Manchester moves into UK top 5 in latest world rankings

15 Aug 2020

The University of Manchester is listed as the fifth best institution in the UK according to the latest Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)

It is a one place improvement on last year’s position. Overall, the University ranks 36th globally.  

Launched in 2003, the ARWU ranks more than 1,200 universities, with the top 500 being published. World universities are ranked using six indicators, including number of alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, the number of highly cited researchers selected by Clarivate Analytics, and the number of articles published in high-profile journals such as Nature and Science.

The ARWU ranking success is the latest in a number of positive recent results for our University, including maintaining our highest ever position on the QS World University Rankings.

As well as global academic rankings, Manchester has also been named the top institution in the country (second in Europe and eighth globally) in the Times Higher Education (THE) University Impact Rankings. The Alliance Manchester Business School also saw improvement, moving up to fifth in the UK, 11th in Europe and 45th in the world in the latest Financial Times’ world’s best MBAs.

And our reputation as one of the world’s best universities for employability was further cemented by the University being named the most targeted institution by the UK’s top 100 graduate employers for the third year in a row by The Graduate Market in 2020. Manchester was also named the University of the Year for Graduate Employment by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020.

The ARWU is published annually by the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy, after initially being launched by Shanghai Jiao Tong, a public research university based in Shanghai, China.