In the 2025 edition announced last month, The UWI has secured a place among 2,092 of the world’s top higher education institutions. This ranking is significant, as it features only a small number from an estimated 32,000 universities worldwide.
This year marks The UWI’s sixth time participating in the World University Rankings-a strategic move initiated in 2018 after decades of building the regional university’s excellence in service to the Caribbean. The aim was to enhance The UWI’s reputation and increase revenue from international student projects and research grants. Since then, The UWI has consistently secured a position in the prestigious rankings and remains among the top 5% of universities globally.
Vice-Chancellor of The UWI, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles commented on the University’s performance, stating, “The UWI’s consistent presence in these rankings reflects our long-standing commitment to academic excellence and leadership. As the higher education landscape rapidly changes, driven by increased competition and reduced funding, universities must innovate to succeed. The UWI recognises these challenges and is taking proactive steps to enhance its standing regionally and globally. While we see rankings as a measure of our quality improvements, we also understand that positions can fluctuate yearly. In this dynamic environment, we remain committed to reviewing and adjusting our quality standards and processes to meet evolving ranking criteria.”
Professor Justin Robinson, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Academic-Industry Partnerships at The UWI, noted, “We celebrate the improvements in our score on the “Teaching” performance indicator and our strong score on the “International Outlook” performance indicator. According to the Times Higher Education’s methodology, international outlook assesses the ability of a university to attract undergraduates, postgraduates and faculty from all over the world. This achievement substantiates a key pillar of The UWI’s strategic goals: ”Access”. The significant revamp of Times Higher Education’s methodology two years ago, where the “Citation” indicator, which was previously our strongest, was replaced with a multi-faceted “Research Quality” indicator poses a challenge for The UWI as a significant portion of our research is focused on Caribbean issues. However, we are committed to formulating strategies to adjust to the new criteria while maintaining regionally relevant research.”
The World University Rankings is Times Higher Education’s flagship ranking, which evaluates five critical elements of leading research-focused universities: teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook. When The UWI first participated in the World University Rankings in 2018, there were just over 1,200 institutions. Almost 2,100 higher education institutions from 115 countries and territories qualified for the rankings this year. This increase and a significant revamp of Times Higher Education’s methodology two years ago have made the landscape more competitive.
To be included in the rankings, higher education institutions must meet three key criteria: they must publish a sufficient number of academic papers over five years (currently set at 1,000 papers); they must offer undergraduate education; and they must cover a range of subjects. The UWI is the only university in the Caribbean to meet these criteria, as no other Caribbean institution qualifies due to research output standards.