St Andrews among the best 100 in the world

The University of St Andrews, which is celebrating its 600th anniversary, is placed 85th in the new guide, joining world-leading universities such as Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge.

It is a return to the top 100 for the Fife University, which was placed 103rd last year.

The results are published in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2011-12, out today (Thursday 6 October 2011).

Responding to the results, the University’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Louise Richardson, commented, “We are very pleased that St Andrews has been placed in the top 100 universities in the world.  It is gratifying to be rewarded for our strengths in research and teaching in the world’s largest academic reputation survey.

“It is also heartening that, despite disparities in funding, UK universities come second only to the US in the top 200.  We are proud that while small, we are smart enough to be part of that success.”

The table is compiled using data that judges universities on 13 performance indicators, including core missions of research, teaching, knowledge transfer and international activity. They include the world’s largest academic reputation survey and an analysis of 50 million citations which are compared with the world average from the same field.

The news follows St Andrews being named best in Scotland and 6th in the UK in the latest league table of UK universities published by The Sunday Times. Earlier in the year, the University came top in Scotland for student satisfaction.

Phil Baty, editor of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2011-12, commented, “The University of St Andrews has been ranked in 85th place in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2011-12.

“Our table of the top 200 represents approximately the top 1 per cent of higher education institutions worldwide, so securing a place within it is an outstanding achievement.

“To do so, a university must score highly across our full range of indicators, and indeed the University of St Andrews has scored consistently throughout, but they have scored particularly well in our new category, ‘International outlook’.

“In an increasingly competitive international field, and with the 2011-12 rankings including some significant new entries, I would like to offer my personal congratulations to the University of St Andrews on such an exceptional result.”

ENDS

Issued by the Press Office
Contact Gayle Cook, Senior Communications Manager on 01334 467227, email [email protected]
Ref: THE World rankings 061011
View the latest University news at www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news