 'Naturally, this is very pleasing,' the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Michael Osborne said, 'but what is of particular significance is the high ranking of La Trobe as a research-based university'.
The Times Higher Education 'Top 200' survey in the UK which ranked La Trobe at 142 in the world generally, accorded the University fifth position in Australia on the critical criterion of research citation indices.
Complementing this information Professor Osborne noted that in 'The Swiss Centre for Science and Applied Technology Studies' survey (reported in the AFR 4-5/12/2004) La Trobe was ranked seventh in Australia.
'This high position in the Swiss survey ranking was very much research-related. For a relatively new University without a medical faculty this is a remarkable result and will, I hope, act as a stimulus to all at La Trobe to strive for still greater success on the research front in the coming year.' Four independent rankings of universities were published last year and in all of these La Trobe figures prominently.
Professor Osborne said: 'Whatever the imperfections of such 'league tables' - and there are many - they do represent an important measure of peer evaluation. It is thus very pleasing that La Trobe University has figured so strongly in all four of these rankings.'
The other two surveys were:
The Shanghai Jiao Tong (People's Republic of China) 'Top 500' in which La Trobe was ranked 12 in Australia, and the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research ranking of Australian universities, where La Trobe came in at 9 or 10, depending upon which table is selected.
'It is also pleasing to report,' Professor Osborne concluded, that of the Innovative Research Universities - Australian Group (IRU-A), comprising La Trobe, Macquarie, Newcastle, Flinders, Griffith, and Murdoch universities, all figured strongly in the various rankings.'
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