Durham University has jumped up 14 places in the QS World University Rankings to 78th.
The university's best performance came in the rankings' new sustainability category, evaluates the social and environmental impact, with Durham placed joint 30th in the world. It was ranked in 108th for the impacts of its international research network, 50th on employer reputation and 124th on academic reputation.
Despite being ranked among the 100 top universities in the world, it was revealed that 20% of Durham's undergraduate students will face delays in receiving their final marks or classifications for the 2022/23 academic year. Members of the University and College Union (UCU) began a marking boycott at 145 universities across the UK on April 20 in an ongoing dispute over staff pay and working conditions.
Read more: A fifth of Durham University graduates facing delay in receiving degree results
Durham University bosses say they are "working around the clock" to ensure all undergraduate students receive their results and that it is their intention to award degrees this summer. Those who are unable to graduate between June 29 and July 6 will be invited to a ceremony next spring.
Professor Karen O'Brien, vice-chancellor of Durham University, hailed the university as a "globally outstanding centre of teaching, learning and research excellence" and said she was pleased to see this reflected in the rankings.
She said: "Our success is testament to the impact of academic, industrial and business partnerships we have throughout the UK and globally, and to our longstanding work in the field of sustainability – further evidence of that our innovative and impactful research transforms lives and makes a difference, globally and locally. It is also a credit to the hard work, dedication and innovation of our academic staff and the professional staff who support them."
The QS University World Rankings analyses 1,499 international institutions across nine indicators, which are Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Faculty Student Ratio, Citations per Faculty, International Faculty Ratio, International Student Ratio alongside three additions to the headline methodology that are broadly aligned to strong trends in the higher education sector: Employability, Academic Collaboration and Sustainable Education.
Newcastle University was also included on the list, achieving its highest ever position in 110th, 12 places higher than in 2022. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) took top spot, followed by the University of Cambridge in second and the University of Oxford in third.
