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CQUniversity ranks 12th in the world and first in Queensland for gender equity

01 June 2023
Six women dressed in bright, bold colours, all from various cultural backgrounds, in a studio, with a black curtain behind them, all looking directly at the camera and smiling
Some of the many women that make up the CQUniversity fabric. From L-R: Elle McCosker, Leonie Taylor, Gemma Mann, Kirsty O'Regan, Umme Mumtahina, Sala Mkoka

CQUniversity has been named the 12th best in the world and first in Queensland for gender equity.

The rankings success, announced today as part of the 2023 Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings, has seen CQUniversity make an impressive jump from the top 200 last year to 12th in 2023.

Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Nick Klomp said the results spoke highly of CQUniversity’s commitment to equity of employment opportunity and, importantly, to the University’s core value of inclusiveness.

“To see CQUniversity launch into the global top 15 for gender equity shows that we are truly walking the talk when it comes to equality,” Professor Klomp said.

The gender equity category focuses on a university’s research on the study of gender equality, its policies on gender equality, and its commitment to recruiting and promoting women. 

Employment data from CQUniversity has shown that a majority of leadership positions at the University are held by women.

“Overall women outnumber men when it comes to total staff numbers at CQUniversity and a significant percentage of leadership roles are also occupied by women,” Professor Klomp said.

"We are proud of the focus that we put on access and equity for all staff, students and partners. Our culture of ‘can do’ and continuous improvement provides enormous opportunity for our staff to grow and learn whilst doing what they love: changing lives,” he said.

“So while it’s no surprise that we have ranked highly in the category, it’s a success for which we should all be incredibly proud.” 

Head of Course for Electrical and Utilities, Kirsty O’Regan said she was proud to be one of the many women leaders at CQUniversity. 

“CQU is a place where I feel safe and valued to lead people and make decisions that help to shape the organisation,” O’Regan said. 

The THE Impact Rankings rate universities for their performance against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For the first time since the Impact Rankings were launched, CQUniversity has entered the top 75 in the overall ranking (out of 1,591 institutions), jumping from 83rd to 74th in the world.

CQU also saw improvement in a number of other SDG categories including Reduced Inequalities (57th globally, up from 101-200), Good Health and Wellbeing (90th from 101-200), and Quality Education (79th from 101-200). In another first this year, CQUniversity entered the 101-200 band for Responsible Consumption and Production.

“These latest rankings results are impressive, and they reflect how closely CQUniversity’s values and strategic goals resonate with important global issues and the real work that our people are doing to align with the SDGs,” Professor Klomp said.

There are 17 SDGs, with participating institutions required to submit data on at least three, plus the mandatory Partnerships for the Goals category in order to receive an overall ranking.

Each SDG has a series of metrics that are used to evaluate the performance of the university on that SDG. 

“Out of the 10 categories in which CQUniversity submitted, we placed in the top 100 for six – now that’s something worth celebrating.”