JCU Makes the Top 500 Worldwide
James Cook University ranks as one of top 500 universities of the world (one of only 2 Queensland universities, Shanghai Jiao Tong Index 2006). JCU academics are the most highly cited university researchers in Australia in the field of environment/ecology according to the latest rankings by the international ISI Web of Knowledge. JCU ranks as one of top 8 Australian Universities in 300 Research Champions of World (Swiss Centre S&T, 2005) and ranks 5 star in Overall Graduate Satisfaction (Good Universities Guide 2005).
On the world stage of 402 institutions ranked by ISI in this field, the CSIRO appears at number seven in the world with only JCU, followed by ANU (Australian National University) and the University of Queensland also making the top 100. JCU academics either authored or co-authored 25% of the top 20 most cited Australian papers in this field. The latest ISI citation ranking comes at the same time as the publication by Shanghai Jiao Tong of the Academic Ranking of World Universities for 2006 in which JCU is one of only 16 Australian universities to make the top 500.
The Vice Chancellor of JCU, Professor Bernard Moulden, praised the work being performed at JCU by its researchers. "It is wonderful for the University and its academics that these completely independent and objective measures place their research at the leading edge internationally," Professor Moulden said. "We know JCU is Australia's leading tropical research university and that is confirmed by both ISI and the Jiao Tong index." ISI also ranks JCU research papers in the categories of plant and animal science, and geosciences in the top ten of Australian universities for the most highly cited papers.
Professor Moulden said the very high ranking of the CSIRO was a further indication of the likely future impact of the Australian Tropical Science and Innovation Precinct, which is to be based at JCU. "This is largely a partnership between JCU and CSIRO, and our joint rankings on the ISI list show what a powerhouse for research ATSIP will be on both the national and world stage," he said. Professor Moulden said that while JCU was both a regional and a middle sized university in the Australian context, it was holding its own and in some cases surpassing the long- established and much larger metropolitan universities. He said that was as true on the teaching side as it was in the focused research areas of JCU.
"In the recent national awards for excellence in teaching, JCU received seven Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education citations shared by 12 of our teachers. "These were shared across all four of JCU's faculties and tell us that JCU students are taught by talented, creative people who are leaders in their fields not only as researchers but also as dedicated teachers," Professor Moulden said. "The Carrick Institute awarded 42 citations to Queensland's eight universities, many of which are much larger than us, so JCU's share was well above average."