Rankings are one way to determine how a tertiary education provider operates but it is not the only way the University of Tasmania determines its success.
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The QS World Universities rankings were released last week, which shows UTAS ranked at 291 on the world scale for tertiary education.
However, vice-chancellor Rufus Black says rankings are only one part of the diverse puzzle of the success of a university like UTAS, which aims to be a world-leader from a small base.
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"We are a university that is committed to doing global research and those rankings sum up things across the university, it's one overall average number," Professor Black said.
"What those numbers don't tell you is that we have some areas of the university that are in the top 10 in the world, for things like oceanography, Antarctic research, and at TIA [Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture].
The QS rankings are one of a number of international and national ranking systems designed to help prospective students from across the world.
UTAS ranked in the 400s in 2014 but has slowly bettered its position from then until 2019.
For the second year running, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has taken out the top rank for the number one university in the world.
In Australia, the Australian National University (ANU) was the first mentioned at number 29.
Professor Black said UTAS did take the rankings on board but they didn't base their success solely on one of those numbers.
"What we are looking to do is to have truly world-leading capabilities that get lost in an average number."
UTAS prides itself on being a world leader in research but Professor Black said its focus was on creating meaningful change.
"What we do focus on are what the distinctive things we offer that we want to be known as really good at and rankings are just one indicator," he said.
"We are interested in the impact: does the university make a difference? Does the research we do and the students we educate make an impact on the communities we serve?"
Professor Black said rankings did not measure that impact, which he described as "the core of the university."
The QS rankings stated Australian universities were becoming "increasingly international" and have begun to service a wider student cohort than they have in the past.
RELATED STORY: How important are international students to UTAS?
UTAS has a strong international student community, last year's financial report showed there were 5038 international students enrolled.
However, they brought in $86 million to the university's economy, the report read.
International students' admission practices were thrown into the spotlight in May following a Four Corners report into national practices.
UTAS rated a small mention in the report, but provided the opportunity for it to announce it was reviewing entrance practices, Professor Black said.
"International students are very important to UTAS; if you want to educate for global life," he said.
Professor Black said international students were of importance to the state to help bolster population strategies for regional areas.
The review report is expected to be completed soon, however, a date for its completion has not been set.
Professor Black said the report and the university's response to it would come before the Academic Senate.
He said UTAS had already committed to reviewing its entrance practices but the timing of the Four Corners had allowed it to release that information sooner.
"We want to make sure our entrance conditions are governed by what will make students succeed," he said.
"So what we've done is a great bit of background to make sure entry requirements follow the patterns for success, it's been the essence of what we're doing now."
The report will be a public document once it's tabled to the Academic Senate but a timeline is still unknown.