Exeter achieves global top 150 status in influential rankings

Exeter is now ranked 149^th in the prestigious QS World University Rankings 2022 – a rise of 15 places compared to last year – placing it among the very best institutions worldwide.

This is the 18^th year that QS has published its World University Rankings. They are based on six indicators and were compiled by considering more than 1,300 universities. 

In this latest ranking, Exeter’s rank improved in four of the six indicators – academic reputation, citations per faculty, international faculty and international students.  Three of the indicators were also ranked in the top 150 - Employer reputation (138^th), International Faculty (144^th) and International Students (145^th).

Professor Lisa Roberts, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Exeter said: “I am absolutely delighted that the University of Exeter has secured a top 150 position in these prestigious rankings for the first time. It is a wonderful achievement and one that the whole University community can be rightly proud of. 

“This achievement reflects the university’s position as a world-leading university for employer reputation, high-quality research and outstanding education for students across the globe. It highlights not only the quality of the ground-breaking research we are carrying out to solve some of the world’s greatest challenges, but also how we are preparing the next generation of graduates for their futures. 

“I am extremely proud of what we have achieved as a University; and as we go from strength to strength it is good to see us reinforcing our place amongst the very best universities in the world.” 

The QS rankings are the largest and most extensive international league table, providing authoritative comparative analysis on the performance of the world’s top 1300 universities from 97 countries. The results account for the distribution and performance of 14.7 million academic papers published between 2015 and 2019, and the 96 million citations received by those papers. 

Earlier this year, Exeter’s subjects from across disciplines were also recognised as being amongst the very best in the world, with 16 subjects positioned in top 100 – with six in the top 50 – in the QS World University Subject Rankings.  

Mining Engineering rose into the top 10, ranked 8^th this year, Sports-related subjects (13^th) retains its place in the top 20, while Geography rose six places to 15^th.  Elsewhere Environmental Sciences (43^rd), History (46^th) and Geophysics (47^th) all feature in the elite Top 50 grouping.  

The University also has at least one top 100 subject in each of the ‘Subject Areas’ that map onto the majority of its Colleges  - Life and Environmental Sciences; Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences; the Business School; Humanities; and Social Sciences and International Studies.  

To compile the rankings, QS analysed almost 14 million papers, producing almost 81 million citations. In total, 1,453 institutions were ranked across the 51 subjects and five subject areas. 

More information about the ranking can be found by visiting www.TopUniversities.com.