Two days after they were released, there are some very different readings being made of Australia’s moves on world university rankings.

Australian higher education made some clear gains in Times magazine’s latest world university rankings, but the experts cannot decide what drove the shift or how it can be increased.

"The data shows that Australia does not have just a few world-class universities, but a world-class system – in addition to the eight universities which make the world top 200, there are a further 12 universities which make the 200-400 group," the magazine report stated.

But it warned that looming deregulation could see the system itself slipping, just to boost the rankings of the top few unis.

"The big question, as Australia moves into a period of radical reform with the full deregulation of tuition fees, is whether this admirable strength-in-depth can be maintained," it said.

“The reforms may help a small Australian elite protect or even improve their global standing, but what about the rest?”

“Are we going to see a greater polarisation in Australia between a global super-elite and a large number of also-rans declining?”

Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne sees things differently, saying that deregulation may actually be the saviour of Australian higher education.

“The need for reform has never been clearer,” he said.

“The Times rankings are a clarion call to the Senate to support the Government’s higher education changes or risk condemning our universities to a slow decline.

“Our reforms will be a win for Australian students and for the hundreds of thousands of Australians, many in regional areas, whose jobs depend upon the strength of Australia’s $15 billion international education industry.”

But one of Mr Pyne’s points appears slightly manipulative.

“Last year there were 20 Asian universities in the top 200. This year there are 24. Over the same period only one additional Australian university entered the top 200,” Mr Pyne said.

It is difficult to judge what the Education Minister is trying to infer with this comparison, given that there are about 45 universities in Australia and over 2,200 in China alone.