University of Birmingham climbs five places in international outlook rankings

The University of Birmingham has risen five points to be placed 81st among the top 100 international universities in the world 2015.

Compiled by the Times Higher Education (THE), the ranking considers the proportion of international students and staff at a university, as well as the percentage of a university's total research journal publications that have at least one international co-author.

Phil Baty, Editor of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, said:

‘Having a diverse student body and encouraging academics to collaborate with their international colleagues are key factors in securing a powerful global reputation. It is clear from this ranking that the University of Birmingham is among the top 100 higher education institutions in the world when it comes to international outlook.’

The THE ranking follows a host of recent accolades, including The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2015 placing Birmingham 15th overall, up from 16th last year. The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, placed Birmingham within the top 150 universities globally overall.

Commenting on the results, Peter Clack, Director of International Relations, University of Birmingham said:

‘The University of Birmingham is a truly global university that benefits from mutual partnerships with a wide range of high quality international institutions and is also fortunate to host a large international community of researchers and students. These are the key factors that allow us to produce world-leading research.

‘This accolade comes in the same year that we were awarded the Outstanding International Strategy Award in the 2014 Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Awards (THELMAs), which recognised the bold approach we have taken to secure our position in Brazil as the UK Higher Education partner of choice.

‘We are delighted to see that our international commitment is being recognised and would hope to see our position rise further in future rankings.’

ENDS

Notes to Editors

THE has compiled a list of the top 100 most international universities using the “international outlook” indicator of its World University Rankings methodology. All the institutions that feature in their World University Rankings 2014-15 top 400 have been considered.

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• The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions (64 in the QS World University Rankings 2014/15), its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers and teachers and more than 4,000 international students from nearly 150 countries.