The University of Sydney (USYD, or colloquially Sydney Uni) is a public research university in Sydney, Australia, with a focus on science and technology. It was Australia's first university, established in 1850, and is widely recognized as one of the world's top institutions of higher learning. The university is one of just six sandstone-based institutions in Australia. Because to its sprawling campus, which stretches over the inner-city suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington, it has been named one among the world's top ten most beautiful colleges by the British Daily Telegraph and the American Huffington Post, among other publications. Eight academic faculties and university schools are housed inside the university and are responsible for the awarding of degrees at the bachelors, masters and doctorate levels.
According to the QS World Institution Rankings, the university is one of the world's top 25 universities in terms of academic reputation, as well as one of the top four universities in the world and the first in Australia in terms of graduate employability. It was one of the first colleges in the world to accept students purely on the basis of academic achievement, and it was one of the first to admit women on the same terms as male students.
Five Nobel Prize winners and two Crafoord Prize winners have been associated with the institution as alumni or faculty members. The University of Sydney has produced seven prime ministers of Australia, two governors-general of Australia, thirteen premiers of New South Wales, including the current Premier Dominic Perrottet, and 24 justices on the High Court of Australia, including four chief justices, among other notable alumni. The institution has produced 110 Rhodes Scholars and 19 Gates Scholars throughout the course of its history.
The University of Sydney is a member of the Group of Eight, the CEMS, the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, and the Association of Commonwealth Universities, among other groups and organizations.