34 UK universities reached Excellence Group status

The CHE - Centre for Higher Education Development in Germany has completed a second round of the CHE ExcellenceRanking, focusing on the academic disciplines of economics, political science and psychology.

A total of 34 United Kingdom universities attained Excellence Group status, accounting for programmes in economics, political science and psychology. Economics proved particularly strong, with 23 universities achieving Excellence Group status in this discipline, followed by psychology with 22 departments and political science with 21 departments. Eleven UK universities shined the brightest, with outstanding performance in all three disciplines : The University of Oxford, University of Birmingham, University of Bristol, University College London, University of Manchester, University of Sheffield, University of Sussex, University of York, University of Essex, University of Leeds, and the University of Warwick.

On the basis of five indicators with either a research orientation (number of publications - including highly cited books and citations in relation to the international standard) or an international dimension (Erasmus-Mundus master's programmes, student mobility and staff mobility), about 180 specialist departments from over 100 HEIs in 19 European countries were identified as part of a selection process. These departments received stars for performing particularly well, qualifying for the Excellence Group when achieving a minimum of one star in one of the research indicators and one in the internationally-oriented indicators, or three stars in the latter.

The CHE ExcellenceRanking highlights the research strengths of European HEIs. It also gives those HEIs listed in the ranking useful ideas to further improve their already excellent programmes. In addition to the quantitative measurements, the CHE ExcellenceRanking also contains a great deal of additional information on master's or doctoral programmes, student opinions, research groups and research focal points of given departments as well as accommodation possibilities and study fees.

In last year's inaugural round, analyses for biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics were presented, which will be re-visited in the ranking for 2010. This ranking supports the search for a suitable higher education institution (HEI) for master's or doctoral programmes in Europe

The CHE - Centre for Higher Education Development, based in Gütersloh, is an independent institution that is committed to reform of the higher education system. Every year, the CHE compiles a new CHE-UniversityRanking comparing European HEIs for first-year students. A relatively new initiative, the CHE-ExcellenceRanking provides a comparison of the best European university research facilities for prospective master's and doctoral programme students.

The results are available on the internet for free. Facts and information about the CHE-ExcellenceRanking can be found at www.che-excellence-ranking.eu. The results can be found at www.excellence-ranking.org.

For further questions about the CHE ExcellenceRanking, CHE experts can be contacted at: excellence@che-ranking.de, or by telephone at: +49 5241 211 79-71

A total of 283 medals were awarded to a total of 42 United Kingdom universities, accounting for programmes in biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics. Biology and chemistry made up the largest share of programmes in this Top Group, with 33 and 29, respectively. Twenty-four of the programmes were in physics, followed by 23 in mathematics. Of the 42 universities, 14 attained Excellence Group status, accounting for 23 programs that obtained at least three silver medals. The fields of biology and chemistry are particularly strong in the United Kingdom, including 8 biology departments and 7 chemistry departments with Excellence Group status. The University of Cambridge as well as the Imperial College in London attained a place in the Excellence Group for all four disciplines.