University of Leicester rises to five-year high in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings

The University of Leicester has been ranked among the top 200 universities in the world by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023, and reached its highest position since 2018.

Times Higher Education (THE) has today (12 October) released the results of the THE World University Rankings 2023, and this places Leicester at 163rd among the world’s universities. The University has seen a rise of 22 places since last year’s rankings and the highest position it has ranked for five years.

It has also risen five places among the UK’s 103 institutions to 22nd, the highest in eight years.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings provides a rigorous overview of a university’s quality, drawing on an analysis of 15.5 million research publications and 121 million citations of those publications, plus over 40,000 responses to an annual academic reputation survey and hundreds of thousands of additional data points covering each university’s teaching environment, international outlook and industry links. Institutions are measured across 13 separate performance metrics, providing the most comprehensive picture of excellence among world-class research universities.

A record number of 1,799 universities from 104 countries and regions are included in the World Rankings this year – 137 more than last year – making it the largest edition in the 19-year history of the rankings.

Today’s rise for Leicester comes after it moved up to 35th in the Sunday Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023 in September, and 29th in the Complete University Guide 2023, in July.

Professor Elizabeth Jones, Pro Vice-Chancellor Education at the University of Leicester, said: “The latest results from the THE World Rankings are welcome recognition of the University of Leicester’s place on the global stage and our world-leading approach to teaching and research. That this result is our highest in five years, as well as our second-highest in eight years, reaffirms our position among the top universities in the world. 

“At the heart of this achievement is the high quality education we provide at the University of Leicester, where students are taught by world leading researchers in a friendly and inclusive environment, and the invaluable contributions of all our colleagues in making this a reality.”

• View the full THE World University Rankings 2023 methodology