THE Overall World Ranking

THE World Rankings Overview

University of Galway partakes annually in the Times Higher Education (THE) World Ranking along with over 1,500 other universities.  The Times Higher Education (THE) investigates five key areas known as the performance indicators, using rigorous standards and global benchmarks across all University's key missions.

Five key areas; 

 - Teaching (the learning environment) (29.5%); 

 - Research (volume, income and reputation) (29%); 

 - Citations (Citation Impact, Excellence, Influence and Strength) (30%);  

 - International outlook (staff, students and research) (7.5%); and 

 - Industry (Patents and Industry Income) (4%).

University of Galway was ranked in the 351- 400 band in THE World University Rankings for the year 2025. 

THE Methodology

The Times Higher Education (THE) methodology is explained in detail on the THE website.

Below is a detailed breakdown of each metric in the THE Ranking 2024:

In the 2024 THE WUR Edition, there was a slight revision to the metrics, with some new metrics introduced and a re-weighting of others. 

The biggest change was to the Research Quality Pillar (previously Citations metric). They used to have one metric in this pillar, - Field Weighted Citation Impact accounting for 30% of the ranking.

They have retained this metric but reduced it to 15% of the ranking and introduced 3 new metrics worth 5% each

• Research strength (5%) – a guide to how strong typical research is, based on the 75th percentile of field-weighted citation impact
• Research excellence (5%) – a guide to the amount of world-leading research at an institution, based on the volume of research in the top 10% worldwide
• Research influence (5%) – a broader look at excellence, based on the volume of research recognised by the most influential research in the world.

Additionally they introduced a new metric for Patents (2%) (measuring how often a university's research is cited in Patents) while also normalising the International metrics taking into account the population size of each country

THE Results

See University of Galway's results in the Times Higher Education Ranking.

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THE Press Releases

See press releases relating to the Times Higher Education (THE) University rankings.

Published 2021

Irish Times 2021

Published 2020

Irish Times 2020

Published 2019

• Gains for NUI Galway in THE World University Rankings 2019
• Irish Times 2019

Published 2018

• RTE News 2018
• Irish Examiner 2018
• Irish Independent 2018

Published 2017

NUI Galway maintains position in the Times Higher Education (THE) University Rankings 2017

Published 2016

• Read NUI Galway's news archive on the university rankings 2016.
• Read more on the Times Higher Education (THE) ranking results, in the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Irish Examiner, The Journal.ie and the Galway Advertiser.
• President Dr. Jim Browne's Interview on News Talk, 24/09/2016

Find out more on the Times Higher Education  Ranking on the:

• THE World University Rankings website.