The Hardman Rankings

← World University Rankings 2026

University of Adelaide

AustraliaROR 00892tw58
=243
World University Rankings 2026 · 90% range 136–559 of 2,287 · score 50.9
Research Index =139

How it scores

Research
94
Alumni outcomes
86
Admissions & earnings
=29/38

Research and Alumni outcomes are percentiles among 2,287 universities; alumni outcomes are counted per student. Admissions & earnings is the position among universities in the same country (Australia).

Admissions, outcomes and alumni

Median graduate salary (QILT)
A$75,000 src
Internationally notable alumni (Wikidata)
9 src
Heads of state or government (Wikidata)
3 src
Founders, billionaires and $30M+ alumni
not on the published top lists; estimated
Students (undergraduate / total)
18,602 / 30,171 src

Each figure links to its source. Admissions and earnings figures are comparable only within a country.

Research Index

A · Quality
85.9
B · Strength
84.4

Percentiles among 1,305 ranked universities. Rank on quality alone: =164. On strength alone: =204. The Research Index scores research only; admissions, earnings and alumni outcomes are scored in the overall ranking where data exists.

The numbers behind it (2020–2023)

Papers in the top 10% of their field
13.2% (12.6%–13.8%)
Papers in the top 1% of their field
1.5% (1.3%–1.7%)
Top-10% papers (fractional count)
940
All papers (fractional count)
7,120
International co-authored
58.9%
Open access
60.8%
Papers from 2020–23 since retracted
10 (0.50 per 1,000)

Core publications, fractional counting, field-normalised citation shares. Brackets show Leiden’s stability interval. Collaboration and open-access shares use full counting and aren’t field-normalised. Retraction counts come from the Retraction Watch database and include publishers’ mass retractions as well as honest-error retractions; a retraction is not by itself evidence of misconduct, and the count is never scored.

By field

Biomedical & health sciences=281range 205–403 of 1,671
Life & earth sciences186range 123–284 of 1,092
Mathematics & computer science35range 22–73 of 1,391
Physical sciences & engineering=48range 30–75 of 1,742
Social sciences & humanities=388range 285–560 of 1,262

Position over time

top 10%top 30%2006–2009: 236 of 5712020–2023: 139 of 1,305

The same method applied to each 4-year publication window. The number of ranked universities grows from period to period, so position is shown as a share of the field.

How other rankings place it

=139Research Index 2026
79QS 2027
–THE 2027 (not in top 100)
–ARWU 2026 (not in top 100)

Other rankings are cited for comparison. The Research Index measures research only; QS and THE also use reputation surveys and figures universities submit, and ARWU counts prize winners and total output. Note: QS lists this as Adelaide University, merged 2026 from the University of Adelaide and UniSA; our figures cover the University of Adelaide only.

Prize winners

Alumni laureates
4
Staff laureates
1

Alumni: 4 Nobel. Most recent: Robin Warren (Nobel Medicine, 2005), J. M. Coetzee (Nobel Literature, 2003), Howard Florey (Nobel Medicine, 1945), William Lawrence Bragg (Nobel Physics, 1915). Counted from Wikidata (CC0). Alumni laureates count toward the overall ranking per student (10 of 65 global weight points); staff laureates are shown for context only.