QUT has risen to second place nationally in a ranking of the world's youngest universities. The Times Higher Education Young University Rankings 2023 tests institutions aged 50 years or younger on their core competencies of research, teaching, citations, international outlook and industry incomes. Increased strengths in research and teaching reputation have combined with excellent scores for citations impact to see the QUT rise from third to second place out of 23 young universities ranked nationally.

QUT Vice Chancellor, Professor Margaret Sheil AO, said a 'collaborative spirit' among young and older universities in the country has helped Australia's performance, with young universities often working in collaboration with Australia's highest tier of research-intensive universities, the Group of Eight.