Geography department among world’s top 100

Aberystwyth’s department of Geography and Earth Sciences has continued its run of league table success by placing in the top 100 in the QS world rankings.

The university announced their pleasure about the impressive performance in the World rankings, saying the Geography department had “climbed up 50 places into the top 100, out of 544 scored institutions”.

Geography is one of four subject areas at Aberystwyth described as being amongst the “world elite” by QS, the others being International Politics, Agriculture and Forestry and Environmental Science.

“Now in its fifth edition, the QS world rankings by subject evaluated 4,226 universities and ranked 945 institutions”, the uni said, putting some perspective on the impressive figures.

Go Geography

Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor John Grattan is pleased with the figures, saying: “This is excellent news, and reflects the high esteem in which academic work at Aberystwyth University is held by academics around the world.

“The results of the most recent Research Excellence Framework review published in December 2014 placed Aberystwyth firmly within the top 50 in the UK for research impact, and students who study here benefit from being taught by academic staff whose work is of an internationally recognised standard”.

Professor Rhys Jones, who is the Head of the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, said: “We’re extremely pleased with the recognition of the high quality of teaching and research being undertaken in the department of Geography and Earth Sciences. These results show that our department compares very favourably with institutions elsewhere, making it one of the best places to study geography in the world.”

Second year Physical Geography student Emma Beenham said: “I think the department have done really well to get to the position they have. I’m glad all their hard work over the past few years has paid off because we have some really brilliant staff in the department. I for one am proud to be a student in DGES.”

Another geographer, third year Orla Lenehan, added: “I’m so pleased Geography at Aberystwyth is getting the recognition it deserves. I applied here due to the reputation that the department had nationwide but now to be recognised in world rankings is just amazing. I’m really proud to be a part of the department and I wish it every success in the future. Big up Geography.”