University of Huddersfield remains in top 550 of QS World University rankings
The University of Huddersfield has remained in the Top 550 in the latest QS World University Rankings 2026, being placed 524th globally.
This excellent performance comes after last year’s “Most Improved University in the UK” award due to the University increasing its ranking over 200 places in recent years.
Earlier this year, the University of Huddersfield was also named as one of the world's top universities in 14 subjects, achieving its highest number of subjects formally ranked in the QS World University Rankings by Subject. This included two subjects in the Top 100 (Performing Arts and Petroleum Engineering), a further ten subjects in the Top 500, and three subject categories (Accounting & Finance, Economics & Econometrics, and Medicine) ranked for the first time.
Key highlights of the 2026 QS World University Rankings:
- The University increased its scores in eight out of the nine indicators used in the QS World University Rankings, including “Academic Reputation” and “Employer Reputation” measures.
- A particularly notable improvement was achieved in the “Citations Per Faculty” indicator, reflecting the growing quality, reach and impact of the University’s research.
Pro Vice-Chancellor International Professor Alistair Sambell commented, “The University of Huddersfield’s excellent performance in the prestigious 2026 QS World University Rankings demonstrates the University’s academic standing, including its growing reputation with employers and academics around the world. I’m particularly proud that the quality of the research is reflected in our Citations Per Faculty indicator improving to 515th globally. A ranking of 131st in the International Students measure also reflects the diversity of our student community.”
About the QS World University Rankings
The QS World University Rankings provide an independent comparative analysis on the performance of 8,467 institutions worldwide. This year’s ranking is the largest ever, featuring over 1,500 universities across 105 higher education systems. This year, 112 new universities entered the ranking and it is the only ranking of its kind to emphasise employability and sustainability.
The United States is the most represented country or territory, with 197 ranked institutions, followed by the United Kingdom with 90 and mainland China with 71.
The QS World University Rankings utilise a set of indicators with variable weights. Reputation indicators are based on the responses of more than 240,000 employers and academics to QS surveys while Citations per Paper and H-Index measure research impact and productivity. International Research Network (IRN) is used to assess cross-border research collaboration.
The new 2026 edition has a new unweighted indicator introduced in International Student Diversity aiming to measure not only the size of an institution's international student body, but also how successful the institution is at attracting students from a wide range of different locations and backgrounds.
The new edition has also expanded the number of institutions considered in their research indicators by over 65%, now covering over 8,000 from the Scopus database. This broader global coverage allows more accurate and inclusive results.
Visit the QS Top Universities website to see the full results.
An overview for each indicator and the full methodology details are found here: QS World University Rankings – QS Quacquarelli Symonds.