Group of Eight (Australian universities)

Coalition of Australian tertiary institutions

For the inter-governmental political forum, see Group of Eight.

Group of Eight

Formation| 1999
Type| Nonprofit organisation
Headquarters| Canberra, ACT
Location|

* Australia

Membership| Australian National University
Monash University
University of Adelaide
University of Melbourne
University of New South Wales
University of Queensland
University of Sydney
University of Western Australia
Website| www.go8.edu.au

The Group of Eight (Go8 or G8) comprises Australia's most research intensive universities (in alphabetical order) – the Australian National University, Monash University, University of Adelaide, University of Melbourne, University of New South Wales, University of Queensland, University of Sydney, and University of Western Australia. It is often compared to the Russell Group of research universities in the United Kingdom.[1]

## Overview

[edit]

The Go8 universities are some of the largest and the oldest universities in Australia[2] and are consistently the highest ranked of all Australian universities. Seven of the Go8 members are ranked in the world's top 100 universities and all Go8 members are ranked in the world's top 150 universities; in the Academic Ranking of World Universities, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the QS World University Rankings and the U.S. News & World Report. Go8 Universities feature in the top 50 for every broad subject area in the QS world university subject rankings. In addition, all Go8 Universities are in the QS top 100 for Engineering and Technology, Life Sciences and Medicine, Arts and Humanities, and Social Sciences and Management.[3]

The Go8 educates 425,000 students; educating more than one quarter of all higher education students in Australia. It graduates some 110,000 graduates each year.[3]

The Go8 undertakes 70 per cent of Australia's university research and their research funding from industry and other non-Government sources is twice that of the rest of the sector combined.[3]

The Go8 receives 71 per cent of Australian Competitive Grant (Category 1) funding and had the largest proportion of research fields rated at 4 or 5 ('above' or 'well above' world standard) in the latest Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) exercise, with 99 per cent of Go8 research is world class or above. Each year the Go8 spends some $6.5 billion on research – more than $2.4 billion of which is spent on Medical and Health Services research. Go8 universities educate more than half of Australia's doctors, dentists, vets and provide some 54 per cent of Australia's science graduates and more than 40 per cent of Australia's engineering graduates.[4]

The Go8 Board, which consists of the vice-chancellors (who also serve as principals or presidents) of its eight member universities, meets five times a year. The current Chair of the Board is Professor Mark Scott AO, Vice-Chancellor and President of The University of Sydney, appointed in 2024. Vicki Thomson is the Chief Executive of the Group of Eight, taking up the role in January 2015.[5]

## Members

[edit]

University  | City  | Established  | International Rankings

|
|
|

QS World
(2025)[6] | THE World
(2025)[7] | US News
(2023)[8] | ARWU World
(2023)[9] | Scimago
(2022)[10] | URAP
(2022)[11] | NTU
(2022)[12] | Leiden
(2022)[13][note 1] | Average
Australian National University | Canberra | 1946  | 30  | 73  | 62  | 84  | 232  | 161  | 150  | 236  | 129
University of Melbourne | Melbourne | 1853  | 13 | 39 | 27 | 35 | 29 | 22  | 20 | 29 | 27
University of Sydney | Sydney | 1850  | 18  | 61  | 28  | 73  | 34  | 18 | 26  | 33  | 36
University of New South Wales | Sydney | 1949  | 19  | 83  | 37= | 72  | 62  | 35  | 44  | 52  | 51
University of Queensland | Brisbane | 1909  | 40= | 77  | 36  | 51  | 60  | 36  | 33  | 45  | 47
Monash University | Melbourne | 1958  | 37  | 58  | 37= | 77  | 58  | 32  | 35  | 50  | 48
University of Western Australia | Perth | 1911  | 77  | 149= | 83  | 101–150  | 224  | 119  | 111  | 200  | 136[note 2]
University of Adelaide | Adelaide | 1874  | 82= | 128=  | 74= | 151–200  | 200  | 150  | 113  | 209  | 141[note 3]

Equals signs (=) denote tied rankings.

## Map

[edit]

Adelaide

ANU

Melbourne

Monash

UNSW

USYD

UWA

class=notpageimage|

Locations of each Group of Eight university main campus

## See also

[edit]

* Association of American Universities – USA & Canada
* C9 League – The Chinese Ministry of Education's formal grouping of elite universities in China
* TU9, alliance of nine leading Technical Universities in Germany
* Institutes of National Importance (INI) – group of premium universities in India
* Golden triangle (universities) – universities in Oxford, London, Cambridge in England United Kingdom
* Ivy League – group of premium private universities in Northeastern United States
* Group of 8 (Go8) undergraduate law schools
* Law schools in Australia
* Universities in Australia

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ measured by the impact indicator P (top 1%), ordered by P (top 1%) using fractional counting.
2. ^ 101–150 averaged to 125.5 for the purposes of the combined average
3. ^ 151–200 averaged to 175.5 for the purposes of the combined average

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Group of Eight benefits for economy 'bigger than Russell Group's'" (PDF). Group of Eight. Retrieved 27 December 2020.[permanent dead link]
2. ^ Neumann, R. (2002). "Diversity, doctoral education and policy". Higher Education Research & Development. 21 (2): 167–178\. doi:10.1080/07294360220144088. S2CID 143032290.
3. ^ a b c Redding, Gordon; Buckingham, Edward (2020), "Group of Eight", The SAGE Encyclopedia of Higher Education, Thousand Oaks, Cal.: SAGE Publications, pp. 672–676, doi:10.4135/9781529714395.n253, ISBN 9781473942912, S2CID 236855276, retrieved 23 May 2023
4. ^ "About the Go8". Group of Eight Australia. 4 December 2021. Archived from the original on 17 October 2023. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
5. ^ "The Go8 Team". Group of Eight Australia. 26 July 2017. Archived from the original on 26 February 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2004.
6. ^ "QS World University Rankings 2025". Top Universities. 3 September 2024. Archived from the original on 15 February 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
7. ^ "World University Rankings". Times Higher Education (THE). 4 October 2024. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
8. ^ "Top World University Rankings | US News Best Global Universities". www.usnews.com. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
9. ^ "Academic Ranking of World Universities 2022". Shanghai Ranking Consultancy. Archived from the original on 15 August 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
10. ^ "Scimago Institutions Rankings". www.scimagoir.com. Archived from the original on 9 October 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
11. ^ "URAP 2022-2023 | World Ranking 2022-2023". urapcenter.org. Archived from the original on 6 December 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
12. ^ "By Country". nturanking.csti.tw. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
13. ^ Studies (CWTS), Centre for Science and Technology. "CWTS Leiden Ranking". CWTS Leiden Ranking. Archived from the original on 2 February 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2020.

## External links

[edit]

* Group of Eight official website

* v
* t
* e

University groupings in Australia

Technology|

* Curtin
* Deakin
* RMIT
* Newcastle
* South Australia
* UTS

Group of Eight|

* Australian National
* Adelaide
* Melbourne
* Monash
* New South Wales
* Queensland
* Sydney
* Western Australia

Innovative|

* Charles Darwin
* Flinders
* Griffith
* James Cook
* La Trobe
* Murdoch
* Canberra
* Western Sydney

NUW|

* Newcastle
* New South Wales
* Wollongong

Regional|

* Central Queensland
* Charles Sturt
* Federation
* Southern Cross
* New England
* Southern Queensland
* Sunshine Coast

Sandstone|

* Adelaide
* Melbourne
* Queensland
* Sydney
* Tasmania
* Western Australia

Red brick|

* Australian National
* Monash
* New South Wales

Verdant|

* Flinders
* Griffith
* La Trobe
* Macquarie
* Murdoch

Authority control databases |

* Yale LUX

|

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