Rankings

We’re highly ranked in the UK and world league tables, with our research, teaching and outreach recognised internationally.

Students in a lecture theatre

University league table rankings

World rankings

QS World Rankings

  • ranked in the top 5% globally for sustainability, with a score of 90 out of 100
  • in the top 18% of the world's higher education institutions, from the final list of 1,501 eligible institutions
  • 17th in the UK for employer outcomes, with a graduate employment rate of 92.9%
  • in the top 10% of global institutions for the proportion of faculty members being international, scoring 99 out of 100
  • ranked in the top 11% globally for the proportion of international students, with a score of 86.3 out of 100
  • ranked in the top 10% for International Student Diversity, with over 165 nationalities within our student body, recording a score of 90.4.

Our overall QS ranking is based on a combination of subject and specialist rankings, including the above.

Overall, we are:

Employability

The Careers and Entrepreneurship Team at Sussex were winners at the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services’ (AGCAS) awards event in June 2024.

Sussex won the AGCAS Award for Excellence in Supporting Student Employability for the scale, diversity, inclusiveness and sustainability focus of our work experience offer.

Read more about the Awards for Excellence on the AGCAS website.

As noted above, Sussex has also been ranked 17th in the UK for employment outcomes in the QS World University Rankings 2026.

Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)

The Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) is an official rating by the Office for Students (OfS) of the quality of teaching and education in universities in the UK.

We were awarded Silver in the 2023 TEF. The outcomes from TEF 2023 will last for four years from September 2023.

A Silver rating means that, at Sussex, the student experience and student outcomes are typically very high quality.

Find out more about the Teaching Excellence Framework on the OfS website.

Research Excellence Framework (REF)

Sussex is a leading research university, as reflected in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF).

For REF 2021, 89% of the research we submitted was categorised “world-leading” (40.6%) or “internationally excellent” (48.4%).

In addition, 93% of our research impact was assessed to be “outstanding” or “very considerable” – up from 80.7% in 2014.

View all our REF results and learn more about REF 2021.

Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF)

Knowledge exchange (KE) is a key area for the University. An increased focus on KE in recent years has resulted in almost doubling income from business collaboration, more spin-outs, doubling patent awards and software licences, creating 661 jobs and attracting external investment to graduate and staff businesses of over £17.9m.

In KEF 2024, we achieved the following highlights:

  • Top 20% for our group in four out of the seven measures looked at in KEF (working with business; intellectual property and commercialisation; working with the public, and third sector and research partnerships).
  • Improved position in KEF rankings (now top 60% in the sector) for local growth, continuing professional development, and graduate start-ups, reflecting our commitment to societal and economic impact.

See our details on the KEF dashboard.

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