Australia's top-ranked universities have lost ground in the latest international rankings, ceding to stronger competition from their regional counterparts.
The University of Melbourne remained Australia's top-ranked institution but fell six spots to 34th in the latest Times Higher Education world rankings index.
By contrast, the National University of Singapore moved up to 23rd, placing it 11 spots ahead of Melbourne instead of one behind.
Only five of Australia's ranked universities gained ground, with the other seven all suffering falls.
Rankings editor Phil Baty says the poor performance should be a reality check for Australia.
"It's not as if suddenly Melbourne's got a lot worse, it's just that it's not competing as much," Mr Baty said.
"Standing still isn't really enough in this very intense competition among the very best in the world."
The Australian National University remained the nation's second-ranked institution but dipped 11 positions to 48th.
The University of Queensland (63rd) leapfrogged the University of Sydney, which dropped 10 places to 72nd.
World University Rankings 2013-14 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rank | Institution | Overall score |
| 1 | California Institute of Technology | 94.9 |
| 2 | Harvard University | 93.9 |
| 3 | University of Oxford | 93.9 |
| 4 | Stanford University | 93.8 |
| 5 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 93.0 |
| 34 | University of Melbourne | 68.2 |
| 48 | Australian National University | 64.4 |
| 63 | University of Queensland | 59.9 |
| 72 | University of Sydney | 58.8 |
| 91 | Monash University | 54.6 |
| 114 | University of New South Wales | 51.7 |
| 168 | University of Western Australia | 46.4 |
Monash University also moved up to 91st from 99th.
University of New South Wales dropped out of the top 100 institutions to be ranked 114th.
Australia also lost a top 200 institution in the University of Adelaide, which dropped from 176th into the 201-225 bracket.
Mr Baty says the results will be particularly alarming to the sector, given it is yet to feel the full impact of $2.3 billion in planned cuts.
"The funding environment isn't helping, it's damaging the universities' ability to really stay at the top of their game and to compete on equal terms," he said.
"Australia risks losing a really strong position in the Asia-Pacific region because it lacks enthusiasm at government level for its universities."
He says the new Abbott Government has not indicated it is looking to reverse any of the cuts and its attitude to arts and humanities in particular is also worrying.
Internationally, universities in Canada, France and Israel also suffered falls overall.
Queensland University of Technology vice-chancellor Peter Couldrake says while the Times survey is one of many, it is important to keep an eye on the overall trend for Australia.
"Falls of two or three places are really statistically insignificant, it's where there are significant falls and they're occurring fall on fall where you would worry," he said.
"Countries like Taiwan, South Korea and of course China - which have all made very heavy investments in their systems, not only in research but in education and other activities as well - they're all doing well, so the competitive tide is rising," he said.
Data for the rankings are compiled by Thomson Reuters using 13 indicators across five areas.
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