Discover the top universities in Australia using the information from the Times Higher Education's World University Rankings for 2024.
1. University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a really old university, starting in 1853, and it's the second-oldest one in Australia. Some very smart people like Nobel Prize winner Peter Doherty and Royal Society fellows David Solomon and David Boger work and teach there.
Lots of students, about 47,000, study at Melbourne, and there are around 6,500 people who help them learn. The university has even more friends around the world – about 280,000 alumni (that's people who used to study there). And guess what? 15% of them live outside Australia!
If you become a student at the University of Melbourne, you won't be alone. There are more than 12,000 students from 130 different countries. That's a lot of friends from all over the world!
2. Monash University
Monash University started in 1958 and is the biggest university in Australia. Some cool people like musician Nick Cave, Booker Prize-winning writer Peter Carey, and playwright David Williamson went there.
The university is named after a really smart and important person, Sir John Monash, who was an engineer, military leader, and public administrator.
Students at Monash can pick from over 6,000 courses in different subjects like art, design, business, and more. The university has 10 faculties, which are like big groups of subjects to learn.
Monash University has lots of places to learn – not just in Australia but also in other countries like Malaysia, Italy, India, and China. They even have many libraries with more than 3.2 million books and things to help students learn.
3. University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is super old, starting back in 1851, and it's the oldest university in Australia.
About 46,000 students go to the University of Sydney, and they come from 134 different countries. That's like having friends from all over the world!
The university has over 280 programs where students can go to other countries and learn new things. Imagine going to 30 different countries – that's so exciting!
Even some Australian prime ministers went to this university, like Edmund Barton, who won Australia's first federal election in 1901.
The University of Sydney is like a big hub of smart thinking. They have more than 90 places where people do really important research on all kinds of things that are known and respected all around the world.
4. Australian National University
The Australian National University started in 1946. It's in Canberra, which is not just any city – it's the capital of Australia and where the government sits.
This university was made by the Australian Parliament, and it's like a special place for more advanced learning.
Guess what? The Australian National University has super-smart people! Six of them even won Nobel Prizes. And, the person in charge, called the vice-chancellor, is a Nobel laureate named Brian Schmidt. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011 for figuring out cool things about the universe.
The university also has friends in other countries, like the National University of Singapore. They work together to learn and discover new things.
5. The University of Queensland
The University of Queensland has lots of students – around 40,000! And guess what? 12,000 of them are from 141 different countries. That's like having friends from all over the world!
It's also home to many students who are studying really advanced things, like over 13,800 postgraduate students. They're like the superheroes of learning!
The university has some really famous graduates, like a Nobel Prize winner, CEOs of big companies, Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush, and a cool poet named Bronwyn Lea.
The main campus is in a nice part of Brisbane called St Lucia. It's so green and leafy – like a big, beautiful garden! There are two more campuses and lots of places where students go to learn cool stuff.
And did you know? Almost one-third of the students come from other countries – more than 142 countries! That's like having a big, global party of friends!