QS Overall Rankings

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QS Overall Rankings

The QS World University Rankings is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds(QS). Previously known as THE-QS World University Rankings, the publisher had collaborated with Times Higher Education magazine (THE) to publish its international league tables from 2004 to 2009 before both started to announce their own versions. QS then chose to still use the pre-existing methodology while THE adopted a new one.

In June 2022, the QS published their 19th edition of the QS World University Ranking Results 2022/23. The QS had the largest ever number partaking in the QS World Rankings in 2022, with a total of 1,418 institutions across 100 locations, up from 1,300 last year. NUI Galway declined in rank from 258^th place in 2021 to 270^th place in 2022. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) retains the number one position while the University of Cambridge lies second and Stanford University is in joint third place. The results account for the distribution and performance of 16.4 million academic papers published between 2016 and 2020 and the 117.8 million citations received by those papers; they also account for the expert opinions of over 150,000 academic faculty and over 99,000 employers who partake in both the academic and employer reputation survey. The QS introduced faculty area normalisation in 2015 to ensure that institutions specialising in Life Sciences and Natural Sciences were not unduly advantaged. See more about the QS Methodology used in the rankings here .

New in the 2022 edition of the world ranking, the QS extended their data collection process by requesting additional information to demonstrate each university's impact to achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined by the United Nations. Although the QS did not rank these metrics this year, the QS did introduce an award medal scheme, Gold, Silver and Bronze to reflect each university's research on the SDG's (See the methodology here). Two broad categories were introduced, Societal Impact (includes research in SDG5-Gender Equality and SDG10 – Reduced Inequalities) and Environmental Impact (includes research on SDG 7 -Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG11-Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG12-Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG13- Climate Action and SDG 14-Life Below Water and Life on Land).
NUI Galway achieved a Silver medal award for their research in the Societal Impact category (SDG 5 and SDG 10) and a Bronze medal award for their research in Environmental Impact category (SDG7, SDG 11, SDG 12, SDG 13, SDG 14 and SDG 15).

The chart below shows NUI Galway has steadily risen in the QS World University Ranking and in 2017, reached a rank into the top 250 band (243 )and made it to the top 1% of the universities in the world. Since 2017/2018 NUI Galway has fluctuated in and out of the top 250 band. However, the increasing competition in this ranking has seen NUI Galway slip to a rank of 270 in 2022.

NUI Galway's Ranking result 2011-2022

QS Rank Trend Line

QS Results

In June 2022, the QS published their 19th edition of the QS World University Ranking Results 2022/23. NUI Galway declined in rank from 258 in 2021 to 270 in 2022. Within the World Ranking sector, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is ranked first while the University of Oxford lies second and Stanford University is in joint third place with the University of Cambridge. Over the recent years, NUI Galway has steadily risen in the QS World University Ranking and in 2017, reached a rank into the top 250 band (243 )and made it to the top 1% of the universities in the world. Since 2017/2018 NUI Galway has fluctuated in and out of the top 250 band. However, the increasing competition in this ranking has seen NUI Galway slip to a rank of 270 in 2022.

See NUI Galway's detailed breakdown of scores and historic data for the QS World Ranking.

New in the 2022 edition of the world ranking, the QS extended their data collection process by requesting additional information to demonstrate each university's impact to achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined by the United Nations. Although the QS did not rank these metrics this year, the QS did introduce an award medal scheme, Gold, Silver and Bronze which reflects each university's research on the SDG's (See the methodology here). Two broad categories were introduced, Societal Impact (includes research in SDG5 Gender Equality and SDG10 – Reduced Inequalities) and Environmental Impact (includes research on SDG 7 -Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG11-Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG12-Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG13- Climate Action and SDG 14-Life Below Water and Life on Land). NUI Galway achieved a Silver medal award for their research in the Societal Impact category (SDG 5 and SDG 10) and a Bronze medal award for their research in Environmental Impact category (SDG7, SDG 11, SDG 12, SDG 13, SDG 14 and SDG 15).

QS Metrics

The QS overall university ranking uses six metrics in total.

Two of the metrics (Academic Reputation and Employer Reputation) are based on surveys conducted by the QS. These surveys are carried out on a population of over 100,000 academics and almost 50,000 employers. See more details on how the QS calculates these surveys and the other core metrics used below.

Table 2: The QS Rankings Metrics

QS Weighting

Measuring a University's Impact in contributing to the United Nations 17 Sustainable Goals

New in the 2022 edition of the world ranking, the QS extended its data collection process by requesting additional information to demonstrate each university's impact to achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined by the United Nations. Although the QS did not rank these metrics this year, the QS did introduce an award medal scheme, Gold, Silver and Bronze which reflects each university's research on the SDG's (See the methodology here).