UCL School of Pharmacy ranked second in the UK and fifth globally in QS World University Rankings

Professor Duncan Craig, Director, UCL School of Pharmacy commented on the announcement “The results of the World University Rankings that put our School of Pharmacy as number 5 globally and number 2 in the UK are just rewards for all the endeavour, creativity, perseverance and passion that each member of our division puts into making UCL SoP the world-leader that it is.  

We have had a fantastic 12 months with recognition of our talent by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and our courses accredited by the Royal Society of Chemistry.  We continue to push for progress in the field of pharmacy with our pioneering team taking campaigns to the Houses of Parliament and to the United Nations in Geneva.  We look forward to an even busier and fruitful year in 2020, as well as welcoming talented new pharmacy students into our centre of excellence in September.”

UCL’s School of Pharmacy has enjoyed a strong year in 2019, with highlights including:

• Professor Cate Whittlesea being made a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
• Professor Simon Gaisford, Professor Abdul Basit and Dr Alvaro Goyanes were listed amongst the World’s Most Highly Cited Researchers by the Web Science Group
• Oksana Pyzik, Senior Teaching Fellow & Global Engagement Lead took a student cohort to promote their Fight the Fakes Campaign against counterfeit medicines to the World Health Organization’s 72nd World Health Assembly event in Geneva
• Professor Abdul Basit and his research group developed a high dose (1600mg) mesalazine formulation which guarantees targeted drug release in the colon to revolutionise treatment for IBD sufferers across the world
• MSc Pharmaceutics, MSc Pharmaceutical Formulation & Entrepreneurship, and MSc Medicinal Natural Products & Phytochemistry were accredited by the Royal Society of Chemistry as satisfying the academic requirements for the award of Chartered Chemist
• And - led by Dr Lizzie Mills - we saw the graduation of the first cohort of students in June having completed a Clinically Enhanced Pharmacist Independent Prescribing Course

Professor Geraint Rees, Dean of UCL Faculty of Life Sciences said: “I am delighted and not surprised to see UCL’s School of Pharmacy recognised as a leading university in pharmacy and pharmacology both globally and in the UK.

Since pharmacy was added as a category in the World University Rankings in 2012, our School of Pharmacy has consistently performed well and this global recognition of the excellence of our academic rigour and our contributions to research is well deserved by the entire division.”

The QS World University Rankings by subject highlight the world’s top universities in a range of subject areas. Published annually since 2011, the rankings are based on academic reputation, employer reputation and research citations.

UCL features amongst the world’s leading institutions in 39 of the 48 subjects featured in this year’s rankings. The QS World University rankings – which rank universities overall, rather than at subject level – will be published later this year. In 2020, these rankings placed UCL at number 8 in the world.

Discover more: QS World University Rankings by Subject 2020