2013 Press Releases
UCC rises in Times Higher Education Rankings
UCC has significantly improved its position in the 2013-2014 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings.
UCC is now placed within the #276-300 range, leaping forward more than 50 places from its 2012-2013 ranking of #345. The result firmly marks UCC out as heading for a top-200 global position. UCC has also improved its outlook nationally, and remains among the top three Irish universities. The ranking is based on 13 separate performance indicators to examine a university’s strengths, grouped into five areas. UCC has seen an increase in its score across nearly all of these areas this year:
- Teaching: the learning environment (worth 30 per cent of the overall ranking score) – 27 (up from 25.3)
- Research: volume, income and reputation (worth 30 per cent) - 20 (up from 19.5)
- Citations: research influence (worth 30 per cent) - 57 (up from 47.4)
- Industry income: innovation (worth 2.5 per cent) - 50 (up from 38.8)
- International outlook: staff, students and research (worth 7.5 per cent) – 67 (previously 71.5)
A worldwide press release from rankings body THE remarked particularly on changes in position across Ireland and Europe, as traditionally strong institutions lost ground, while several institutions across countries in Asia made gains in their ranking.
Reflecting on the Irish performance in the rankings, President of UCC Dr Michael Murphy said: “What we can take from this result is that different ranking systems clearly measure different aspects of university performance. Taken in the round, the rankings give the clear message that Irish universities are performing very creditably in the face of very difficult austerity challenges. Our absolute performance scores (the equivalent to our “marks in the exam”) are holding up but better resourced universities, especially in Asia, are surpassing us. If Ireland is ever again to feature in the top 20, or even the top 50, we will have to take bold decisions on a new funding model and a new architecture for our university system.”
UCC is also excelling in the THE World University Rankings Video Contest 2013, run by Times Higher Education Magazine. The ‘Best Three Things About …’ competition is part of the official launch of the World University Rankings 2013-14, and asks entrants to tell the world what makes their university stand out from the crowd. UCC is one of only seven institutions worldwide, and the only Irish submission, to have made the cut, with the winner to be announced in the near future (see UCC’s entry below created by UCC's Stephen Bean of AVMS):
UCC’s improved ranking in THE further builds on a successful year. UCC returned another strong performance internationally in the rival QS World University Rankings in September, which placed UCC at #210. The outcome reflected UCC’s global standing as a research-led institution, with a specific improvement in research citations (ranked 271, up from 298 in QS 2012).
UCC’s commitment to research was also recognised earlier in the year, with the University playing an essential role in Science Foundation Ireland’s largest joint state/industry research investment in Irish history (€300m). UCC is to lead four of the seven centres involved and to co-lead a fifth, while partnering the remaining two.