Rankings and statistics

We are proud of the quality of our education, research and enterprise.

City is a truly global institution with students, staff and researchers from around the world. We are 12^th in the UK for International Outlook according to Times Higher Education World University Rankings, 2022.

Our students and alumni

We have over 20,000 students and an extremely diverse student population. About 60% of our students are from the UK, 11% from the EU and almost 30% from around the world.

• Around 3,500 students start undergraduate studies each year
• 12^th most competition for places in the UK, Times Higher Education 2021
• 12^th most non-EU students in the UK, Times Higher Education 2021
• 27^th – most EU students, Times Higher Education 2021
• 40^th – most applications, Times Higher Education 2021
• More than 145,000 former students from over 180 countries are members of the City Alumni Network.

Social inclusion

Research Excellence Framework (REF)

The results of REF 2021, published by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in May 2022, found:

• 86% of City research rated as world leading 4* (40%) and internationally excellent 3* (46%) quality (based on City's submission to the REF).
• A marked increase in research quality compared to the 2014 REF when 75.7% of research at City was rated as 4* (23.3%) and 3* (52.4%).
• The proportion of City’s research rated world–leading (4*) has almost doubled to 40% (from 23% in 2014).
• Excellence across City Schools, with all individual Units of Assessment (UoA) improving their overall Grade Point Average (GPA) compared to 2014.
• City is 39th in the UK out of 129 universities according to the Times Higher Education rankings, an increase of 12 places since REF 2014.