QS World University Rankings puts Reading in top 200 for third consecutive year

Thursday, 08 June 2017

The University of Reading has maintained its place in the top 200 institutions in the world, in the 2017/18 QS World University Rankings published today. 

The University ranked 188th overall, out of more than 4,000 in the world considered by the compiler, and held its rank of 28th out of 76 UK institutes featured in the QS table. The consolidated position sees Reading in the top 200 global institutions for the last three years. In total, the University has moved up 25 places since 2014, demonstrating a consistent upward trend.

Highlights include a strong performance globally for the ratio of international to UK students – being the 90th best placed university for attractiveness to overseas candidates, and breaking into the top 200 institutions for employer reputation for the first time. 

The QS World University Rankings is a respected, independent benchmark of university quality. Published annually, the league table is based on expert opinion from thousands of academics and employers around the world, as well as the analysis of citations and papers, to measure the impact of the research produced by the universities ranked.

The more detailed QS World University Rankings results include: 

Globally 

• 90th globally for international student ratio – demonstrating the University’s success in attracting overseas students.
• 154th for international faculty ratio – demonstrating the University’s success in attracting academics from overseas.
• 195th for employer reputation – up 13 places from the 2016/17 ranking and in the top 200 in the world for the first time.

Nationally 

• 27th in the UK for employer reputation – up from 31st in the 2016/17 ranking. 
• Maintained and consolidated rankings for academic reputation (28th), international student proportion (39th); and for proportion of international academics (38th).
• The University’s score in all indicators was above the UK average.

Vice-Chancellor, Sir David Bell, said: 

“The latest QS world rankings provide us with much encouragement. Despite an overall decline for UK universities, we have maintained our position as a top 200 university worldwide. Reading also continues to score highly in our attractiveness to international students, demonstrating that we are an outward-looking, internationally focused institution.

“Following the opening of the University of Reading Malaysia campus and deepening partnerships with academies in China, we are now operating over five campuses, across three continents, with students from more than 140 countries joining our community. We recruit outstanding academic staff, as well as working with research partners in both higher education and industry around the world.

“I am particularly delighted to see that we have also broken into the top 200 rankings for employer reputation worldwide. The University has strong links with industry and it is a great pleasure to see that this has been recognised in this year’s ranking.

“As ever, we must remember that individual league tables are only an indicator of the quality and success of a university – they don’t show the whole picture. League tables fluctuate year-on-year so whilst these results are encouraging, it is more important to look at how we’ve fared over a longer period.”

For more on the University of Reading’s position in the QS World University rankings, please visit www.topuniversities.com/universities/university-reading#wurs