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Sussex saw encouraging results in the latest release of university rankings, with several subjects ranked amongst the top 20 in the UK and global recognition for our commitment to sustainability and employability, as well as being a highly international university. The results build on the recent good news from the National Student Survey which saw Sussex improve in six of the seven themes. Here is a summary of recent releases and how Sussex is faring across the sector.

QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024

The QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024 were released in April and Sussex has 10 subjects in the UK top 20, with Development Studies, delivered jointly with the Institute of Development Studies, coming in at number 1 in the world for the eighth consecutive year. Sussex’s other top 10 subjects are: Communication & Media Studies; Anthropology; Economics & Econometrics; Geography; History; Politics; Psychology; Sociology, and Social Policy & Administration. 

The University also ranked highly for its research citations per subject and was ranked first in the UK for citations in both History, and Physics & Astronomy, third in the UK for citations in Environmental Sciences and fifth in the UK for citations in both Anthropology and Development Studies.

Complete University Guide 2025

The majority of university guides are released in the autumn, but the Complete University Guide (CUG) is published in May.

The 2025 edition of CUG sees Sussex rise three places in the overall rankings from 50th last year to 47th.

The University has three subjects in the top 10 subject rankings, including Childhood and Youth Studies coming in second place, and Education climbing 10 places to eighth.

On specific CUG metrics, the following subjects ranked first:

• Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering: both ranked first for Continuation, with a maximum score of 100%
• Childhood & Youth Studies: ranked first for Research quality
• Education: ranked first for Graduate prospects.

QS World University Rankings 2025

The QS World University Rankings 2025 were released at the start of June, and Sussex was recognised as the eighth most sustainable university in the UK of 91 institutions, with a score of 97.7 out of 100. The category criteria recognise evidence of a university’s commitment to a more sustainable existence, evaluating the social and environmental impact of education and research. Sussex was also placed 26th globally, out of 1,503 universities for sustainability. Globally the University saw a fall of 28  places to 246th(218th last year) however we retain our overall position of 31st in the UK, with most other UK institutions seeing a decline in rank this year.

Strong performances in the QS World University Rankings include:

• Employment outcomes: ranked 16th in the UK. This reflects the ability of institutions to ensure a high level of employability for their graduates, while also nurturing future leaders who go on to make an impact in their respective fields.
• Citations per faculty: ranked 14th in the UK. This estimates the impact and quality of the scientific work produced.
• International Faculty: ranked ninth in the UK. This ranks the proportion of faculty members who are international, and measures how internationally attractive the university is to academic staff.

2024 THE Impact Rankings

June also saw the publication of the Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings. This is the sixth year of the rankings and the fourth of Sussex’s participation. The rankings measure the contribution of universities to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Overall, Sussex is ranked 101-200 in the world of 1,963 institutions, with a score of 88.4 (out of 100). This represents a fall of more than 50 places on last year’s ranking of 49th in the world of 1,591 institutions (with a score of 93.1). The rankings are more competitive than ever, as evidenced by 372 new entrants this year.

This is the first time that Sussex has been ranked for all individual SDGs (last year data was submitted for 10 SDGs plus mandatory SDG 17).

Sussex was ranked among the top 50 globally for SDG 17, which considers global partnership for sustainable development.

Sussex’s top three scoring areas - which, along with SDG 17, make up the total score - were:

• SDG 12 - Responsible consumption and production - score 82.8 (ranked joint 83 of 825 institutions)
• SDG 13 - Climate action - score 78 (ranked joint 29 of 924 institutions)
• SDG 16 - Peace, justice and strong institutions - score 77.8 (ranked 101-200 of 1,086 institutions)
• SDG 17 - Partnerships for the goals - score 92.9 (ranked joint 45 of 2,031 institutions).

QS World University Rankings: Europe 2025

The year’s QS World University Rankings: Europe for 2025 were released on 10 July and saw Sussex ranked joint 108th overall of 685 published institutions in Europe.

This places the University in the top 16% in Europe, which equals last year’s position, with our best performing indicators being Sustainability (13th) and Citations per paper (26th).

Sussex’s UK rank for employer reputation, faculty to student ratio, international faculty, international student diversity and outbound exchange students have all improved on last year’s positions.

A further update will be published later in the year to round up the release of the various rankings released in autumn.