Griffith University has leapt 34 places to be ranked 291st in the world by the prestigious Times Higher Education - QS World University Rankings announced today (October 8).

Vice Chancellor and President, Professor Ian O'Connor said the ranking reflected Griffith's growing reputation as one of Australia's most innovative tertiary institutions and one of the Asia Pacific region's most influential universities.

Our strong international standing is built on renowned research and teaching staff, international partnerships with global leaders and the calibre of our programs and graduates, Professor O'Connor said.

Many of our disciplines fared particularly well in the rankings, with Social Sciences ranked 200, Arts and Humanities ranked 268, and Natural Sciences ranked 294 in the world.

Our employer ranking of 169 out of the world's universities is also a pleasing accolade for our graduate outcomes and employability.

Now in its sixth year, the Times Higher Education - QS World University Rankings present a multi-faceted view of the relative strengths of the world's leading universities.

The indicators examined included academic peer review, employer review, faculty/student ratio, citations per faculty, proportion of international faculty and proportion of international students.

According to Phil Baty, Deputy Editor of the Times Higher Education, this year's rankings draw on more data than ever before, with a wider set of research citations data, and the best ever response rate to the international peer review survey.

In total 9386 academics (compared to 6354 in 2008) and 3281 employers (compared to 2339 in 2008) responded to the surveys reflecting the growing influence and importance of the rankings.

The THE - QS ranking places Griffith comfortably within the top five per cent of all universities in the world.

Source: http://www3.griffith.edu.au/03/ertiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=22082