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

Congratulations to the staff, students, alumni and UCC community world-wide who work in a real way on a daily basis to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals. UCC ranked an impressive 67 of 1963 universities in the most recent edition of the global impact ranking published by Times Higher Education on 12 June 2024. This is an evidence-based ranking which examines the impact the university is having, through the prism of the UN’s SDGs.

In overall terms UCC scored 90.7 out of 100, back marginally on the 90.8 scored last year and back 9 places overall. This is in the context of an additional 350+ universities making the final published ranking this year.

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 30 in the world across 5 of the 17 SDGs.

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

UCC leads the Irish universities across the SDGs, being first place in Ireland across 5 of them - SDG2, 11, 14, 15 & 16. UCC features in the Top 30 across the SDGs more than any other Irish university.

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 rank by 19 places in the QS World University Rankings 2024-25 which published on 4 June 2024. This comes on the back of an 11 place improvement last year. UCC now ranks 273 up from 292 last year. This is all the more significant given that this year 5,663 universities were considered (up from 3,000) and 1,503 universities across 106 countries made the final published ranking.

This independent assessment 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 indicators (new since last year) relating to International Research Network, Graduate Employability and Sustainability.

UCC scores strongly across the board with particular strengths in the areas of sustainability, internationalisation and our reputation with graduate employers. For example UCC ranks an impressive 88 in the world for the advancement of sustainability.

UCC's profile in the QS World University Ranking

QS World University Ranking Methodology »

3. Times Higher Education World University Ranking

UCC is ranked in the 351-400 band in the 21st edition of the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings which published on 9 October 2024. This is THE's flagship ranking and most competitive yet. THE considered almost 3,000 universities with 2,092 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 International Outlook which is ranked at 276 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 2024. UCC remains joint-second in Ireland with UCD (after TCD) in this ranking which is confined to the top 2,500 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 412 in the most recent cycle of US News Best Global Universities which published online on 1 July 2024.

This ranking assesses the 2,459 universities against 13 different indicators with 'Books' (198), 'Percentage of highly cited papers that are in the top 1% most cited' (277), and 'Normalized Citation Impact' (319), being UCC's top indicators in this year's ranking. All 3 within the Top 320 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 by 9 places to 377 of 12,000 global universities and third-level institutions. The latest version of the ranking, which published in July 2023, is based on three indicators relating to Impact, Excellence and Openness.

The ranking also continues to place UCC 3rd of 71 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 2024/2025 QS Europe University Rankings (2nd edition) released 10 July 2024 by higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) sees UCC improve 4 places to 105 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 46 locations and in all 685 universities from 42 countries make the final published ranking.

QS rated UCC highly across the board, with particular strengths for sustainability, faculty diversity and reputation with employers within this independent assessment.

UCC remains first in Ireland for outbound student exchange opportunities within this ranking.

UCC's profile in the QS Europe rankings

Niche / Specialised Rankings

1. UI Green Metric | 2. QS Graduatge Employability Rankings | 3.Financial Times Executive Global Rankings | 4. European Research Ranking | 5. QS World Sustainability Ranking

1. UI Green Metric

UCC is ranked an impressive 4th in the world for sustainability according to the latest independent assessment from UI Green Metric which published on 12 December 2024.      

The UI Green Metric ranking measures the advancement of sustainability across 1,477 universities in 95 countries world-wide in the areas of Infrastructure and setting, waste, water, transportation, energy and climate change as well as education and research. Within these areas UCC ranks 3rd in the world for its work on Water and 4th in the world for its work on waste. UCC continues to be recognised as a world leader in this area and improved (from 6th overall last year) to 4th overall in the world this year. In doing so UCC retained its place within the top 10 in the world for the past eight years of this ranking. 

UCC is the Top Irish University for Sustainability again this year, and since the inception of this ranking in 2010.

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 maintained position and ranked an impressive 60th in the most recent cycle of the prestigious global FT Rankings for custom executive education which published on 20 May 2024. 

IMI/CUBS has also ranked an impressive 67 in the 'Open' executive education category.

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

Separately, IMI/CUBS is ranked 83rd of European Business Schools in the FT Business School Ranking which published on 2 Dec 2024. 

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 »

5. QS World Sustainability Ranking

UCC is ranked 127 of 1,751 universities in the most recent QS Sustainability Ranking which examines, Environmenntal Impact, Social Impact and Governance,  and which published on 10 December 2024. UCC is ranked 173, 113 and 20th for each of those constituent elements. UCC being ranked 20th in the world for Governance structures, processes and application is particularly noteworthy. 

UCC's profile in the QS Worl Sustainability Ranking

QS World Sustainability Ranking Methodology »

Subject / Discipline Rankings

1.QS World University Rankings by Subject 

Updated 12 Mar 2025

UCC has been named as one of the world’s top universities for the study of 29 subjects according to the latest ranking published today 12 March 2025. This is up from having 24 subjects featuring last year. QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025 has seen UCC make the Top 30 in one subject (Nursing – ranked at 27, up five places one from last year) and the Top 100 for another three subjects including Agriculture & Forestry (84), Law (94),  and Performing Arts (51-100), respectively. 

Our Performance

• UCC is ranked in the top 200 for 9 subjects
  • No. 27 for Nursing,
  • No. 84 for Agriculture and Forestry,
  • No. 94 for Law
  • In the top 51-100 for Performing Arts
  • In the top 101-150 for English Language and Literature and for Pharmacy & Pharmacology
  • In the top 101-170 for Anatomy & Physiology
  • In the top 151-200 for Modern Languages and for Philosophy

Each of Archaeology, History, Modern Languages, Nursing, Geography, Materials Science, Economics & Econometrics, and Sociology improved their ranks this year. Nursing at UCC improved for the fifth year in a row and is now ranked an impressive 27th in the world, among its peers.  

This year's rankings saw 5,202 institutions analysed with 1,747 different higher education institutions across 148 countries making the final published listings. The rankings are based on a combination of different indicators relating to academic and employer reputation, and to research.    

In overall terms UCC now features 29 times across the specific subject rankings, up from 24 featuring last year. UCC is in the top 100 for 4 subjects, it has 9 top 200 subjects. It improved ranks in 8 subjects 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.

QS World University Rankings by Subject Methodology »

2. Global Ranking of Academic Subjects – Shanghai 

Updated 12 Nov 2024

UCC subjects feature prominently in the prestigious Shanghai Subject Rankings. UCC features across 19 of Shanghai's subject categories in the most recent cycle (up from 17 last year), where:

• Dentistry & Oral Sciences (36 in the world),
• Food Science & Technology (46),
• Agricultural Sciences (101-150)
• Human Biological Sciences (151 - 200)

are all at the top end of these global rankings. 

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

• Dentistry & Oral Sciences

and joint first for each of: 

• Biological Sciences
• Human Biological Sciences
• Agricultural Sciences
• Public Health
• Medical Technology

This year each of Food Science & Technology, Biological Sciences, Agricultural Sciences, Public Health, Dentistry & Oral Sciences, Political Sciences, Psychology, Law, Management, Business Administration at UCC improved in this cycle of the ranking.

Global Ranking of Academic Subjects – Shanghai Methodology »

3. US News – Global Subject Rankings

17 different UCC disciplines have made the most recent version of the US new Best global subjects ranking, which published online on 1st July 2024. Some of UCC's top performing subject areas in this ranking are as follows:

• Agricultural Sciences (82)
• Microbiology (87)
• Food Science and Technology (94)

UCC is the only Irish university to have three subjects in the Top 100 in this ranking.

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 (8th in the world versus peer universities), Microbiology (11th 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 January. The most recent cycle published on 22 Jan 2025 and UCC once again performed well across these global subject rankings. 

The areas of Medical & Health, Life Sciences, Law, and Psychology are all ranked in the Top 250 in the world in these rankings. 

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.