Australia has improved on a new ranking of international universities.  For the first time, there are six Australian universities in the Academic Ranking of World University's (ARWU) top 100.

The Academic Ranking of World Universities released on Monday, also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the big three most prestigious lists for higher education institutions.  The other two are the QS World University Rankings and Times Higher Education World University Rankings.  The Shanghai Ranking puts the emphasis on science, maths, and medicine, and rewards institutions that win Nobel Prizes or has research published in the top journals.

The University of Queensland went from 77th on last year's list to 55th.  UQ's Vice Chancellor's Peter Hoj told The Australian Financial Review, "It's an incredible achievement, given the domestic policy difficulties the Australian higher education sector has faced for a very long period."

Monash University in Melbourne didn't make the Shanghai Ranking last year.  But this time around, it took 79th in the world, which was only two points behind the Australian National University. 

These are the world top six universities, according to the Shanghai Ranking, plus the six best in Australia with their position:

1. - Harvard (Cambridge, Massachusetts)

2. - Stanford (Stanford, California)

3. - University of California at Berkeley (Berkeley, California)

4. - Cambridge (Cambridge, Massachusetts)

5. - Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Massachusetts)

6. - Princeton (Princeton, New Jersey)

40. - Melbourne

55. - University of Queensland

78. - ANU

79. - Monash

82. - Sydney

96. - University of Western Australia