The University of Aberdeen is the third highest climbing UK institution in a prestigious world university rankings guide.
This is the third year that the THES – QS World University Rankings has been published by the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) in partnership with the research resources of QS, Quacquarelli Symonds, the international education and career development group.
An exclusive UK awards dinner was held in Edinburgh last night (Wednesday, December 6) for the winners of the 10 highest climbing UK universities in 2006, along with the top 5 UK institutions.
The event, which coincided with the British Council’s ‘Going Global’, honoured the UK’s highest achieving universities, recently ranked by the Times Higher – QS 2006 World University Rankings which features exclusively in the new QS Guide to the World’s Top Universities.
Lori Manders, Director of External Affairs at the University, is delighted at the University’s ranking and attended last night’s awards ceremony. She said: “Universities are increasingly being judged on their international competitive position. This news confirms that the University of Aberdeen has made considerable progress in competing with the world’s best institutions.
“The University has set itself a target of being firmly among the world’s best universities. The THES - QS World University Rankings provides tangible evidence of the University’s progress towards that goal, confirming Aberdeen’s position among the world leaders.
“There has been an unprecedented £9m investment in Aberdeen’s intellectual leadership with 63 professorial appointments made in the last three years and close to 100 new junior appointments over the last 12 months.
“As it enters its Sixth Century of achievement as an international leader in learning, the University contributes £245million a year to the economy.”
Applications for undergraduate admissions at the University of Aberdeen have risen this year over 2% with more than 15,000 applications received for 2006 entry – the highest number ever recorded at this stage of the recruitment process.
Aberdeen has also made a bold statement about how it intends to match its academic investment with new facilities. Plans for a £55.5 million library are at the centre of a £230 million capital investment strategy for the next decade. The library will be a showcase for a collection of 250,000 historic books and manuscripts that will make Aberdeen an international centre for humanities.
Other capital projects at different points on the way to completion include The Hub, an £8 million student centre; the £16.5 million Matthew Hay project for clinical training of students preparing for medical professions; and the £23 million Aberdeen Regional Sports Facilty.
The results are published by the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES - www.thes.co.uk) and by QS (www.topuniversities.com). The selection of criteria and indicators is devised in collaboration between QS and THES and include: research quality; graduate employability; international outlook; and teaching quality.
The awards ceremony, which was attended by representatives from 50 UK universities, was held to celebrate the individual and collective achievements of British universities that performed very well in the past year and took place at the Museum of Scotland.
Full details of the THES – QS World University Rankings are available at www.topuniversities.com