Sydney vs Melbourne for University

Both are established university cities. On ranking evidence: Sydney has 3 ranked universities in our data and Melbourne has 2. The highest-ranked institution across the two cities is University of Melbourne (consensus #24, Melbourne). A "best student city" also depends on cost of living, safety, transport, job opportunities and lifestyle — factors rankings don't capture. QS publishes a separate Best Student Cities index that weighs these directly.

In Sydney: University of Sydney (#42), The University of New South Wales (#53), University of Technology Sydney (#158). In Melbourne: University of Melbourne (#24), Monash University (#50). See the full lists on our city ranking pages.

Sydney has 3 universities in EduRank's global consensus top 200, and Melbourne has 2. The consensus averages percentile performance across QS, THE, ARWU and U.S. News.