The Top 10 Lists

10. Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (commonly referred to by the acronym "RMIT" - and also used in its post-nominal letters) is an Australian public university and provider of vocational education located in Melbourne, Victoria. It has two main branches: RMIT University (encompassing RMIT TAFE) and RMIT International University.

Founded in 1887 by prominent grazier and philanthropist, The Hon. Francis Ormond, RMIT is the third-oldest higher education provider in the state of Victoria and the seventh-oldest in Australia. Its foundation campus "RMIT City" is located at the northern end of the Melbourne CBD. RMIT was awarded royal patronage in 1954, and is the only Australian university to date to have received the honour.

RMIT is considered to be a selective university, ranked third in the state of Victoria and tenth in Australia - in reference to its research output. According to the THES - QS World University Rankings it is ranked as one of the top five internationalised universities; top 100 universities for producing work-ready graduates; and amongst its annual list of "Top 200 World Universities" - one of 20 institutes of technology that regularly feature in the listing. It has an internationally-recognised reputation for art, design, engineering and technology; and its industry-relevant ethos.

RMIT pioneered the dual sector education system in Australia during the mid-20th century. It is now the largest institution of its type in the country, and offers every level of award available in the Australian Qualifications Framework. Academically, the university focuses on higher education and research while its TAFE division focuses on vocational education and training.

It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network and the Global U8 Consortium.

9. Macquarie University

Macquarie University is an Australian public teaching and research university located in Sydney, with its main campus situated in Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney. Macquarie’s 126 hectare, park-like campus belies its setting within the high-technology corridor of Sydney’s north-west.

The University comprises four faculties, enrolling approximately 33,000 students and having 2,221 (full-time equivalent) academic and professional staff, making it the fourth largest University in Sydney. At present, the University offers 87 undergraduate courses and 124 different post-graduate courses to students. The University is governed by a 17-member council.

The University also has the largest student exchange programme in Australia. The Academic Ranking of World Universities listed Macquarie as 7th among Australian Universities in its 2008 rankings. The University is also ranked among the national top five recipients of relative research income.

Also affiliated with the University are several research centres, schools and institutes including the Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Australian Proteome Analysis Facility, the Institute of Human Cognition and Brain Science, the Macquarie University Research Park and the soon to be opened Macquarie University Hospital.

Macquarie University's linguistics department developed the Macquarie Dictionary, the copyright on which it still owns.

8. University of Western Australia

The University of Western Australia (UWA) is the oldest university in the state of Western Australia. Established in February 1911, it is the only university in the state to be a member of the prestigious Group of Eight, as well as the Sandstone universities. The University was established under and is governed by the University of Western Australia Act 1911. The Act provides for the control and management of the University to be the responsibility of the Senate, and gives it the authority, amongst other things, to make statutes, regulations and by-laws, details of which are contained in the university Calendar. One of the best and most prestigious universities in Australia, UWA is also highly ranked internationally in various publications. To date UWA has close to 100 Rhodes Scholars.

7. University of Adelaide

A public university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third oldest university in Australia. It has produced five Nobel laureates, 101 Rhodes scholars and is a member of the Group of Eight, as well as the Sandstone universities.

Its main campus is located on the cultural boulevard of North Terrace in the Adelaide city centre, adjacent to the Art Gallery of South Australia, the South Australian Museum and the State Library of South Australia. The university also has four other campuses throughout the state: Roseworthy College at Roseworthy; The Waite Institute at Urrbrae; Adelaide University Research Park at Thebarton; and the National Wine Centre in the Adelaide Park Lands, and a campus in Singapore.

6. University of New South Wales

The University of New South Wales, also known as UNSW or colloquially as New South, is a university situated in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

The University was founded in 1949. Today it is recognised as one of Australia’s leading teaching and research institutions, and has developed a strong reputation in a number of fields, including renewable/alternative energy, quantum computing and nanotechnology, taxation reform, information and communication technology, digital media, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, bio-medical engineering, sustainable development, HIV/AIDS research, and social justice and social policy research.

The University is a member of Australia's "Group of Eight" lobby group, and is also a founding member of Universitas 21, an international network of leading research-intensive universities.

5. Monash University

A public university based in Melbourne, Australia. It is Australia's largest university with around 56,000 students and 15,000 staff.

The University has a total of eight campuses: six in Victoria, Australia (Clayton, Caulfield, Berwick, Peninsula, Parkville and Gippsland), one in Malaysia and one in South Africa. The University also has a research and teaching centre in Prato, Italy and a graduate research school in Mumbai, India.

Monash University is a member of the prestigious "Group of Eight", a group composed of some of the most research-intensive universities in Australia. It was recently ranked by The Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings at number 45 of the world's top 200 universities for 2009. It is one of only three post World War II universities in the world's top 50. It has the largest number of first and total preferences from school leavers in Victoria seeking university places.

Monash is home to a range of major research facilities, including the Australian Synchrotron, the Monash Science Technology Research and Innovation Precinct (STRIP), the Australian Stem Cell Centre, 100 research centres and 17 co-operative research centres.

The university is named after the prominent Australian general Sir John Monash. One of his most well known statements is inscribed along a walkway between the Robert Blackwood Hall and Performing Arts Centre at the Clayton campus: Adopt as your fundamental creed that you will equip yourself for life, not solely for your own benefit, but for the benefit of the whole community.

The University's motto is Ancora imparo (Italian), meaning 'I am still learning', a saying attributed to Michelangelo.

4. University of Queensland

Also known as UQ, is a public university located in Brisbane, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest university in Queensland and the fifth in the nation. The main campus is located in St Lucia, southwest of the Brisbane CBD. UQ is a member of the Australia's Group of Eight lobby group, and the Universitas 21, an international network of research-intensive universities, and is colloquially known as a "sandstone university".

UQ is ranked among the top universities, both in Australia and the world. In 2009, the Australian Cancer Research Foundation reported that UQ have taken the lead in numerous areas of cancer research, having awarded almost $10 million in grants over a three year period.

There are numerous collaborative research centres associated with the university. The Queensland Bioscience Precinct on the St Lucia campus houses scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and the Queensland Brain Institute to form one of the largest biomedical research clusters in Australia.

3. University of Melbourne

The University of Melbourne (informally Melbourne Uni, Unimelb or just Melbourne) is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia, and the oldest in Victoria. The main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb just north of the Melbourne CBD, however it has several other campuses located across Victoria. It is a member of Australia's "Group of Eight" lobby group, the Universitas 21 and Association of Pacific Rim Universities networks, and is colloquially known as a sandstone university. It has one of the largest financial endowments of any Australian university, standing at $1.105bn as of 2008.

Melbourne is ranked among the top universities in Australia and the world. Among Australian universities, it claims a leading position in business, education, engineering, arts, law and medicine.

Melbourne University is the second largest research organisation in Australia after the CSIRO. In 2008, it spent $653.7m on research, and has consistently ranked first or second on the major national research indicators which are used by the Australian Government to allocate public funds for research and training infrastructure.

The university has over 35,000 students, who are supported by nearly 7,200 staff members. In 2008, it introduced the controversial Melbourne Model, a combination of various practices from American and European universities, aimed at consistency with the European Union's Bologna process and international relevance and standing for its degrees. Professor Glyn Davis AC is Melbourne's current vice-chancellor.

2. University of Sydney

The University of Sydney (informally Sydney University, USyd or simply Sydney) is the oldest university in Australia. It was established in Sydney in 1850. In 2009, the university had 47,775 students making it the second largest (behind Monash University) in Australia.

The university has a number of small special-purpose satellite campuses as a result of annexes over the past 20 years, however the main campus is centred on the large Oxbridge-inspired grounds which spread across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the south-western outskirts of the Sydney CBD.

The University of Sydney is a member of Australia's Group of Eight, Academic Consortium 21, the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) and the Worldwide Universities Network.

1. Australian National University

The Australian National University, commonly abbreviated to ANU, is a public teaching and research university located in Canberra, Australia, the federal capital city. The University was established by an act of the Parliament of Australia on 1 August 1946, with the legislated purpose of conducting and promoting research in Australia.

The University is consistently ranked as the best university in Australia by many worldwide university ranking systems, including the Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the annual Times Higher Education Supplement rankings. Its notable staff and alumni include five Nobel laureates.

The University is governed by a 15-member council. ANU is a member of several university alliances and cooperative networks, including the Group of Eight (Australian universities), the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy and the International Alliance of Research Universities.

Source: Wiki, AEN