The Australian Financial Review has placed UNSW first for Career Impact and equal second overall in its annual rankings of the best Australian universities.
For the third consecutive year, UNSW Sydney has topped the country for Career Impact in the Australian Financial Review's (AFR) 2025 Best Universities Ranking, underscoring the University's commitment to producing graduates who are ready for the workforce.
The AFR Rankings measured success across key pillars, including Research and Career Impact, as well as factors like student satisfaction and equity. In the overall score, UNSW moved up from third last year to rank equal second with the University of Queensland. Across the other categories, UNSW placed third in Research and in the top 20 for both Teaching and Equity.
Career Impact - First
The AFR's Career Impact pillar measured the employability and engagement of graduates entering the workforce after leaving university.
Professor Sarah Maddison, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Education & Student Experience, said UNSW remained deeply committed to preparing graduates for impactful careers.
"We love seeing students transform their practical, high-quality classroom learning into practice and leadership that drives positive change in the workplace and the wider community," Prof. Maddison said.
"It's gratifying to see our emphasis on employability and career readiness reflected in these rankings, and we're incredibly proud to see our graduates continue to succeed as workforce-ready professionals sought after by employers."
The AFR ranking analysed data from QILT surveys on graduate outcomes, covering both the first year after graduation and three years later, as well as employer satisfaction, full-time employment, and salary metrics. It also incorporated three indicators from Times Higher Education (THE) and QS World University Rankings (QS) related to employment and engagement.
Research - Third
The Research pillar included both fundamental and applied research, recognising the volume of high-quality publications, collaborations and international partnerships a university produces. It also considered Australian government data on contract research income.
UNSW Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research & Enterprise, Professor Bronwyn Fox, said the University's researchers were driving innovation and creating real-world impact.
"UNSW is proud to be Australia's most entrepreneurial university and a global leader in research," Prof. Fox said. "We attract the brightest minds and empower them to advance knowledge, tackle global challenges, and shape the industries of the future.
"From medical breakthroughs to clean energy innovations, remarkable discoveries happen every day at UNSW, helping make the world a better place and driving progress for all."
About the AFR Best Universities Ranking
The AFR's Best Universities Ranking draws data from publicly available sources, both from the federal government and international information from the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), Times Higher Education (THE), QS World University Rankings (QS) and CWTS Leiden.
The ranking uses 226 data points on each university and processes these into 61 measures of university performance. It draws on metrics across four categories: career impact, research, equity and teaching.
Analysis was conducted by Professor Tim Brown, Adjunct Professor at Monash University and former director of the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute.
Full results are available on the AFR website .
