A national report evaluating the quality of research by Universities has ranked Newcastle as 8th for research in Australia with 95 percent now assessed as 'at or above world standard'.
The 2018 Excellence in Research Australia is a government assessment conducted every three years aimed at identifying how Australian Universities compare to the world standard of research.
Newcastle achieved the highest possible rating for their research across 30 fields representing a steady increase since the first release of the rankings in 2010.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Alex Zelinsky said it was particularly impressive to see 100 percent of their STEMM research areas, and almost 90 percent of CABLE research, rated as 'at or above world standard'.
While predominantly receiving high ratings several areas of research have seemingly fallen through the cracks with Economics, Political Science, Computation Theory and Mathematics, Digital Media and Religious Studies assessed as below world average.
One area, Interdisciplinary Engineering, received a rating of 'well below' world average, placing them in the one percent of Australian Universities to fall into that category.
Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Deb Hodgson speaking to 2NURFM today said, "It allows us to see where we sit in the sector.
So certainly that is the position of the institution now is to take stock, investigate where we're falling behind and invest in those areas".
Of the 42 institutions assessed across Australia less than half had improved their ratings.
