While three of the state’s universities climbed dozens of places in the rankings, Australia’s tertiary sector received a terse warning.

The prestigious university has been outranked by a Sydney rival for the first time, amid mixed performance across Australia’s historically high-performing tertiary sector.

While three of the state’s universities climbed dozens of places in the rankings, Australia’s tertiary sector received a terse warning.

More than half of Australia’s public universities have improved their position in the QS World University Rankings, but the rosy result came with a warning.

The university has dethroned the prestigious University of Melbourne as Australia’s best university in rankings released on Thursday.