QS World Rankings 2018 underline importance of new International Strategy

Leeds has been named in the top 100 universities for academic reputation in the QS World University Rankings 2018.

Despite dropping from 93 to 101 overall, the University has also performed strongly in its reputation amongst employers, where it is ranked 75th – a rise of 12 places.

Amongst UK universities, Leeds has risen one place to 17th, whilst amongst the Russell Group cohort, it is up one place to 16th.

The rankings assess 959 universities worldwide and canvass the opinions of more than 75,000 academics and more than 40,000 employers.

Responding to the rankings, Professor Hai-Sui Yu, Pro-Vice-Chancellor: International, said:

“There are a number of positives in these figures – we have seen a strong and improved performance in both academic and employer reputation, and our headline ranking amongst UK and Russell Group universities has actually improved for the first time in recent years.

“What we have seen is a decline in the ranking of UK universities overall – with more than two thirds of Russell Group universities recording drops - in part due to strong international competition. This underlines the importance of our new international strategy, International Leeds, which includes enhancing our international profile and reputation amongst its core objectives.

“The major contributory factor in our headline ranking has been a fall in the number of research citations per faculty, which is a top priority in our new international strategy. We will be working to improve this measure by increasing international research collaboration and co-authored publications in the years ahead.”

The University dropped 40 places to 300 in the citations per faculty measure, whilst for student to faculty ratio, it fell 21 places to 286.

International Leeds has three high level objectives:

  • to achieve a sustainable student cohort mix by recruiting and supporting additional international students and staff to enhance the student experience and employability;
  • to enable world-changing research and innovation through effective international collaboration to maximise global impact;
  • to enhance our international profile and reputation through impactful engagement with a broad range of stakeholders.

You can read more about it in Inside Track.

For further details of Leeds’ performance in these rankings, visit the QS World University Rankings 2018 website.

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