The Best Universities for PhDs in Psychology in Australia (2026)

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There are many reasons why someone might want to study Psychology at a university in Australia. Here are just a few:

• Australia is home to reputable universities with strong Psychology departments, offering excellent opportunities for pursuing a PhD in Psychology.
• Australian universities have a strong focus on research and provide state-of-the-art facilities and resources to support cutting-edge psychological research.
• Australian institutions offer a wide range of specialisation areas within psychology, allowing students to focus their research on specific subfields such as clinical Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Social Psychology.
• A PhD obtained from an Australian institution holds global recognition that facilitates greater career prospects for graduates worldwide.

The following tables give the 10 top universities in Australia for Psychology, according to global and local university rankings. It can show you which Australian universities are amongst the best in the world - and help you compare institutions on an international level.

This information is based on the latest rankings tables, researched and published by Times Higher Education, QS and Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU).

Each ranking system uses its own methodology, with different factors having more or less influence on a university's result.

Our guide has more information on how to use international rankings to decide on the best research universities for PhD study.

The Times Higher Education rankings are strong in academic focus and diverse teaching metrics, but do not include employer-specific metrics. Additionally, the rankings may not include all specialist institutions.

The QS World University Rankings are designed to meet the needs of prospective students, with more weight given to student-centric metrics such as staff/student ratio, international recruitment and employer opinion. The rankings are balanced between qualitative and quantitative data, but give less weight to research than some other rankings.

The ARWU rankings reflect the presence of elite academics and the future academic success of graduates. However, they do not directly assess the quality of education at a university or take into account other aspects of university performance.