Canberra is home to Australia's best university once more, the latest international rankings have revealed.
The University of New South Wales (UNSW) has claimed the national top spot in the 2027 QS Rankings.
The rankings take into account academic reputation, employer reputation, research citations, the faculty members per student ratio, international student and staff ratios and sustainability.
The university has been climbing the Australian charts over the past three years, taking third place in 2025, second in 2026 and has now edged out University of Melbourne for number one.
UNSW's world ranking improved from 20th last year back to 19th in 2027.
The university has run the Duntroon campus for 60 years and has recently expanded civilian offerings in the ACT.
The university has taken over the old CIT Reid site and has started construction on a new Civic campus.
UNSW vice-chancellor Attila Brungs said he was exceptionally proud of the result, which was a testament to the university's focus on education, research and innovation.
"We are excited to be number one because it allows us to do more, have more impact, more influence and access to more networks," he said.
"It gives our talented staff and students even greater opportunities to have a positive impact on the world."
Australian National University (ANU) also increased its position in the national QS rankings, moving from equal 32nd place with The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2026 to 29th in 2027.
This places the ANU as the fourth-highest ranked university in Australia, the same ranking as 2025 and 2026.
ANU vice-chancellor Rebekah Brown said she was happy with the results, which shows graduates leave the university with skills and knowledge needed to solve complex challenges.
"We stand among the top 2 per cent of the world's leading universities, reflecting the excellence of our research, teaching and public policy contribution," she said.
"This has been made possible by the efforts of the outstanding ANU community.''
The University of Canberra's (UC) rankings also improved, from equal 494th to 477th, putting the university at 27 out of Australia's 37 universities.
"This improvement can be attributed to UC researchers who are leading some notable research locally and dedicating themselves to educating the next generation of leaders," UC vice-chancellor Bill Shorten said.
Mr Shorten said the information was based on 2024 data and believed UC was on a path to see further improvements moving forward.
"Rankings are one of the many metrics that the University of Canberra uses to build a holistic picture of our performance, but they don't form our only benchmark," he said.
"The two most important metrics we rate are student experience, and how quickly our graduates get a job after they leave UC - and we do really well on both."
