Success continues for University of Birmingham in global rankings

The University of Birmingham maintains its position amongst the best performing research-intensive universities in the world – placed in the Top 100 of three global rankings.

Birmingham retains a place amongst the Top 100 universities in the world according to the QS World University Rankings 2021 (87th) building on success in the US News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings results in November 2019 which placed Birmingham at 96th.

The University is also classed as a Top 100 institution by the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) – which rates Birmingham 78th out of 20,000 global universities.

Closer to home, Birmingham maintains its UK Top 15 place (13th) in the Complete University Guide League Tables, whilst the University moves up one place to 13th among UK universities featuring in this year’s QS World University Rankings. CWUR rated Birmingham eighth in the UK in its 2020-21 rankings.

Professor Sir David Eastwood, Vice-Chancellor and Principal at the University of Birmingham said: “It has never been more important to be a global university, and the University remains committed to this. I am delighted that the latest global rankings continue to recognise Birmingham as one of the world’s leading universities, attesting to the importance and impact of our research, and the international experience and outlook of our students.

“Our researchers find solutions to some of the world’s biggest issues; collaborating with academic colleagues around the globe, and we are proud to work with our many international partners and to welcome students from around the world to Birmingham.

“During these unprecedented times, our commitment to being an outward-looking, collaborative, and welcoming institution is stronger than ever. Our researchers are playing a central role in the global research effort in relation to COVID-19 and its health, social and economic impacts.”

The QS World University Rankings are the most commonly used global rankings and are a measure of a university’s global reputation. The News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings rates the performance of more than 1,500 institutions from around the world – basing rankings on a range of indicators that measure their academic research performance and their global and regional reputations.

CWUR publishes the largest rankings of global universities – analysing quality of education, alumni employment, quality of academic staff and research performance – and places equal emphasis on research and learning environment.

• For more information, please contact Tony Moran, International Communications Manager, University of Birmingham on +44 (0)782 783 2312  or for out-of-hours enquiries, please call +44 (0) 7789 921 165. 
• The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions, its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers and teachers and more than 6,500 international students from over 150 countries.
• The Times Higher Education World University Rankings rated Birmingham 112 out of more than 1,250 universities across the globe. The rankings use 13 performance indicators to provide a comprehensive and balanced comparison between institutions.
• Shanghai Jiao Tong University World Rankings ranked Birmingham as being in the top 101 – 150 (calculated rank 124th) out of 500 universities, establishing us as 11th out of the 36 UK universities to appear in the top 500.