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An MD ranking is a published order of universities for medicine. This page reads the Australian results on the two tables applicants use for that order: the QS World University Rankings by Subject for Medicine, and the Times Higher Education medical and health ranking. It answers which university those tables place first, what "best medical" and "best medical schools in Australia" mean on a subject ranking, and why the most competitive medical school is a different question. The directory names the universities with an accredited primary medical program. A named school's entry rules stay on that school's page.
An MD ranking is a publisher's score for a university's medicine subject. The score is built from reputation and research indicators. How hard it is to win a place in the Doctor of Medicine is a later question, answered from applicant lists and quotas.
Two publishers sit behind the Australian results people quote. They score different baskets of work, so their order of Australian universities matches at first place and then parts company.
The QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026 for Medicine was published on 25 March 2026. QS describes Medicine as the study of human health, disease, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and patient care, and the subject takes in medicine, medical sciences, clinical medicine, graduate medicine, and physician training. The 2026 table includes nearly 850 universities. For the Medicine subject the weights are academic reputation 40 per cent, employer reputation 10 per cent, citations per paper 20 per cent, H-index 20 per cent, and international research network 10 per cent. Academic reputation is academics nominating universities in their own subject. Employer reputation is employers naming the universities they recruit from. Citations, the H-index, and the international research network use Scopus. Source: QS, World University Rankings by Subject methodology.
QS also publishes a broad faculty area called Life Sciences and Medicine. That area holds Medicine together with dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, psychology, and the other life-science subjects, and it uses its own weights. In the 2026 subject rankings the University of Melbourne is 14th in the world for Life Sciences and Medicine. Its Medicine subject result is a separate figure. Source: University of Melbourne, March 2026. A rank that carries the longer label is the broad area.
Times Higher Education's 2026 medical and health ranking uses the same 18 indicators as its world university ranking, recalibrated for medical and health fields, across 1,230 universities. The indicators sit under teaching, research environment, research quality, industry, and international outlook. The subject covers medicine, dentistry, nursing, and other healthcare disciplines. Source: THE World University Rankings by Subject 2026, medical and health. THE's Australia extract, released in January 2026, presents 37 universities. That 37 is the width of the medical-and-health extract. Universities whose health teaching is in nursing, dentistry, or allied health are in the extract, so 37 is not a count of medical schools. Source: THE, best universities in Australia for medicine 2026.
The professional standard is accreditation. The Australian Medical Council accredits medical schools and their programs of study against standards approved by the Medical Board of Australia. The Board may then approve an accredited program as a qualification for the purposes of registration. Source: Medical Board of Australia, accreditation of medical schools. The AMC publishes the list of accredited medical schools and primary medical programs. The Australian medical schools directory is the short guide to those providers. The Times Higher Education table further down keeps a university when it appears on that AMC list.
Both publishers refresh their tables. The places below are the 2026 editions.
On both 2026 tables, the University of Melbourne is the highest-placed Australian university. That is what a search for the best medical schools in Australia is asking for when "best medical" means a published subject rank. The universities that follow depend on which table is open.
The number one medical school in Australia on these tables is the University of Melbourne.
Melbourne Medical School publishes 20th in the world for Medicine in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026. Source: Melbourne Medical School. Melbourne's QS subject table places Medicine 1st in Australia and 20th in the world. Source: University of Melbourne, facts and figures.
Times Higher Education's 2026 Australia extract also places Melbourne 1st in Australia, with a global medical and health rank of equal 20th. Source: THE, best universities in Australia for medicine 2026. The shared 20 is two different scores. The QS figure is the Medicine subject. The Times Higher Education figure is medical and health, equal 20th.
Below first place, the two tables swap the next universities.
On QS Medicine 2026, the University of Sydney publishes equal 26th in the world. Source: University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health rankings. Monash publishes 33rd in the world and 3rd in Australia for QS Medicine, and 27th in the world and 2nd in Australia for Times Higher Education Medical and Health. Source: Monash University, Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences rankings. Sydney's equal 26th sits between Melbourne's 20th and Monash's 33rd. Melbourne reports 1st in Australia for the QS Medicine subject and Monash reports 3rd, so Sydney is the Australian university between them on that subject.
| University | QS Medicine 2026, world rank | Australia place on QS Medicine |
|---|---|---|
| University of Melbourne | 20 | 1st |
| University of Sydney | equal 26 | Between 1st and 3rd |
| Monash University | 33 | 3rd |
A QS Medicine rank is included here when the university publishes that Medicine-subject figure for 2026. Other Australian medical schools can sit further down the full QS table of nearly 850 universities. Ranks labelled Life Sciences and Medicine are the broad faculty area and are left off this table.
Times Higher Education's 2026 extract places Monash 2nd in Australia and equal 27th in the world for medical and health, and Sydney 3rd in Australia and 30th in the world. Monash's own page reports the world rank as 27th. The table below follows Times Higher Education's published tie.
The Australia-rank column is Times Higher Education's order for the whole 37-university extract. Missing numbers are universities in that extract that do not appear as providers of a primary medical program on the AMC list. A printed rank such as 12 is a place in the wider extract.
| University | THE Australia rank 2026 | THE global medical and health rank 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| University of Melbourne | 1 | equal 20 |
| Monash University | 2 | equal 27 |
| University of Sydney | 3 | 30 |
| University of Queensland | 4 | 62 |
| UNSW Sydney | 5 | 64 |
| Adelaide University | equal 6 | equal 91 |
| Australian National University | equal 6 | equal 91 |
| Macquarie University | equal 8 | 126–150 |
| University of Western Australia | equal 8 | 126–150 |
| Deakin University | equal 12 | 176–200 |
| Flinders University | equal 14 | 201–250 |
| University of Newcastle | equal 14 | 201–250 |
| Western Sydney University | equal 14 | 201–250 |
| Bond University | equal 17 | 251–300 |
| Curtin University | equal 17 | 251–300 |
| Griffith University | equal 17 | 251–300 |
| University of Wollongong | equal 17 | 251–300 |
| James Cook University | equal 23 | 301–400 |
| University of Tasmania | equal 23 | 301–400 |
| Charles Darwin University | equal 34 | 501–600 |
| Charles Sturt University | equal 34 | 501–600 |
| University of Notre Dame Australia | equal 36 | 601–800 |
Source: THE, best universities in Australia for medicine 2026. Times Higher Education notes Adelaide University as a new entry in that extract. Newcastle's row is the university's medical and health score. On the AMC list the primary medical program is the Joint Medical Program with the University of New England, and New England has no separate row in the extract used here. Charles Sturt and Western Sydney are scored as two universities. They deliver one joint medical program, and the campus detail lives on the two school pages.
A subject rank is a way to see research standing. The application still starts from the pathway that is open to you. School-leaver entry and graduate entry are set out in how to become a doctor.
There is no official most competitive medical school in Australia. The QS and Times Higher Education tables count research and reputation. They do not count applicants per place. Competitiveness is the way a school orders people who want one of its places, inside the quota those people are eligible for.
At graduate-entry schools that use GEMSAS, places are allocated from ranked applicant lists and from quotas for each place type. The place types are Commonwealth Supported Places, bonded medical places, and full-fee places where a school offers them. GAMSAT ® results, GPA, interview performance, and any extra requirement the school sets can go into the ranking, and each school combines them in its own way. Most of these schools must allocate at least 25 per cent of Commonwealth Supported Places to applicants from a rural background. A rural quota can be filled across place types, and it is a different rule from a bonded place. Source: GEMSAS, course place offers and quotas. How graduate schools combine those inputs, as a national picture, is on medical school entry requirements. How to read a GAMSAT ® result is on GAMSAT ® scores.
School-leaver and provisional pathways are their own competition. UCAT ® ANZ is the computer-based admissions test a consortium of Australian and New Zealand universities uses when selecting applicants for medicine, dentistry, and clinical science degrees. Source: UCAT ® ANZ. How that test is used in medicine applications is covered in UCAT ® for medicine. Many schools then interview. Where that interview is a series of stations, the format is explained in the guide to MMIs.
The same university can be a different competition for two applicants. One may be in a rural-background quota and the other in the general pool, or one may be eligible for a supported place and the other for a full-fee place. A university that leads a subject table can be a realistic application in one of those pools. The schools, and the comparison of place types, are on the Australian medical schools directory. Cut-offs, dates, and fees for a named school stay on that school's page.
On the 2026 QS Medicine subject ranking, and on the 2026 Times Higher Education medical and health ranking, the University of Melbourne is first in Australia. QS places Melbourne 20th in the world for Medicine. Times Higher Education places Melbourne equal 20th in the world for medical and health. The number 20 is shared by two different scores.
People asking for the best medical schools in Australia, or for the best medical school in shorter wording, are usually asking for this published order. Melbourne leads both 2026 tables. On QS Medicine, Sydney publishes equal 26th in the world and Monash publishes 33rd in the world and third in Australia. On Times Higher Education's medical and health extract, Monash is second in Australia and Sydney is third. The same extract then ranks other universities that hold an AMC-accredited primary medical program, including Queensland, UNSW, Adelaide, and the Australian National University. The rank is a research and reputation score.
UNSW medical school is the in-depth page for that program. The rank in this answer is a research and reputation score.
No publisher names one. QS and Times Higher Education do not count applicants per place. At GEMSAS graduate schools, offers come from each school's ranked list and from quotas for Commonwealth Supported, bonded, and full-fee places. Most of those schools must give at least 25 per cent of Commonwealth Supported Places to rural-background applicants. School-leaver and provisional pathways are a separate competition. UCAT ® ANZ is an admissions test universities in that consortium use for medicine, dentistry, and clinical science degrees.
QS Medicine 2026 scores academic reputation (40 per cent), employer reputation (10 per cent), citations per paper (20 per cent), the H-index (20 per cent), and international research network (10 per cent). Times Higher Education's medical and health ranking scores teaching, research environment, research quality, industry, and international outlook, across medicine, dentistry, nursing, and other health courses. The Medical Board of Australia may approve an AMC-accredited program as a qualification for registration. That approval is separate from either table.
The tables measure different work. On QS Medicine 2026, Sydney publishes equal 26th in the world, between Melbourne at 20th and Monash at 33rd, and Monash reports third in Australia. On Times Higher Education's 2026 medical and health ranking, Monash is second in Australia (equal 27th in the world) and Sydney is third (30th in the world).
The QS Medicine table includes nearly 850 universities. This page states a QS Medicine rank where the university publishes the 2026 Medicine-subject figure: Melbourne, Sydney, and Monash. Other medical schools may appear further down that QS table. Times Higher Education's Australia extract lists 37 universities because the subject includes nursing, dentistry, and other health courses. The table on this page keeps the rows for universities that the AMC lists as providers of a primary medical program.
