For the second year in a row, the Europe-wide rankings have placed University of Galway 98th out of 684 institutions across 40 Council of Europe members.

The ranking examined universities against 12 indicators in the overarching areas of Research and Discovery, Employability and Outcomes, Learning Experience, Global Engagement, and Sustainability.

President of University of Galway, Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, said: “Being ranked in the top 100 universities in Europe two years in a row, as well as being recognised as number one in Ireland and among the best in the world for sustainability, is a tremendous endorsement of our community of teaching, learning and research and the culture of the people who work at our university.

“I would like to thank everyone across our University who continues to make the effort to be a university for the public good, true to our values of respect, excellence, openness and sustainability. We are a place of learning and research, that goes without saying. We are distinctive by being more than that. Our university community is built around our people whether you are a student, a member of staff, an academic, a researcher, a technician or among the many who keep our operations running every day of the year. We have made great strides in recent years to be more outward looking, creating a space and carving a place for our university and our work, from this place, at an international level. I wish everyone continued success on that journey.

“We are also delighted to see three Irish universities in the top 100 in Europe – with University of Galway alongside Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin. This is testament to the capacity of the academic and research community to achieve, despite challenges the sector faces in terms of funding.”

The QS University Rankings recognition also builds on the reputation that University of Galway has earned in recent years for progress on sustainability, having retained the position in Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings as the number one university in Ireland; top 5 in the EU; and in the world’s top 50, for progress towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),