Students and staff at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) are today celebrating after being placed in the top seven per cent of universities in the world.

The Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) gave the University the seal of approval in its latest edition of the CWUR’s ‘Global 2000 List’ - the largest academic study of global universities.

The list, which features 19,788 institutions, saw UCLan being ranked in 71st place nationally and 1,282nd worldwide which places them in the top 6.8 per cent of universities worldwide.

In a letter to the University, the CWUR President Dr Nadim Mahassen congratulated UCLan for an ‘outstanding achievement’.

The University scored highly in the ‘Alumni Employment’ measure (ranked 1255) which assesses the number of UCLan graduates who have held top executive positions at the world's largest companies relative to the University's size.

In the ‘Research Output’ category, which measures the number of research articles appearing in top-tier and highly influential journals, UCLan also scored well with a ranking of 1276.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Graham Baldwin said: “To be ranked so highly on the world stage is great news for all our students and staff after what has been an incredibly challenging year.

“As this table recognises, we have a long history of transforming the lives of many thousands of our students, irrespective of their backgrounds, to fulfil their potential and meet their life and career goals. It’s also encouraging to see the progress our research teams are making, pushing back the boundaries of knowledge and maximising our positive social, environmental and economic impact at a global level.”

The CWUR rankings are unique in that they rely on objective indicators for the key pillars underlying the methodology of the ranking with no reliance on surveys and university data submissions. Equal emphasis is put on the learning environment and research.

The full CWUR rankings for 2021/22 can be viewed online.