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University College Cork, a world-class university founded in 1845, has a long history of teaching, research, and scholarship. UCC is a comprehensive globally-oriented research-led university in the south of Ireland, located in Cork, Ireland’s second-largest city, and offering a full variety of internationally recognized programmes across all disciplines. UCC’s academic programmes are unrivalled in terms of quality. Its courses are internationally recognized, and its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes are attended by over 20,000 students. UCC has a global reputation, attracting 3,300 students from more than 100 countries. The institution provides a research-led programme that draws top-tier Irish and foreign students. Let’s explore the latest University College Cork rankings, top-ranked courses, and more!
This Blog Includes:
University College Cork International Rankings
Times Higher Education World Impact Ranking
UCC improved its position by 4 places and ranked an impressive 58 of 1,591 universities in the most recent edition of the global impact ranking published by Times Higher Education on 01 Jun 2023. This is an evidence-based ranking which examines the impact the university is having, through the prism of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In overall terms, UCC scored 90.8 out of 100.
As well as their overall score and rank, they have also performed remarkably well across the individual UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with UCC ranking in the Top 50 in the world across 4 of the 17 SDGs.
UCC’s best-performing SDGs based on rank (including actual score out of 100) are as follows:
| SDG | Rank | Score |
|---|---|---|
| SDG 2 – Zero Hunger | 6 | 87.6 |
| SDDG 6 – Clean Water and Sanitisation | 15 | 84.7 |
| SDG 14 – Life below water | 44 | 78.4 |
| SDG 13 – Climate action | 50 | 73.5 |
| SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities | 52 | 82.3 |
QS World University Ranking
In the renowned QS World University Ranking 2024, UCC is ranked =292. This year, 1,673 universities were considered, with 1,300 making the final published list. It assesses performance using a variety of variables, including academic reputation, employer reputation, student-faculty ratio, citations per faculty, and the number of international professors and students. The International Faculty indicator is the strongest for UCC, ranking 136 internationally.
Times Higher Education World University Ranking
UCC raised our overall score to the highest possible level of 51.3-53.0. As a result, they retained their place in the 301-350 band in the 20th edition of the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Ranking, which was published on September 27, 2023. This is THE’s flagship ranking, and it is the most competitive to date. THE evaluated nearly 3,000 universities, with 1,904 making the final published list.
The universities are ranked using five pillars. Teaching, Research Environment, Research Quality, Industry Engagement, and International Outlook are among them.
This year, it changed its system and now employs 18 indicators across the five pillars. Changes include the adjustment of some of the weightings, adding three new research quality metrics to their ‘Citation Score’ in the Research Quality pillar and the introduction of new metrics for ‘Patents’ and students ‘Studying Abroad’.
ARWU – Academic Ranking of World Universities (Shanghai Ranking)
The top and most respected university ranking. In this cycle of the Shanghai rating, issued on August 15, 2023, UCC maintained its place in the 301-400 band. UCC is still tied for second place in Ireland with UCD (after TCD) in this rating, which is limited to the top 2,000 universities worldwide, of which 1,000 make the final published list.
US News – Best Global Universities
In the most recent cycle of US News Best Global Universities, released online on October 25, 2022, UCC is rated 397.
This ranking evaluates the 2,165 universities based on 13 different factors, with UCC’s top indicators in this year’s rating being ‘Percentage of highly cited papers that are in the top 1% most cited’ (194), ‘Books’ (204), and ‘Normalized Citation Impact’ (241). All three are among the top 250 in the world. Overall, UCC is ranked third in Ireland behind TCD and UCD.
U-Multirank
It is a user-based approach to university rating that arose from an EC-funded project. It is a comprehensive examination of the University that looks at 38 distinct indicators in the areas of teaching and learning, research, knowledge transfer, international orientation, and regional participation. UCC improved its performance to 17 A and 11 B scores out of the 38 performance indicators scored in this year’s assessment, which was published on the U-Multirank website on 21 June 2022, making it the top-performing Irish Higher Education Institution under this independent assessment for the second year in a row.
Webometrics
A Spanish government-created rating with the primary goal of promoting scientific research, UCC rose 9 spots to 377 out of 12,000 global universities and third-level institutions. The most recent version of the rating, released in July 2023, is based on three indicators: Impact, Excellence, and Openness.
UCC is also ranked third out of 71 postsecondary institutions in Ireland.
Sunday Times League Table
In this nationwide rating of Ireland’s seventeen third-level universities, UCC comes in third after TCD and UCD. This rating takes data from the CAO, HEA, and National Student Survey, among other sources, and considers 8 different indicators.
Within this ranking, UCC tops the sector in Ireland for Graduate Employability (together with UL and NUIG) and Progression Rate (along with TCD) from the first to second year.
QS Europe Rankings
According to the 2023/2024 QS Europe University Rankings (inaugural edition) announced on September 20, 2023, by worldwide higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), UCC is ranked 109 in Europe, which includes countries from the Council of Europe.
The rating evaluates colleges based on 12 categories, including Research & Discovery, Employability & Outcomes, Learning Experience, Global Engagement, and Sustainability. It evaluated universities in 42 different locales.
UCC received good marks from QS across the board, with specific strengths in sustainability and global engagement. Within this independent review, UCC is placed 21 in Europe for sustainability advancement and 57th and 58th for international faculty and outbound exchange possibilities for students.
University College Cork Other Notable Rankings
UI Green Metric
UCC is ranked 6th in the world for sustainability. The UI Green Metric rating assesses the development of sustainability at 956 institutions worldwide. UCC is a world leader in this field, rising from ninth last year to eighth this year. As a result, UCC has remained in the top ten for the past six years of this rating.
QS Graduate Employability Rankings
In this rating, UCC moved up to the 201-250 band in 2022 from the 251-300 band in 2019. The rating, which looks at the university’s measures for finding jobs for their graduates, was paused by QS in 2020 due to COVID-19 and resumed in 2021.
Financial Times Executive Global Rankings
According to the most recent Financial Times worldwide rankings, IMI (Irish Management Institute) has maintained its position in the world’s top 100 in execution education for Open and Custom programmes. For the 12th year in a row, IMI has maintained its position in the Customized Executive Education Global Rankings. This year, IMI is ranked 60th in the globe for customized executive education, and 10th in the United Kingdom and Ireland. For the third year in a row, IMI maintains its position in the Open Enrollment Global Rankings. IMI has maintained its global ranking of 67th and is ranked 7th in the UK and Ireland for open enrolment programmes.
European Research Ranking
In the European Research Ranking, UCC is ranked first in Ireland and impressively 33rd in Europe. The data source is Cordis, and the ranking criteria include total funding per partner, the total number of projects, total project funding, networking rank (reputation), partner constancy, project leadership index, and diversity index.
QS World Sustainability Rankings
UCC rose 35 places from 123rd in the pilot ranking last year to 88th in the first fill version of QS’s sustainable impact rankings. In total, 1,403 universities made the final published list, which was published on Tuesday, December 5, 2023. The ranking takes into account three factors: environmental effect, social impact, and governance. UCC is ranked among the top 160 in the world in all three categories.
Subject Specific Rankings
Times Higher Education World Subject Rankings
Each October, rather than grading single subjects, THE provides rankings across 11 key subject areas. The most recent cycle was published on October 26, 2023, and UCC improved its overall position in these global subject rankings yet again.
Physical sciences, engineering and technology, computer science, social sciences, and education all improved their rankings this year.
UCC is placed 176-200 in Clinical/Pre-clinical and Health Sciences and among the Top 250 in Life Sciences, Psychology, and Law.
US News – Global Subject Rankings
15 UCC disciplines made the most recent version of the US new Best Worldwide Subjects list, up from nine last year. The following are some of the top performers:
- Food Science and Technology (new rating of #57)
- Agricultural Sciences (#69)
- Microbiology (#78)
- Neuroscience and Behavior (#118)
Global Ranking of Academic Subjects – Shanghai
A growing number of UCC disciplines are being included in the coveted Shanghai Ranking of worldwide subjects. In the most recent cycle, UCC appears in 16 of Shanghai’s subject areas:
- Engineering & Food Science
- In-home care (Top 75)
- Dental care (Top 75)
- Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacy (Top 150)
- Medicine in Practice (Top 200)
- Biotechnology (Top 150)
- Public Health (Top 150)
QS World University Rankings by Subject
UCC performed admirably in the most recent QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024. According to the most recent ranking, it is one of the world’s best institutions for the study of 23 subjects. UCC is ranked between 351 and 400 by QS World University Rankings by Subject.
- UCC is ranked in the top 200 for 9 subjects
- No. 33 for Nursing,
- No. 59 for Law
- No. 61 for Agriculture and Forestry,
- No. 99 for Pharmacy & Pharmacology
- In the top 51-100 for Anatomy & Physiology,
- In the top 101-150 for English Language and Literature, and for Performing Arts.
- In the top 151-200 for Modern Languages, and Medicine.
- The 5 subjects that moved up a band were Anatomy & Physiology, Nursing, Physics, Education, and Law. This year saw new subjects featured on QS Subject rankings for UCC relating to Performing Arts and Economics.
- The subject with the highest score for the ‘academic reputation‘ indicator relative to its peers is: Nursing
- The subject with the highest score for the ‘employer reputation‘ indicator relative to peers is: Archaeology
- The subject with the highest score for the ‘citations per paper‘ indicator relative to its peers is: Nursing
- The subject with the highest score for the ‘h-Index indicator‘ relative to its peers is: Pharmacy & Pharmacology
FAQs
Ans. University College Cork (UCC) is a world-class university that was founded in 1845 and has a long history of teaching, research, and scholarship. UCC is well-known for the excellence of its academic programmes, the beauty of its campus, and its dynamic student life.
Ans. A 3.7 GPA or higher is required for admission to University College Cork.
Ans. Applicants with a high academic record and exceptional application materials have a good chance of being admitted to UCC.
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