social Sciences.

"Our consistent results in these and other competitive rankings reflect the outstanding work of our staff and their commitment to delivering research and teaching excellence as we continue to pursue and deliver on the ambition of our 2032 strategy, to contribute to a better world at a time of enormous challenges,” said Professor Mark Scott, Vice-Chancellor and President.

The University is ranked first in Australia for four subjects - Transportation Science and Technology, Public Health, Library & Information Science and Mathematics.

Overall, 34 Sydney research areas were ranked in the top 100 globally out of 50 subjects, including Artificial Intelligence which Shanghai Ranking included for the first time. 

This year 17 University of Sydney subjects ranked in the top 50:

• Nursing - 6 
• Transportation Science & Technology - 8 
• Public Health -12 
• Telecommunication Engineering - 13 
• Agricultural Sciences - 14 
• Library & Information Science - 24 
• Business Administration - 26 
• Management - 31 
• Finance - 34 
• Human Biological Sciences - 35 
• Education - 41 
• Civil Engineering - 45 
• Dentistry & Oral Sciences - 45 
• Geography - 45 
• Artificial Intelligence - 47 
• Clinical Medicine - 49 
• Economics- 49

Interim Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Julie Cairney said:

 “These results are a testament to the quality and diversity of research taking place at the University and the dedication of our research community to addressing the world’s greatest challenges.”

 “For example, our research in our most highly ranked disciplines includes:

• a nursing system we developed to help to save lives in emergency departments, setting a new national standard for nursing care since its rollout in 2020 
• self-driving robotic vehicles communicating with traffic lights on the streets of Sydney, as part of an intelligent transport trial to support road safety led by the University and Transport for NSW 
• the key hurdle to Australians buying an electric vehicle  in the near future 
• how digital mental health services and tools could help close the care gap for young people in Western Sydney
• how women in Australia are being left behind when it comes to heart attack care and how at the current rate, the gender gap won't close for at least another decade
•  pioneering new approaches to environmental and community health monitoring, using wastewater analysis to inform public policy and environmental protection.” 

This year the University ranked 72nd in the world in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)  also released by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy. 

We ranked 25th globally in the QS World University Rankings  and in the 2025 QS World University Rankings by Subject, had five subjects placed in the global top 20 and 35 in the top 50.