Edinburgh University ranked 15th in the QS World University Rankings

And was ranked fifth out of the UK universities


The University of Edinburgh has been ranked the 15th best university in the QS World University Rankings, beating universities such as Princeton and Yale.

The university scored 89.5 per cent overall, with 98 per cent in academic reputation and 97.2 per cent in employer reputation.

Edinburgh came fifth overall out of the UK universities being ranked higher than universities such as Kings College, Durham and St. Andrews.

Edinburgh was ranked 16th overall last year and so has moved up the rankings by one place, and whilst the rankings for subjects have not yet been released for 2023 in 2022 Edinburgh ranked ninth in the world for arts and humanities, and 24th for medicine.

Edinburgh itself was ranked as the 12th best student city, beating cities such as Toronto and New York.

Edinburgh is the highest-ranked university in Scotland, with Glasgow ranked 73 in the world, and St. Andrews at 91.

The QS World University Rankings places a strong emphasis on reputation. It determines a universities ranking by comparing them in four major areas: research, teaching, employability, and international outlook, with each of these areas being measured against six performance indicators. Each of the performance indicators is scored out of 100.

Academic reputation represents 40 per cent of the total ranking and is based on academic surveys regarding teaching and research quality. Edinburgh scored 98 per cent for academic reputation.

Staff to student ratio comprises 20 per cent, and looks at the number of academic staff employed relative to the number of students enrolled. For this ratio Edinburgh scored 81.81 per cent.

Citations per faculty is also 20 per cent, and looks at the number of citations received by all academic papers produced by the university across a five year period. In this area, Edinburgh scored 70.1 per cent.

Employer reputation is only worth 10 per cent, and is based on a survey results from employers about which institutions they source the most competent, innovative, effective graduates from. Edinburgh scored 97.2 per cent for employer reputation.

Lastly, international staff and students are worth the final 5 per cent, and measures a universities ability to attract international staff and students. In this area, Edinburgh scored 99.5 per cent.

In order for a university to be eligible a university must teach at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels and conduct work in at least two of five broad faculty areas (arts and humanities; engineering and technology; social sciences and management; natural sciences; life sciences and medicine).

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