Manchester Uni rises up the world league table rankings

THE University of Manchester has risen four places to be 29th globally, in an annual  international university league table.

Its place in this year’s QS World University Rankings takes the university, ranked 7th in the UK, back to its highest ever ranking in 2012.

The QS World Rankings are based on more than 100,000 survey responses from employers and academics. The survey also measures factors such as the number of international staff and students, and citations in leading journals.

The QS ranking follows the recently published ‘Academic Ranking of World Universities’, also known as the ‘Shanghai Jiao Tong’ league table, another highly respected measure of international quality.  In August, Manchester reached an all-time high in this table, coming in at 35th in the world and 5th in the UK.

Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, president and vice-chancellor of the university, said: “This ranking, alongside the recent Shanghai rankings, shows that Manchester is on an upward trajectory. Our placing demonstrates the high esteem in which the university is held by academics all around the world and our high ranking among employers is testament to the calibre of our graduates.”

The two other universities from the North West were Lancaster and Liverpool. Both have slipped in the world rankings, following a trend that has seen UK institutions downgraded.

Lancaster University dropped eight places to 129, while the University of Liverpool slipped six places to 157.

Asian universities have continued their rise in the QS World University rankings, with two-thirds in the top 400 improving their position

UK universities, however, struggled, with 38 of the 48 institutions in the top 400 losing ground.

The UK’s highest-ranked institution, the University of Cambridge fell to fourth, the first time in the 12-year history of the rankings that it is outside the top three.

American universities now monopolise the top three, with MIT retaining top spot and Stanford leapfrogging Harvard to claim second.

World / UK / University

4        1        University of Cambridge
6        2        University of Oxford
7        3        UCL (University College London)
9        4        Imperial College London
19      5        The University of Edinburgh
21      6        King’s College London
29      7        The University of Manchester
37      8        London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
41      9        University of Bristol
51    10        The University of Warwick
63    11        University of Glasgow
74    12        Durham University
75    13        The University of Nottingham
77    14        University of St Andrews
82    15        University of Birmingham
84    16        The University of Sheffield
87    17        University of Southampton
93    18        University of Leeds
123  19        Queen Mary University of London
127  20        University of York

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