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Manchester named as one of world’s leading universities in 2025 academic rankings

15 Aug 2025

We’ve strengthened our position among the world’s top universities, rising to 46th globally in the 2025 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU).

Shanghai Rankings

Compiled by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, the ARWU assesses over 2,500 institutions worldwide and publishes the top 1,000.

Our strong performance also saw us climb to 13th in Europe, while maintaining our place as the 6th best university in the UK—a testament to our research excellence, global impact, and academic achievement.

ARWU is recognised as one of the most influential global rankings, measuring academic and research performance using indicators such as highly cited researchers, publications in Nature and Science, and articles indexed in major citation databases. It also includes Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals—last October, alumnus Professor Simon Johnson became our 26th Nobel laureate, awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for his groundbreaking research into wealth disparities between nations.

President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Duncan Ivison said: “Rankings like ARWU never capture the full story of what we value—our culture, our community, and our commitment to impact. But they do remind us of our standing among Europe’s leading universities and the importance of striving for excellence in everything we do. For an institution of our scale and ambition, continued progress on the global stage is both a challenge and an opportunity.”

This result follows a strong year for us in other global rankings. In June, we were named the 35th best university in the world in the QS World University Rankings.

Our social and environmental impact continues to be recognised globally—we’re the only university ranked in the top ten in both the QS World University Sustainability Rankings and the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, reflecting our contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Our research strength is further evidenced by the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF), where 93% of our research activity was rated either ‘world-leading’ (4*) or ‘internationally excellent’ (3*).

Vice-President for Research Professor Colette Fagan added: “Manchester has always been a place where world-class research meets real-world impact. We’re proud of our achievements, but even more excited about what lies ahead.”