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QS World University Rankings 2024

UCD ranked in Top 100 in World for Sports-Related Subjects

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SportBusiness Postgraduate Course Rankings 2024

UCD MSc Sport Management ranked 14th in World, 4th in Europe

The UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science MSc Sport Management programme has been ranked 14th in the world, up 6 places from last year’s rankings, in the 2024 SportBusiness Postgraduate Course Rankings. It is now ranked 4th in Europe, up from 6th place in 2023. 100% of alumni included in the survey are currently employed and the course is ranked 9th globally for return on investment.

Dr Tom Fabian, Director of the MSc Sport Management programme, said “It was brilliant to receive such glowing validation for our MSc programme. This is a testament to the efforts by our faculty and staff, students, and alumni. In the last couple of years, we have sought to internationalize our programme (with new staff, guest lecturers, and case studies from abroad), create stronger links with the Irish and European sports industries, and connect with our broad alumni network. Our graduates are well-placed to jump into the sports industry and come out with critical perspectives that serve them well in their careers. In effect, the rankings are simply validating what we already know: We provide a world-class programme that facilitates a multifaceted, diverse, and engaging student experience”.

The SportBusiness Postgraduate Rankings, founded in 2012, are generated based on two surveys, one completed by alumni who graduated three years ago, and the other by the academic leaders of the courses. 

Read the report in full (opens in a new window)here

Find out more about the UCD MSc Sport Management programme here.

Shanghai Ranking Global Ranking of Sports Science Schools and Departments 2024

UCD SPHPSS Institute for Sport & Health ranked #17 globally and #1 in Ireland.

(opens in a new window)Shanghai Ranking logo

The UCD SPHPSS Institute for Sport & Health has again been ranked #1 in Ireland in the ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Sport Science Schools and Departments. We are delighted to report that we are now #17 in the world, up from #24 in 2023 and #25 in 2022. These rankings reflect the School’s commitment to continually improving and enhancing our world-class sports science education and facilities for our students and producing internationally recognised research in the sports science area.

Professor Catherine Blake, Director of the UCD SPHPSS Institute for Sport & Health said:

“We are delighted that for the fifth year running, UCD Sports Science has been placed in the world top 50 by ShanghaiRanking, achieving our best result so far of 17th in 2024. This is a tribute to all the hard work from colleagues across disciplines who come together to solve research questions in fields spanning exercise and health across the lifespan, sports injury prevention, advanced sensor technology, sports management and performance sport. This new ranking cements UCD’s place in the global hierarchy of Sports Science providers and gives us a consistent platform to deliver world class research and teaching into the future.”

In 2016, ShanghaiRanking published this ranking for the first time, adopting a unique methodology highlighting the performance of more than 300 universities with sport-related units. This ranking allows sport-related institutions and units to compare with similar peers other than multi-disciplinary universities in a specific subject. The top 300 universities are listed based on the measurement of publication, citation, citations per publication, top 25% journal publications, and internationally collaborated publications. The bibliometric data is collected from the Web of Science database with a time window of five years.

Among the top 300 in the 2024 list, 12 universities are sports universities. Since 2018, UCD has consistently been ranked within the top #100 in the ARWU Global Ranking of Sport Science Schools and Departments. No other university with a sport-related department/unit in Ireland has been consistently ranked within the top #100 over the same time-period. Since 2018, UCD has received the following rankings:

2024 - #17

2023 – #24
2022 – #25
2021 – #34
2020 – #45
2019 – no rankings published
2018 – #51-100.

UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science

University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
T: +353 1 716 3442 | E: public.health@ucd.ie