Imperial and UCL make the top 10 in QS World University Rankings 2022

Imperial and UCL have been named two of the top 10 universities in the world, according to the QS World University Rankings 2022.

Imperial and UCL have respectively ranked seventh and eighth, with UCL sharing the eighth place spot with ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

Both London universities have climbed in the rankings, previously occupying the eighth and tenth spots in the QS World University Rankings 2021.

This year’s QS World University Rankings includes 1,300 universities making the 2022 rankings the largest rankings published to date.

Imperial has ranked seventh, with an overall score of 97.3 out of 100, whilst UCL has ranked eighth with an overall score of 95.4. Further London universities secured places in the top 50, with King’s ranked 35th and LSE ranked joint 49th with Institut Polytechnique de Paris.

Six metrics were used to evaluate each university. These metrics were: academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty-student ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty ratio, and international student ratio. Each university received a score out of 100 for each of the six metrics as well as an overall score out of 100.

Breaking it down according to each of the six metrics, Imperial scored 100 in both the international faculty ratio and the international student ratio. The university also scored 99.8 in both employer reputation and faculty-student ratio, 98.4 in academic reputation and 88.1 in citations per faculty.

UCL scored 100 in international student ratio, 99.5 in international faculty ratio, 99.4 in academic reputation, 99 in faculty-student ratio, 98.9 in employer reputation and 78 in citations per faculty.

The President and Provost of UCL, Dr Michael Spence, made the following statement about UCL’s ranking: “I’m delighted to see this recognition of the talent and hard work of UCL’s incredible community of staff and students.

“Their commitment to addressing the most pressing challenges facing the world by collaborating across borders and disciplines, even during these difficult times, is remarkable.”

The QS Director of Research, Ben Sowter mentioned that the “enduring value of international collaboration” is shown by the rankings. He said: “It is no accident that the most internationally collaborative universities are also those enjoying success in our rankings, or that the UK’s rate of research improvement outstrips the global mean. As British higher education navigates its post-Brexit future, this lesson should not be ignored.”

Similarly, QS Spokesman Jack Moran has said: “British universities – among them London’s finest – have enjoyed some impressive gains in this year’s table, and these gains are largely driven by outstanding global recognition and research impact.

“Both are, in their own way, contingent on looking beyond Britain’s borders: research that is the result of international co-operation typically enjoys higher levels of impact, while universities that are empowered to seek talent from abroad continue to reap the benefits of doing so.”

To see the QS World University Rankings 2022, click here.

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