Leeds moves up world university rankings

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The University of Leeds is ranked 123rd in the new Times Higher Education World University Rankings, moving up six places from last year and securing its highest position for more than a decade.

Out of 2,092 universities worldwide, Leeds is ranked 123rd for 2025. Securing an overall score of 64.5, Leeds is also ranked 15th out of 107 UK institutions.

Professor Hai-Sui Yu, Interim Vice-Chancellor and President, said: “This new global ranking – our highest for more than a decade – recognises the excellence to be found across research, teaching and international collaboration at the University of Leeds. It is also testament to our increasingly strong and impactful collaborations with industry and other partners both in the UK and internationally.

“The success demonstrates that our 10-year strategy, Universal Values, Global Change, is already producing positive outcomes and fostering an environment in which staff and students can thrive and contribute to tackling worldwide challenges.”

The THE World University Rankings are generated from five “pillars”: teaching, research environment, research quality, industry and international outlook.

The highest ranked pillar for Leeds was international outlook, with a very strong overall score of 94.6. This pillar looks at metrics for international co-authorship (89.2), international staff (95.2), international students (99.4) and studying abroad (70.7). 

Research quality achieved an overall score of 87, while research environment saw an overall score of 51. Particularly high scoring metrics in these areas came from research excellence (98.8), research influence (97.3) and research productivity (93.2).

The industry pillar was given an overall score of 71.2, seeing a high patents metric of 98.7, and teaching was awarded a 46.4 score, with the highest metric coming from doctorate staff ratio (74.7).

Further information

For more information, please contact the University of Leeds Press Office

You can view the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025 on its website