The University of the South Pacific (USP) has maintained its World University Rankings and is the only institution from the Pacific, excluding Australia and New Zealand, to attain this ranking under the Times Higher Education (THE) rankings.
USP’s World University Rankings further solidify the university’s reputation as the premier institution in the region, having placed in the 1001-1200 band on THE rankings.
The World University Rankings under THE are the world’s largest and most diverse university rankings.
The 2023 THE World University Rankings includes 1,799 universities across 104 countries and regions and “analysed over 121 million citations across more than 15.5 million research publications and included survey responses from 40,000 scholars globally.”
USP was among the more than 2,500 institutions that submitted its data, contributing to over 680,000 data points collected altogether.
It is the only global performance table that judges research-intensive universities across all their core missions, including teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.
The University also ranked in three subject areas under THE.
According to THE World University Rankings by subject, USP’s Physical Sciences ranked 601–800, Social Sciences ranked 501–600, and Business and Economics ranked 501–600.
The Physical Science subject ranking focuses on mathematics and statistics, physics and astronomy, chemistry, geology, environmental sciences, and earth and marine sciences across 1,307 universities in 2023, compared to 1,227 last year.
Social Sciences highlight the universities that are leading in the disciplines of communication and media studies, politics and international studies (including development studies, sociology and geography.
Meanwhile, the Business and Economics ranking assesses universities by their performance in the disciplines of business and management, accounting and finance, and economics and econometrics, with over 870 universities competing this year, 76 more than last year.
USP Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Pal Ahluwalia was recently invited by THE Campus Live ANZ 2023 to deliver a presentation on ‘How does the world see Australia and New Zealand?’, focused on the Appetite for International Collaboration and Beyond with Reflections from the Pacific.
In his presentation, Prof Ahluwalia said, “USP, envisioned by Pacific leaders 50+ years ago, has become a beacon in the region that continuously strives to meet the evolving development and educational needs. The challenges of the region have also become USP’s challenge.”
“Achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 4: Quality Education, is vital for self-emancipation and needs cohesive articulation of tertiary qualifications across the Pacific network to meet Pacific country needs.”
Prof Ahluwalia also stressed that the ranking shows the hard work and determination of the researchers and staff at the University in working towards achieving global recognition.
“I’m eternally grateful and proud of the achievements of our staff and students. This is never a one-person job; it’s always teamwork. It’s always bringing the best of everybody together. I’m so proud of that.”
USP also maintained its standing at 401-600 out of 1,591 institutions in THE Impact Rankings 2023 and was recognised for achieving specific SDGs.
As the region’s premiere institution, USP continues to align its aspirations to achieve relevant SDGs with SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, the latest inclusion, increasing the number of SDGs achieved to seven.
USP managed to rank in six other SDGs in the Impact Ranking, including SDG 4: Quality Education, SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 14: Life Below Water, SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, SDG 17: Partnership for the Goals and SDG 13: Climate Action.
The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings are the only global performance tables that assess universities against the United Nations’ SDGs and are trusted worldwide by students, teachers, Governments and industry experts.
