Top Nursing Schools in 2019

The recent QS World University Rankings by Subject covers the best universities for 48 different subjects, including the 100 top nursing schools around the world.

The subject rankings are compiled using four indicators; academic reputation, employer reputation, research citations per paper and the H-index (a way of measuring the productivity and impact of the published work of a scientist or scholar). You can find out more about the methodology used here.

Top nursing schools in the US and Canada

Of the 100 universities featured in the rankings this year, an impressive 32 are in the US. Not only this, but of the 10 top nursing schools in the world, five of them are claimed by the US. This includes the University of Pennsylvania which maintains its first-place position and, on top of this, earns a perfect score in the academic reputation indicator. Aside from those in the top 10, other mentionable universities include University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (11^th), University of Michigan (12^th) and Duke University (which rises seven places this year rank 13^th for nursing).

Canada also has an admirable amount of institutions featuring in the rankings, with one school featuring in the world top 10, and several in the top 25 including McMaster University (joint 15^th), McGill University (joint 21^st) and University of Alberta (23^rd).

Top nursing arts schools in Europe

As always, Europe dominates a significant amount of the rankings, with 26 universities featuring in the table in 2019. Of these, 12 top nursing schools are found in the, including three that place in the global top 10. Several other excellent UK nursing schools were also ranked highly; including University of Edinburgh (25^th), the University of Nottingham (27^th) and University of Ulster (46^th). Ireland also scores well, having three world ranking universities; Trinity College Dublin (TCD, 41st), University College Dublin (UCD, 44^th) and University College Cork (UCC, 51-100^th).

Of the Nordic countries, Sweden performs the best, with four universities included among the top 100 institutions to study nursing. Of these four, three are in the top 50 universities in the world for nursing; Karolinska Institute (14^th), University of Gothenburg (48^th) and Lund University (49^th). Denmark and Finland have one entrant each; in Denmark, Aarhus University (joint 50^th) and in Finland, the University of Turku (51-100).

Spain’s Universitat de Barcelona (UB), the Netherlands’ Utrecht University and Belgium’s University of Ghent all rank 51-100^th.

Top nursing schools in Asia

Over to Asia now, where there are 13 nursing schools featuring in the global ranking. Of these, three are in South Korea; Seoul National University (SNU, rising more than 17 places this year to reach 34^th), Kyung Hee University and Yonsei University, which both place 51-100^th. 

Similarly, South Korea has three universities in the nursing ranking, all of which place within the top 50; Hong Kong (SAR); The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK, 26^th), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (31^st) and University of Hong Kong (HKU, 43^rd). Taiwan also has three universities in the rankings; National Taiwan University (NTU, 29^th), National Yang Ming University and Taipei Medical University ranking 51-100^th.

Mainland China has two universities featured in the 51-100 range for nursing: Fudan University and Peking University. Also placing 51-100 is Japan’s University of Tokyo.

Top nursing schools in Australia and New Zealand

Australia has an impressive 16 universities featuring in the nursing rankings this year. These include University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in 10^th place, the University of Sydney (joint 15^th), Monash University (17^th) and the University of Queensland (UQ, rising 18 places this year to reach joint 21^st).

New Zealand’s two ranked nursing universities both score well in the employer reputation indicator. In the rankings, the University of Auckland places 36^th (up five places this year) and University of Otago places 51-100 worldwide.

Top nursing schools in Latin America 

Latin America does not feature prominently in the nursing school ranking, with its sole entrant, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), in Brazil, ranking 51-100.

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