The university achieved a marginally higher overall score in the latest QS World University Rankings, released this week, but slid seven places to 283rd.

The university’s ranking has been on the decline since it was ranked 199th in 2007.

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor John Patterson said increased international competition made university rankings ‘‘extraordinarily volatile’’ and said any rank in the top 2per cent – or top 400 – was a good performance.

While any slip was ‘‘something to pay attention to’’, he said it did not mean UOW would stop pushing for a place among the  top 200 universities – the top 1per cent. 

‘‘Given the volatility, where we are in the competition and given – as the Vice-Chancellor has said – we are reorganising the university’s faculties and administration to perform better in these things ...we’ve got no reason to walk away from our aspirations,’’ he said.

Prof Patterson said UOW had improved in two key areas in the 2014-15 list, ranking 394 for academic citations and 99 for how employers perceive the quality of graduates.

He said the university would continue to push for improvement in these fields in the hope of improving the overall rank.

‘‘We need more citations per academic – either by academics producing better and better quality papers so they are cited more and more, or by producing greater volumes of papers,’’ he said.

‘‘At the same time, given our confirmation on the world stage about the employability of our graduates, we can’t take our eye off that ball either.’’

The QS system is one of at least four university ranking systems, and has become a highly prized marketing tool.

In 25th position, the Australian National University is the country’s top institution according to the QS ranking, followed by the universities of Melbourne, Sydney, Queensland and NSW which are all inside the top 50.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology topped the academic listing.