Oxford academics honoured by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Oxford academics honoured by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

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Oxford retains top spot for medicine for eighth consecutive year

Oxford University has been ranked as the world's best institution for medical and health teaching and research in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the eighth consecutive year.

The discipline-specific tables for clinical, pre-clinical and health studies follow on from the announcement that Oxford has been ranked the top university in the world by the same publication for the third year running. 

Oxford also came in third place for life sciences and seventh place for physical sciences.

The ranking is based on criteria measuring teaching, research, industry income, international outlook and citations, which are combined to provide a comparison of universities worldwide.

Professor Gavin Screaton, Head of the Medical Sciences Division, said: ‘Oxford’s continued prominence in international rankings reflects our consistent drive for innovation and forging research relationships with industry that directly translate into improved clinical treatments and teaching.

‘By continuing to focus on future development for the benefit of our students, staff and the patients who will continue to benefit from the excellent research we hope to maintain the pre-eminence of Medical Sciences in Oxford for years to come, and continue to lead the field in transforming lives.’

There are around 5,000 full-time equivalent researchers, teachers and staff across the Medical Sciences Division at Oxford, as well as 1,500 graduate and 1,500 undergraduate students.
Among the major developments across the Medical Sciences Division this year was the opening of the new Novo Nordisk laboratories in Oxford University's Innovation Building, to establish landmark collaborations for the advancement of the type 2 diabetes research, and the announcement in November of more than £17.5 million of investment in the University by Innovate UK and industry partners to develop artificial intelligence (AI) healthcare applications to benefit patients. The new Innovation Building will house both Novo Nordisk and the BioEscalator that will rent out space for small start-up companies.

The division is one of the largest biomedical research centres in Europe, carrying out a substantial number of clinical trials to develop new treatments and to improve patient care and safety. Both research and clinical trials are supported by a network of international research units in Africa and Asia, as well as close partnerships with the Oxford University Hospitals and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trusts. This enables constant improvements to the University's research and teaching, while the latest developments in medical research lead to improved patient care.