News archive 2008

King’s rise in global rankings

09 Oct 2008, PR 207/08

King’s place as one of the world’s leading universities is confirmed again today with the publication of the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings. The College has risen to 22nd, an increase of two places on last year.

This year’s position marks a consistent rise for the College which was rated 73rd in 2005, 46th in 2006 and 24 in 2007.

This league table, published in today’s Times Higher Education, reflects a combination of factors including academic peer review, employer review, research citations and student/staff ratios.

Tremendous achievement
The Principal of King’s College London, Professor Rick Trainor, comments: ‘I’m delighted at this excellent result for King’s. I believe we can truly say that the College is a major global player in the world of higher education. This is a tremendous achievement, and reflects not only the major steps we have taken in research, teaching and knowledge transfer in recent years but also, importantly, how the College is perceived by university peers around the world.

'This continued and sustained level of excellence is something that every member of the College community can be proud of as it is a remarkable tribute to us all. My congratulations and thanks go to every member of staff.’

For the fifth consecutive year Harvard University tops the table, with Yale second followed by the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford respectively. Of the top 100 institutions, 17 are from the UK. Nationally King’s is ranked in fifth position up one place on last year.

The overall rankings are based on six distinct indicators with different weightings (in brackets): Academic Peer Review (40 per cent); Employer Review (10 per cent); Faculty Student Ratio (20 per cent); Citations per Faculty (20 per cent);  International Faculty (5 per cent) International Students (5 per cent).

Ann Mroz, the editor of Times Higher Education, said: ‘UK universities are very clearly among the world’s best and have maintained good positions in the rankings this year. As a percentage of gross domestic product, the US spends more than twice as much on its universities as the UK does. This situation makes the UK’s success even more remarkable, but it also puts pressure on Government to ensure our sector gets the investment it deserves.’

Top ten UK universities

1. (3) University of Cambridge
2. (4) University of Oxford
3. (6) Imperial College London
4. (7) University College London
5. (22) King’s College London
6. (23) University of Edinburgh
7. (29) University of Manchester
8. (32) University of Bristol
9. (66) London School of Economics
10. (69) University of Warwick

[Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings is in brackets]

Top five world universities

1. Harvard University
2. Yale University
3. University of Cambridge
4. University of Oxford
5. California Institute of Technology

For the full rankings of the top 200 universities:  www.topuniversities.com



Notes to editors

Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings
The Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings have been running since 2004 and are amongst the highest profile global evaluations of comparative university quality. This year’s rankings are based on a record number of responses from academics and employers, as well as on thoroughly-researched data on citations, staffing levels and the proportions of international faculty and students. More than 6,000 academics ventured an opinion on the leading universities in their own discipline. The results were weighted to ensure a fair representation both geographically and by subject grouping.

King’s College London
King’s College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (Times Higher 2008) and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King’s has 19,700 students from more than 150 countries, and 5,400 employees. King’s has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. The College is in the top group of UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income of approximately £450 million. An investment of £500 million has been made in the redevelopment of its estate.

King’s has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, social sciences, the health sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe and is home to five Medical Research Council Centres – a total unsurpassed by any other university. 



Further information
Melanie Gardner, Senior Public Relations Officer
Public Relations Department, King’s College London
Tel: 020 7848 3073, email: melanie.gardner@kcl.ac.uk



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This information is provided by the Public Relations Department
Tel: 020-7848 3202  Fax: 020-7848 3739  Email: pr@kcl.ac.uk