Six Australian universities have been listed among the top 100 institutions in the world, amid warnings that they could soon be overtaken by Chinese universities that are quickly rising in the global rankings.

The University of Melbourne is the top-ranked Australian university with an overall rank of 32, followed by the Australian National University at 48 in the latest Times Higher Education world university rankings, which were released on Tuesday.

Another four Australian universities are ranked in the top 100, including the University of Sydney at 61, the University of Queensland at 65, Monash University at 80 and the University of NSW at 85.

Each of the top Australian universities fell between one and seven places from last year's rankings with the exception of the University of Melbourne, which gained one place.