Birkbeck placed in top 4% of all universities evaluated for QS World University Rankings 2027
The annual QS World University Rankings offer a valuable benchmark for students, parents, government and the higher education sector for understanding how institutions perform in relation to universities around the world.
The QS World University Rankings, released today, have placed Birkbeck in the top 4% of all universities globally, with an improvement of thirty-four places to position #354 out of over 8000 universities evaluated.
Birkbeck’s trajectory over the past couple of years has seen it jump up the rankings from #408 in 2025 to #388 in 2026 and now to #354 for 2027; with its domestic ranking also improving for 2027, from 41st in 2026 to 38th in the UK in the 2027 rankings.
Professor Sally Wheeler, Birkbeck’s Vice-Chancellor said, “I am incredibly pleased to see that Birkbeck has, once again, improved its position in the QS World University Rankings which are among the best known and most highly regarded global university rankings. To receive such strong positioning for many of the indicators used to compile the rankings is testament to our reputation as one of the world’s leading universities.
“We recognise that students and parents, in particular, use the QS rankings as a key point of comparison when making their decisions on where to go to university, so it’s immensely beneficial to have such a respected and recognised platform validate all that Birkbeck has to offer.”
The rankings, which shine a light on the world’s best universities, are compiled using a core methodology that employs a range of factors including student experience, university partnerships, research activity and faculty qualifications. Measurements for the rankings are split across five groups of indicators including: Research and Discovery; Employability and Outcomes; Global Engagement; Learning Experience; and Sustainability.
Birkbeck achieved near-perfect scoring for ‘international faculty’ (98.9 out of 100) and ‘international student’ (98.4 out of 100) within the Global Engagement group of indicators. The University also scored highly for ‘citations per faculty’ (80.6 out of 100), part of the Research and Discovery indicator group which makes up half of the overall score.
For the 2027 rankings, 8808 institutions were evaluated from 106 locations worldwide; with 1504 institutions published. Analytics firm, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) incorporates datapoints from 16.4 million academic papers as well as the views of more than 151,000 academics and 100,000 employers.