UCL retains top global ranking for education and architecture & built environment

UCL has retained the number one spot in two subjects for the second consecutive year: Education, with the IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, now holding the top spot for 11 years running, and Architecture & Built Environment, recognising the academic excellence of The Bartlett, UCL’s Faculty of the Built Environment.

The 10 subject areas where UCL ranks in the global top 10 are Education (1), Architecture & Built Environment (1), Archaeology (3), Anthropology (4), Pharmacy & Pharmacology (4), Psychology (5), Medicine (6), Biological Sciences (6), Geography (7), and Anatomy & Physiology (8).

UCL appears in the rankings in all 46 subject areas that are ranked, featuring in the top 50 for 43 of them.

Professor Geraint Rees, UCL Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation & Global Engagement), said: “Our performance in these rankings shows how UCL is recognised as a centre for academic excellence in a wide range of disciplines. I am thrilled to congratulate my colleagues in the IOE and the Bartlett on once again being ranked first in the world. I continue to be impressed by the academic excellence of UCL colleagues across campus; in every faculty our students learn from world-leading researchers who continually strive to deliver the very highest standard of teaching.”

Professor Li Wei, Dean and Director of IOE, said: “To be ranked first in the world in these subject rankings for the field of Education is very welcome recognition and affirmation of the outstanding performance in all areas of our work by my colleagues, in collaboration with our funders, partners, students and alumni. To achieve this for 11 years in a row is even more so. We are incredibly proud of IOE’s contribution to knowledge, policy and practice regarding the lives of children and families, not least in educating teachers, that most vital profession. From leading edge innovation in education research, to research and knowledge exchange that connects education to related societal domains, to teacher education rooted in subject specialism and engagement with research, all at scale, IOE embodies a distinctive contribution in that regard.”

Professor Jacqui Glass, Interim Dean of The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, said: “This wonderful achievement has been made possible by the continuing efforts of an outstanding community of people who come together at The Bartlett. It is a very welcome recognition of the incredibly diverse and impactful work that our students, educators, researchers and professional staff do – in partnership with peers and partners across many countries around the world.” 

To compile the subject rankings, comparing over 1,500 universities across the globe, QS used five key metrics (including academic reputation, research performance based on citations impact, and graduate employability), the precise weighting of which varies by subject to reflect differing research practices across disciplines.

The QS World University Rankings, which rank universities overall rather than at subject level, will be published later this year. The last edition of these rankings placed UCL at ninth in the world.

Links

• QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024
• The Bartlett, UCL’s Faculty of the Built Environment
• IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society