commitment to excellence

The Go8 was incorporated in 1999 and its Directorate is based in Australia’s capital city, Canberra. The Directorate is focussed on, and is a leader in, influencing the development and delivery of long-term sustainable national higher education and research policy, and in developing International alliances.

to a Go8 university, and there are more than 31,000 research students, and we award half of all research doctorates in Australia.

We celebrate excellence, welcoming quality students who become quality graduates here and overseas. We have, for example, educated 79 per cent of the Australian-educated Chief Executives of Australia’s top companies.

We have educated every Australian Prime Minister educated in Australia. Over 80 per cent of Secretaries and Deputy Secretaries of Australia’s Federal Public Service attended a Go8 university, as did more than 80 per cent of Australia’s Ambassadors and High Commissioners educated in Australia. Many of our International alumni are visible leaders in their careers around the world.

We have also educated every Nobel Prize winner educated at an Australian University and are proud that Go8 member, The Australian National University in Canberra, has a Nobel Prize winner as its Vice Chancellor.

Go8 members have the long tradition of being Australia’s first, and still premier, group of universities. As such we consider ourselves elite but not elitist, and while we embrace our long

traditions as a valued and valuable foundation, we do not lean on them to deliver us a viable future – rather, we have an embedded culture of embracing change.

Importantly we ensure that we lead. In research we account for two-thirds of all research funding to Australian Universities, and each year we spend some $6 billion on research; of which more than $2 billion is allocated to Medical and Health Services research.

We also take a sector lead in national education and research policy debate and we take pride in our high world rankings which are consistently the highest in Australia.

We also take great pride in making a strong contribution to Australia’s economy. In 2015 we earned over $12 billion – 43 per cent of the sector’s revenue and we are a major export earner with Go8 export earnings of over $2.5 billion in 2015. We support more than 50,000 jobs.

Our aim is clearly defined. The Go8 leads and ensures its teaching and research deliver global impact.

Vicki Thomson Chief Executive

Our aim: to lead

The Group of Eight (Go8) is proud to represent Australia’s leading research-intensive universities. At the Go8 both our research and our teaching deliver global impact. That is our raison d’etre.

Currently our eight universities educate more than 25 per cent of Australia’s higher education students; one in three International students who choose to study in Australia come

The Group of Eight Universities (Go8) comprises Australia’s eight leading research Universities – The University of Melbourne, The Australian National University, The University of Sydney, The University of Queensland, The University of Western Australia, The University of Adelaide, Monash University and UNSW Sydney.

With universities in each mainland State and the Australian Capital Territory, we are committed to enrolling quality students from all backgrounds who become quality graduates; graduates with the capacity and potential to become the leaders of tomorrow both nationally and internationally.

Our students benefit from learning in a research-rich environment within a group of universities which receives some two-thirds of Australia’s university research funding. Together our universities spend some $6 billion a year on research, and 99 per cent of that research is rated as world class or above.

Much of the Go8’s research has global significance, including in vital areas such as health, defence, cyber-security and agri-business, and our collaborations with industry attract twice the income as the rest of the Australian university sector combined.

From this environment of enlightened commitment to teaching, research and translation of research, the Go8 prospers across its full spectrum of disciplines. I can speak for all our member universities in saying we are as proud of our commitment to, and the outputs from the humanities, arts and social sciences as we are to the traditional sciences.

In Go8 universities there is also a strong emphasis on equity and philanthropy. The Go8 believes equity must start with student enrolment rather than end there. The Go8’s nourishment of students who require extra support means that our universities deliver nation-leading outcomes in terms of retention and academic success.

In so doing, we support individuals to realise their potential, and bolster their capacity to make remarkable contributions to society.

It is an illustration of our commitment to excellence in student support.

Increasingly, our members partner with philanthropists to extend what we can offer to our students, staff, and to the countless people who use the products of Go8 innovation and experience the benefits of graduates’ knowledge.

All members welcome students, staff and collaborators from around the world. This inclusive culture is intrinsic to the Go8, and is a key to our ongoing work of producing excellent outcomes for national and global society.

Professor Peter Høj Chair

I am honoured to be the Chair of the Group of Eight (Go8), Australia’s premier group of research intensive universities.

The Go8’s resolute commitment to excellence is reflected in world university rankings, which consistently place our universities as the highest ranked in the nation. Every Go8 member lists in the world’s top 150.

Excellence & results

The University of Western Australia www.uwa.edu.au

Monash University www.monash.edu.au

The University of Adelaide www.adelaide.edu.au

The University of Melbourne

www.unimelb.edu.au

The University of Queensland www.uq.edu.au

The Australian National University www.anu.edu.au

The University of Sydney www.sydney.edu.au

UNSW Sydney www.unsw.edu.au

The Go8 has forged, and nurtures as a matter of importance, strong alliances around the world.

It is a signatory to the globally prestigious Hefei Statement which ensures we join with equally elite University groupings in the US, Canada, UK, Europe, Asia, Hong Kong, China and Japan to work cooperatively across a wide range of areas. https://go8.edu.au/article/hefei-statement-10-characteristics-contemporary-research-universities

Individually the Go8 also has a wide range of robust International relationships:

� in China with the prestigious C9 Group, and China Scholarship Council

� in Brazil where we have an active student exchange

� in Chile where we cooperate on a range of programs including Masters and PhD scholarships

� with France where we place Australian interns in French companies operating in Australia

� with Germany where we have academic exchange as part of a joint research cooperation project.

The Go8 is proud of its reputation for accepting quality students and delivering quality graduates.

Our eight universities educate over 360,000 students, more than a quarter of all higher education students educated in Australia.

This includes some 100,000 international students from some 200 countries.

One in three international students who choose to study onshore in Australia do so at a Go8 university.

Importantly, Go8 student success and retention rates are above the Australian average, ensuring that a higher percentage of students will graduate from a Go8 university.

In 2015 the Go8 graduated some 92,000 students.

The Go8 educates more than half of Australia’s medical, dentistry and veterinary graduates, more than 55% of Australia’s science graduates and more than 40% of engineering students.

Go8 students come from a wide range of backgrounds. More than one-third of students, at all levels of study, are the first in their family to attend university. One in five Go8 undergraduates are from a low socio-economic background or from a regional or remote home location.

In postgraduate education, Go8 universities enrol one third of all postgraduate students and almost half of all students in higher degrees by research.

Go8 universities award more than half of all doctorates in Australia.

Connected with the world

Our students: leaders of tomorrow

The Go8 is comprised of Australia’s leading research intensive universities.

Each year the Go8 spends more than $6 billion on research, of which more than $2 billion is spent on globally significant Medical and Health Services research.

The Go8 receives more than 60% of Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funding.

In 2015 the Go8 received research funding to the value of $2.5 billion. The Go8 also attracts the highest levels of industry and competitive grant funding for research. Our income from industry research is twice that of the rest of the sector combined.

In the most recent “Excellence in Research for Australia” (ERA) quality evaluation of research in Australian universities, it was found that Go8 universities “well above world class standard” proportion of assessed fields was twice as high as the rest of the sector.

Our universities are also active participants in over 80% of Australia’s Cooperative Research Centres.

The Go8 has more than 31,000 research students and half of all research completions in Australia are from a Go8 university.

Our research students comprise one in 12 of our students compared with one in 30 for the rest of the sector.

Discovery for the benefit of all

Recognised achievement

Go8 universities are consistently the highest ranked Australian universities in world rankings.

In 2016 Go8 universities ranked in the top 150 institutions worldwide in:

� The Academic Ranking of World Universities from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (ARWU) which has six Go8 universities in the top 100.

� The Times Higher Education World rankings (THES) which has six Go8 universities in the top 100.

� The QS World University Rankings (QS) which has six Go8 universities in the top 100.

The QS World University Rankings by subject feature Go8 universities in the top 100, for every subject area.

The Go8 delivers quality across a wide spectrum – all Go8 universities are in the QS top 100 for literature, biological sciences, earth sciences, environmental sciences, accounting and finance, anthropology, law and education.

Go8 Universities CRICOS Provider No. The Australian National University www.anu.edu.au

00120C

Monash University www.monash.edu.au

00008C

The University of Adelaide www.adelaide.edu.au

00123M

The University Melbourne www.unimelb.edu.au

00116K

UNSW Sydney www.unsw.edu.au

00098G

The University of Sydney www.sydney.edu.au

00026A

The University of Queensland www.uq.edu.au

00025B

The University of Western Australia www.uwa.edu.au

00126G

go8.edu.au