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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).

In June 2024, QS published their 21st edition of the QS World University Ranking Results 2025, with the largest ever number of universities partaking - a total of 1,503 institutions across 106 locations. University of Galway was ranked 273rd place in 2024 (up from 289th in 2023).

The results incorporate 17.5 million academic papers published between 2018 and 2022. They also reflect 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 2023: For their 20th edition, QS significantly evolved their methodology, reflecting the shift towards sustainability and employability and research collaborations in higher education. Three new indicators were introduced and some of the original metrics were rebalanced as detailed below:

New QS WUR Methodology

The chart below shows University of Galway's overall ranking performance in the QS World University Ranking since 2011 .

University of Galway's Ranking result 2011-2024

‌‌‌‌ QS WUR Rank 2011-2024

QS Metrics

In 2023 for their 20th edition, QS added three new metrics to their existing six metrics and re-weighted the rankings more towards sustainability, employability and international networks.

Two of the metrics (Academic Reputation and Employer Reputation) are based on surveys conducted by QS, and the remaining seven come from a variety of bibliometric sources.

The nine Indicators and their weighting in the 2023 QS World University Ranking (WUR) are outlined below:

Academic Reputation - 30%: QS' Academic Reputation indicator relates to academic excellence and the scholarly esteem in which the world’s universities are held. Obtained through an annual global survey, it collates more than 150,000 responses from academics in more than 140 countries and locations. It seeks to answer the powerful question of which universities are performing world-class research. The answer to this question not only illuminates the quality of the research, but the strength of the university in communicating that research, and the strength of the impact the research makes across the world.

Employer Reputation - 15%: QS’ Employer Reputation indicator is obtained using another survey, like Academic Reputation. The most recent edition surveyed some 99,000 employers at companies and organisations that hire graduates on a significant or global scale.

International Staff (5%) and International Students (5%) Looks at the ratio of International Faculty and Students to the overall staff and student population respectively.

Citations per Faculty - 20%: This is a measure of the relative intensity and volume of research being done at an institute, taking into account institute size.

Faculty Student Ratio - 10%: This measure is a proxy measure for the learning & teaching environment of the University.

NEW International Research Network - 5% This is a measure of global engagement, spcifically how institutions create and sustain research partnerships with other institutions across borders to collaborate on solving global challenges.

NEW Sustainability - 5%: Looks at how an insitution is demonstrating a commitment to a more sustainable existence. More than just the commitment, it looks for outwards evidence of this - from the impact that alumni are making in science and technology to solve climate issues, to the impact of research being done across the UN's 17 sustainable development goals. It evaluates the social and environmental impact of universities as a center's of education and research, as well as a major employers with the operational sustainability challenges of any large and complex organization.

NEW Employment Outcomes - 5%: Reflects the ability of institutions to ensure a high level of employability for their graduates, while also nurturing future leaders who go on to make an impact in their respective fields., it combines the graduate employment rate with Alumni impact

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