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Why choose Queen's?
- It was established as Queen’s College in 1845 and was granted University status with its own Charter in 1908.
- Today, Queen’s is a member of the Russell Group of the UK’s 20 leading research-intensive institutions and is home to more than 17,000 students and 3,000 staff. An unusually large proportion of graduates go on to further study.
- Approximately 1,200 international students from over 80 countries currently study at Queen’s, benefiting from one of the lowest costs of living in the UK, as deemed by the British Council.
- During our Centenary celebrations (2008) the University welcomed Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh as well as The Duke of York. Nelson Mandela and former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern also accepted honorary degrees from the University.
- The University is investing £259 million in new staff and improved facilities to improve its research performance, increase its international standing and raise entry standards.
- In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, Queen’s had 11 subject areas ranked within the top 10 in the UK and 24 in the top 20.
- Queen’s cutting-edge research is supported by its world-leading research centres such as Queen’s University Ionic Liquid Laboratories (QUILL), The Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology (CCRCB) and The Institute of Governance, Public Policy and Social Research. The University recently received the largest ever grant in Northern Ireland of £26 million to become the UK’s leading Centre for Secure Information Technologies.
- The quality of its research has led to a number of key international partnerships being forged. These include partnerships with: The Lombardi Cancer Institute and Georgetown University in the United States, The National Institute of Immunology in New Delhi, Petronas, the Fortune 500 oil and gas corporation owned by the Malaysian government and Tsinghua University in Beijing and Shanghai Jiaotong University in China.
- Almost £190 million is being spent on capital projects, the centrepiece of which is a £45 million new library.
- A £7 million extension to the University’s physical education centre has helped in Queen’s selection as an official training camp for the 2012 Olympics.
- The Students’ Union is ranked fourth in the Russell Group and seventh out of 93 other universities in the latest International Student Barometer Ranking. The Students’ Union offers Enterprise SU, unique in UK Students’ Unions, Enterprise SU enables students to develop their enterprise and employability skills.
- Queen’s commitment to promoting entrepreneurial skills resulted in Queen's being named 'Entreprenuerial University of the Year' at the 2009 Times Higher Education Awards. For the second year running Queen’s has emerged as the leading higher education institution in the United Kingdom in terms of the annual turnover of its spin-out businesses.