Flinders University Archaeology is celebrating a strong result in the latest QS World University Rankings by subject – being 3rd best in Australia and 46th globally.
The QS World University Rankings reveal the top 1000 universities from around the world, covering 80 different locations. There are 47 new entrants in this year’s top 1000 while more than 5500 universities were evaluated and considered for inclusion.
With QS recognising the great difficulties faced by the higher education sector globally in 2020 due to COVID-19 disruptions, the rise of Archaeology at Flinders is especially significant.
“In 2015, archaeology staff did not hold a single current ARC grant. Today, the majority of our staff hold one or more current ARC grants,” explains Archaeology Professor Claire Smith. “Over the past five years, archaeologists at Flinders have been Lead Chief Investigators (CIs) on more than $6 million of grants administered by Flinders. A similar amount has been raised through ARC grants with archaeology CIs led by other disciplines at Flinders or led by other universities.
“How did we turn things around? There is no silver bullet or miracle cure. We did it by working together. We were supported by the University through dedicated technical staff and the provision of new labs and facilities that demonstrated a strong research environment and the University’s faith in us.”
Space Archaeology expert Associate Professor Alice Gorman says team commitment to achieve specific goals is important. “We developed a research strategy with clear aims and research goals that we all agreed on. We created teams and worked with each other to write grant applications. We worked on projects together. We co-authored publications targeted at top tier journals and publishing houses. Our success is not something that could be achieved by a few individuals. It was achieved by a team.”
Maritime Archaeology Program Coordinator, Associate Professor Jonathan Benjamin, says the new ranking underlines the diverse strengths across Flinders’ program. “It’s especially exciting that Flinders Archaeology is the highest-ranked program with a dedicated Maritime Archaeology degree. It shows our strengths across the discipline, embracing so many specialist areas, from Indigenous archaeology to historical archaeology to underwater archaeology.”
Another significant success for Flinders University in the 2020 QS World University Rankings is with Nursing, which is ranked Top 100 in the world by subject.
Flinders is meanwhile listed in the Top 250 in the world by subject for Sociology, Psychology, and Education & Training; Top 300 in the world for Environmental Sciences, Medicine, Pharmacy & Pharmacology; Life Sciences & Medicine is ranked 310 in the world; Top 350 in the world for Agriculture & Forestry; and Top 500 in the world for Biological Sciences, Chemistry and Arts & Humanities.
Four metrics are used to rank subjects by QS. They are:
• Citations – sourced from Scopus, using a five-year window for publications and six years of citations. Self-citation is excluded.
• H-Index – a measure of productivity and impact of published works based on the most cited papers and the number of citations.
• Academic Reputation – based on a survey of academics worldwide, in which respondents are asked to list up to ten domestic and 30 international institutions they consider to be excellent for research in their area of expertise. International nominations are weighted higher than domestic nominations. Respondents may not nominate their own institution.
• Employer Reputation – based on a survey of employers worldwide, in which respondents are asked to list up to 10 domestic and 30 international institutions they consider to be excellent for recruitment of graduates. International and domestic nominations are weighted equally.