Institutional Level Rankings

Skip to a specific ranking: 1. Times Higher Education World Impact Ranking | 2. QS World University Ranking | 3. Times Higher Education World University Ranking | 4. ARWU – Academic Ranking of World Universities (Shanghai Ranking) | 5. US News – Best Global Universities | 6.U-Multirank | 7. Webometrics | 8.Sunday Times League Table | 9. QS Europe Rankings

1. Times Higher Education World Impact Ranking

UCC improved its position by 4 places and ranked an impressive 58 of 1,591 universities in the most recent edition of the global impact ranking published by Times Higher Education on 01 Jun 2023. This is an evidence-based ranking which examines the impact the university is having, through the prism of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In overall terms UCC scored 90.8 out of 100.

As well as our overall score and rank, we have also performed remarkably well across the individual UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with UCC ranking in the Top 50 in the world across 4 of the 17 SDGs.

UCC's best performing SDGs based on rank (including actual score out of 100) are as follows:

This ranking is particularly noteworthy in that not only does it look at data and metrics, it also examines the impact the university is having on society and the world around us on everything from the economy to the environment and social equity.

Times Higher Education assess the impact of the university across the university's teaching, research, student stewardship and community and public engagement so it is great to be recognised as a world leader in this regard, via this independent and rigorous annual assessment.

UCC's profile in the Times Higher Education World Impact Ranking

THE World Impact Ranking Methodology »

2. QS World University Ranking

UCC improved its overall score by 0.7 and overall rank by 11 places in the QS World University Rankings 2023-24 which published on 27 June 2023. UCC now ranks 292 up from 303 last year. This year 2,963 universities were considered and 1,503 made the final published ranking. It measures performance across indicators including Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Student Faculty Ratio, Citation Per Faculty, Proportion of International Faculty and Proportion of International Students, as well as three new indicators relating to International Research Network, Graduate Employability and Sustainability.

UCC scores strongly across the board with particular strengths in the areas of internationalisation and sustainability.

UCC ranks at 152 for the international faculty indicator and an impressive 46 in the world for the advancement of sustainability. UCC was the only Irish university that ranked in the top 50 for any of the nine indicators used to assess the universities.

UCC's profile in the QS World University Ranking

QS World University Ranking Methodology »

3. Times Higher Education World University Ranking

UCC improved our overall score to its highest level of 51.3-53.0. In doing so, we maintained our position in the 301-350 band in the 20th edition of the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Ranking published on  27 Sep 2023. This is THE's flagship ranking and most competitive yet. THE considered almost 3,000 universities with 1,904 making the final published rank.

The ranking uses five pillars to rank the universities. These are Teaching, Research Environment, Research Quality, Industry Engagement and International Outlook.  

THE amended their methodology this year and now uses 18 indicators across the 5 pillars. Changes include the adjustment of some of the weightings, adding three new research quality metrics to their ‘Citation Score’ in the Research Quality pillar and the introduction of new metrics for 'Patents' and students 'Studying Abroad'.

UCC's strongest pillar is Research Quality where UCC scores 82.4 and is ranked at 275 globally. 

UCC's profile in the Times Higher Education World University Ranking

THE World University Ranking Methodology »

4. ARWU – Academic Ranking of World Universities (Shanghai Ranking).

The first and most prestigious of the university rankings. UCC maintained its position in the 301-400 band in this cycle of the Shanghai ranking, published on 15 Aug 2023. UCC remains joint-second in Ireland with UCD (after TCD) in this ranking which is confined to the top 2,000 universities globally, of which 1,000 make the final published rank.

UCC continues to be the top Irish university for highly cited researchers in this ranking. 

UCC's profile in the ARWU – Academic Ranking of World Universities (Shanghai Ranking)

Academic Ranking of World Universities ARWU (Shanghai Ranking) Methodology »

5. US News – Best Global Universities.

UCC is ranked 397 in the most recent cycle of US News Best Global Universities which published online on 25 October 2022.

This ranking assesses the 2,165 universities against 13 different indicators with 'Percentage of highly cited papers that are in the top 1% most cited' (194), 'Books' (204), and 'Normalized Citation Impact' (241), being UCC's top indicators in this year's ranking. All three within the top 250 globally. Overall, UCC remains third in Ireland in this ranking after TCD and UCD.

UCC's profile in the US News – Best Global Universities Ranking

US News Best Global Universities Methodology »

6.U-Multirank

Is a user-based approach to ranking universities which was formed from an EC-funded project. It is a very rigorous assessment of the University which examines the University's performance in 38 different indicators across the areas of teaching and learning, research, knowledge transfer, international orientation and regional engagement. This year's assessment, which published on the U-Multirank website on 21 June 2022, saw UCC improve its performance to 17 A scores and 11 B scores out of the 38 performance indicators scored, making it the top performing Irish Higher Education Institution under this independent assessment again this year.

U-Multirank Methodology »

7. Webometrics

A Spanish Government developed ranking with a primary purpose to promote scientific research, UCC improved its rank to 386 of 12,000 global universities and third-level institutions. The latest version of the ranking, which published in January 2023, is based on three indicators relating to Impact, Excellence and Openness.

The ranking also continues to place UCC 3rd of 66 post secondary institutions in Ireland. 

Webometrics Methodology »

8.Sunday Times League Table

UCC ranks 3rd in Ireland after TCD and UCD in this national ranking of Ireland’s seventeen third level institutions. This ranking looks across 8 different indicators and takes data from the CAO, HEA, and National Student Survey among other sources.

UCC leads the sector in Ireland on Graduate Employability (along with UL and NUIG) and on Progression Rate (along with TCD) from 1st to 2nd year, within this ranking.

UCC's profile in the Sunday Times League Table of Irish Higher Education Institutions

9. QS Europe Rankings

The 2023/2024 QS Europe University Rankings (inaugural edition) released 20/09/2023 by global higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) sees UCC placed 109 in Europe, which spans the Council of Europe countries. 

The ranking examines the universities against 12 indicators relating to the areas of Research & Discovery, Employability & Outcomes, Learning Experience, Global Engagement & Sustainability. It assessed universities across 42 locations. 

QS rated UCC highly across the board, with particular strengths for sustainability and global engagement. UCC is ranked at 21 in Europe for the advancement of sustainability and 57th and 58th respectively for international faculty and outbound exchange opportunities for students within this independent assessment. 

UCC is first in Ireland for sustainability and outbound student exchange opportunities within this ranking.

Niche / Specialised Rankings

1. UI Green Metric

UCC is ranked 7th in the world for sustainability according to the latest independent assessment from UI Green Metric which published on 12 Dec 2022.  The UI Green Metric Ranking measures the advancement of sustainability across 1050 universities around the world in the areas of Infrastructure and setting, waste, water, transportation, energy and climate change as well as education and research. UCC continues to be recognised as a world leader in this area and improved (from 8th last year) to 7th in the world this year. In doing so UCC retained its place within the top 10 for the past seven years of this ranking.

UCC's profile in the UI Green Metric (Sustainability Ranking)

UI Green Metric Methodology »

2.QS Graduate Employability Rankings

UCC improved its position to the 201-250 band from 251-300 band in this ranking in 2019. The ranking which examines the university’s initiatives around securing employment for their graduates was suspended by QS in 2020 due to Covid-19 and recommenced in 2021. 

UCC's profile in the QS Graduate Employability Rankings

QS Graduate Employability Ranking Methodology »

3.Financial Times Executive Global Rankings

University College Cork’s Irish Management Institute (IMI) and Cork University Business School (CUBS) have ranked an impressive 60th in the most recent cycle of the prestigious global FT Rankings for custom executive education. IMI/CUBS is the sole representative from Ireland on this ranking which published on 23 May 2023. 

The ranking, which encompass a wide range of criteria, including faculty quality, value for money, programme design, and learning outcomes, reaffirm IMI/CUBS as an unparalleled provider of executive education. More information on business school rankings is available on FT.com.

Financial Times – Business Rankings Methodology »

4. European Research Ranking

UCC ranks first in Ireland and impressive 33rd in Europe in the European Research Ranking. The data source is Cordis and the criteria used to rank the institutions include total funding per partner, total number of projects, total project funding, networking rank (reputation), partner constancy, project leadership index, diversity index. 

UCC's profile in the European Research Ranking

European Research Ranking Methodology »

Subject / Discipline Rankings

1.QS World University Rankings by Subject 

Updated 22 Mar 2023

UCC has been named as one of the world’s top universities for the study of 25 subjects according to the latest ranking published 22 March 2023. QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023 has seen UCC make the Top 50 in one subject (Nursing – ranked at 33) and the Top 100 for another four subjects including Law (59), Agriculture & Forestry (61), Pharmacy & Pharmacology (99) and Anatomy & Physiology (51-100) respectively. 

Our Performance

• UCC is ranked in the top 200 for 9 subjects
  • No. 33 for Nursing,
  • No. 59 for Law
  • No. 61 for Agriculture and Forestry,
  • No. 99 for Pharmacy & Pharmacology
  • In the top 51-100 for Anatomy & Physiology,
  • In the top 101-150 for English Language and Literature, and for Performing Arts.
  • In the top 151-200 for Modern Languages, and Medicine.
• The 5 subjects that moved up a band were Anatomy & Physiology, Nursing, Physics, Education, and Law. This year saw new subjects featuring on QS Subject rankings for UCC relating to Performing Arts and Economics.
• The subject with the highest score for 'academic reputation' indicator relative to its peers is: Nursing
• The subject with the highest score for 'employer reputation' indicator relative to peers is: Archaeology
• The subject with the highest score for the 'citations per paper' indicator relative to its peers is: Nursing
• The subject with the highest score for the 'h-Index indicator' relative to its peers is: Pharmacy & Pharmacology

UCC is first in Ireland for each of Nursing, Law, Agriculture & Forestry, and Anatomy & Physiology.

In overall terms UCC now features 25 times across the specific subject rankings (up from 23). UCC is in the top 100 for 5 subjects (up from 4), it has 9 top 200 subjects (same as last year). It improved ranks in 5 subjects (up from 4) and has 2 new subjects featuring again this year.

It is great for UCC subjects to be recognised internationally where it is a real positive for the University to be featuring higher up, and more often in these global subject rankings. In total 1,597 universities are featured across 161 countries.

QS World University Rankings by Subject Methodology »

2. Global Ranking of Academic Subjects – Shanghai 

Updated 3 Nov 2023

UCC subjects feature prominently in the prestigious Shanghai Subject Rankings. UCC features across 17 of Shanghai's subject categories in the most recent cycle (up from 15 last year), where

• Dentistry & Oral Sciences (Top 75),
• Food Science & Technology (Top 150),
• Clinical Medicine (Top 200)
• Human Biological Sciences (Top 200),
• Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences (Top 200)
• Nursing (Top 200),

are all at the top end of these global rankings. 

In the Irish context, UCC is first in Ireland for:

• Clinical Medicine

and joint first for each of: 

• Electrical & Electronic Engineering
• Biotechnology
• Energy Science and Engineering
• Human Biological Sciences
• Dentistry & Oral Sciences
• Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Medical Technology

Global Ranking of Academic Subjects – Shanghai Methodology »

3. US News – Global Subject Rankings

Twelve different UCC disciplines have made the most recent version of the US new Best global subjects ranking, which published online on 25 October 2022. Some of UCC's top performing subject areas in this ranking are as follows

• Food Science and Technology (#57 - up two places)
• Agricultural Sciences (#69 - up 3 places),
• Microbiology (#78 - up 14 places),
• Neuroscience and Behaviour (#118 - up 6 places).

US News uses 13 different indicators to rank the universities in these subjects. The indicator 'percentage of highly cited papers that are in the world top 1% most cited' is particularly strong for UCC subjects with Neuroscience & Behaviour (3rd in the world versus peer universities), Microbiology (4th in the world), Psychiatry/Psychology (6th in the world) for this indicator which relates directly to top quality research.

US News – Global Subject Rankings Methodology »

4.Times Higher Education (THE) World Subject Rankings

Rather than rank specific subjects, THE publishes rankings across 11 broad subject areas each October. The most recent cycle published on 26 October 2023 and UCC once again improved its overall position across these global subject rankings.

The areas of Physical Sciences, Engineering & Technology, Computer Science, Social Sciences and Education all improved in this years ranking.

UCC is ranked 176-200 for both Clinical/Pre-clinical & health and inside the Top 250 for Life Sciences, Psychology and Law.

Times Higher Education (THE) World Subject Rankings Methodology »

Summary Table

Use the table below to see UCC's positon across the different rankings over the last number of years.

Any Queries?

If you have any queries on UCC rankings, please contact David Hogan, Data and Institutional Research Officer.