Birkbeck ranks among the top 200 universities in the world, according to data published today. The 2010-11 Times Higher Education World University Rankings lists Birkbeck at number 152. It is the first time that Birkbeck has been included in the rankings having been selected from a shortlist of more than 400 international institutions.
The data also shows that Birkbeck is ranked 23rd in the UK and is rated above several large Russell Group universities such as Leeds, Liverpool and Nottingham. Birkbeck's fellow 1994 Group institutions also performed strongly and its members make up 10 of the top 200 universities in the world. Changes to the rankings methodology now prioritise measures of quality over scale of activity and have led to a radical redistribution among universities within the rankings.
Ann Mroz, editor of the Times Higher Education magazine, commented: "We would like to congratulate Birkbeck, University of London for its performance in this year's rigorous rankings. Being ranked 152 in the world top 200 is an impressive achievement. The top 200 universities in the world represent only a tiny fraction of world higher education and any institution that makes it into this table is truly world class."
Birkbeck ranked particularly highly in the category of research influence and citation impact (34th in Europe), which is a strong indicator of the relevance of an institution's research. The college also scored well in the category of International diversity of staff and students (12th in Europe) which indicates how global an institution is in its outlook.
About the rankings
The 2010-11 Times Higher Education World University Rankings represent a 'year zero', thanks to a new methodology developed after consultation with 50 sector leaders, the magazine's editorial board and website feedback. The new methodology, working with a range of sources including HESA data and statistics supplied by Thomson Reuters, places less importance on reputation and heritage than in previous years and gives more weight to hard measures of excellence in all three core elements of a university's mission - research, teaching and knowledge transfer. It is also the only global ranking system that includes a section dedicated to the teaching and learning environment - including the first-ever global survey of institutions' teaching reputation. In all, it includes 13 separate performance indicators, across five broad categories: teaching; citation impact; research volume, income and reputation; international mix of staff and students; and industry income.
A worldwide Academic Reputation Survey was carried out during spring 2010. Some 13,388 responses were gathered across all regions and subject areas. The results make up a total of 34.5% of the overall ranking score (15% for teaching and 19.5% for research).