University of Exeter continues its climb in global ranking

Professor Sir Steve Smith, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive commented: “It is a great achievement to feature amongst the top 1% of universities in the world. This ranking is further proof of the enormous progress we have made in the past few years and my thanks go to everyone at the University for their contribution. Exeter continues to raise its profile on the international landscape, as we have been doing in the UK. This is something that the whole city can be very proud of.”

The 2011-12 Times Higher Education World University Rankings are produced using a sophisticated methodology that constitutes the most detailed, rigorous and comprehensive study of global university performance.

As Phil Baty, editor of the rankings, explains: “The 200 universities we list in our world university rankings represent a tiny proportion of the world’s higher education institutions, and competition for a top 200 place was even more intense this year as more universities have submitted their data to join this important global benchmarking project – so to stand still in the top 200 is in itself quite an achievement. To rise up the rankings, as Exeter has done, is really impressive, and testament, I’m sure, to a concerted effort by the University to boost its global standing. Exeter has done well across all of our indicators, covering teaching, research and knowledge transfer, but it has particularly strong scores for ‘international outlook’ – looking at its success in recruiting international staff and students in a competitive marketplace – and also for its ‘research influence’.”

The University has also been moving swiftly up the domestic league tables, rising from 34 to 10 in six years in The Times Good University Guide and now ranked 9th in The Sunday Times University Guide and 11th in the Guardian league table.

More information about the ranking can be found on the Times Higher Education website.