Top Medical Schools in 2019

Released today, the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2019 includes a ranking of the 500 top medical schools around the globe.

Each institution was ranked according to a methodology which assesses four academic indicators: academic reputation, employer reputation, research citations per paper, and H-index (which measures the productivity and impact of published papers of a scientist or scholar).

Read on for an overview of this year’s top universities for medicine, starting with a look at the top 10.

Top medical schools in Europe

Of the 500 institutions featured in the medical school ranking, many are found in Europe, including a total of 39 in the UK.

Three UK universities are featured in this year’s top 10, with Oxford and Cambridge both achieving their best scores in the academic and employer reputation indicators.

UCL (University College London) is one of the world’s leading research institutions, and has climbed up one place this year to rank joint ninth in the medical school ranking, proudly displaying excellent scores across all four indicators.

Elsewhere in Europe, Germany has the second most entrants in the medical ranking, with 31 universities ranked in total, three of which are placed in the top 50. Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin is Germany’s highest ranked, at 33^rd, followed by Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg (=40), and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (42^nd).

Heading down to southern Europe, Italy follows with 25 representatives in total, three of which claim a place in the top 100: Sapienza Università di Roma, Università degli Studi di Milano, and Università di Bologna (UNIBO). France has 20 universities ranked, with Sorbonne University and Université Paris Descartes both placing in the top 100, while Spain has 14 – its highest ranked, Universitat de Barcelona (UB), also making the top 100.

With seven representatives each are Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden. Belgium’s Katholieke Universiteit Leuven claims 47^th place globally, while Université catholique de Louvain retains its place in the 51-100 range. Nearby in the Netherlands, four institutions sit in the 51-100 range – Leiden University, Maastricht University, the University of Groningen, and Utretcht University. However, its highest ranked medical schools are Erasmus University Rotterdam, which climbed up five places this year to rank =34^th, and the University of Amsterdam (=35^th).

Of all the locations mentioned above, Sweden is the only one apart from the UK with a university in the top 10. The Karolinska Institute (KI) remains in sixth place and offers medical and health science courses in English, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Sweden is also home to two other medical schools featured in the top 100: Lund University and Uppsala University.

Other European study destinations with the world’s top medical schools include Switzerland and Ireland with six entrants each; three of Switzerland’s entrants are in the top 100, and include the University of Basel, University of Geneva, and University of Zurich. In Ireland, only one institution – the Trinity College Dublin (TCD) – sits in the top 100.

Denmark, Finland, Portugal and Greece all have five entrants in the ranking, with Denmark’s highest ranked institution, the University of Copenhagen, featuring at joint 38^th, while Finland’s University of Helsinki ranks as one of the world’s top 100 for the subject.   

With less than five entrants in this year’s medical ranking, Norway, Hungary and Russia take the lead with four institutions each, followed by Austria and Czech Republic with three entrants – Austria’s highest ranked, Medizinische Universität Wien, retaining its place in the global top 100. Locations with only one university in the medical ranking include Poland, Slovenia, Estonia, Serbia, Croatia, Romania and Lithuania.  

Top medical schools in the US & Canada

The 2019 medical school ranking sees a total of 90 US institutions ranked, of which 18 are in the global top 50, with a further 11 in the global top 100.

There are six medical schools from the US in the top 10. As the study destination’s most prestigious institution overall, Harvard University leads the ranking at number one, scoring perfect scores for the indicators measuring academic reputation, employer reputation, and h-index. Stanford University follows at number four globally, achieving outstanding scores across all four indicators.  

The world’s fifth-best medical school, Johns Hopkins University, is notable for receiving more research grants from the National Institutes of Health than any other medical school, while the world’s seventh-best – University of California, Los Angeles – offers its students intimate engagement with the school’s faculty as 70 percent of all undergraduate classes are made up of 30 or fewer members.

Ranked eighth, Yale University is home to Yale Medical School, a globally renowned center for biomedical research and education. Elsewhere, MIT sits in joint ninth place with the UK’s UCL and displays exceptional scores across all four categories, with a perfect score for citations per paper.

Other US medical schools ranked in the top 20 include the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), which retains its place at 11^th, followed by Columbia University at 14^th, the University of Pennsylvania (15^th), Duke University which climbed up an impressive four places from last year to place 16^th, and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) (=20^th).

Heading further north into Canada, 17 of its top medical schools are ranked this year, including four in the top 50 – University of Toronto (13^th), McGill University (19^th), University of British Columbia (30^th), McMaster University (=43^rd).      

Top universities for medicine in Asia

A total of 98 top medical schools are found in Asia, 28 of which are based in Japan, while China and South Korea are home to 18. Two of Japan’s top universities for medicine are ranked in the global top 50 and a further two sit in the global top 100 – including the region’s second-highest ranked, the University of Tokyo (26^th) and Kyoto University, which climbed from the 51-100 range to rank 45^th, – while China’s Peking University, Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University all claim places within the top 100, the latter pair both having made their way up from the 101-150 range from last year’s ranking.

Meanwhile, South Korea has 18 institutions in the ranking, led by Seoul National University (SNU) (up 11 places to rank 31^st for medicine) while Sungkyunkwan University and Yonsei University now sit in the 51-100 range after ranking 101-150 last year.

Next up with 10 representatives in this year’s medical school ranking is Taiwan, with its highest ranked medical school, the National Taiwan University (NTU), featuring in 50^th place. Thailand follows with six entrants in total, its highest ranked, Mahidol University, sitting within the 101-150 range. With five top universities for medicine ranked this year is Malaysia, where its number-one medical school is Universiti Malaya (UM), which also ranks in the 101-150 range internationally.

Home to less than five medical schools, India leads with a total of four representatives, its highest ranked – also a new entrant – the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, earning its place in the global 151-200 range. Hong Kong, Indonesia and the Philippines follow with two representatives each, with the University of Hong Kong (HKU) being the third-highest ranked in Asia, having risen five spots in the ranking this year to place 29^th. Hong Kong’s second highest-rank institution in the medical school ranking is the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), which claims a spot in the world’s top 50 (=45^th).

Pakistan and Singapore have one entrant each – Singapore’s only representative and Asia’s highest ranked medical school, the National University of Singapore (NUS), having shot up an impressive eight places this year to rank 23^rd.

Top medical schools in Latin America

Traveling down south-west to Latin America, 32 top medical schools are ranked in the region this year, as Brazil dominates the ranking with 15 representatives in total. Mexico is home to four top medical schools, Chile to three, and Argentina to two, while Peru and Uruguay have one entrant each.

Brazil’s highest ranked medical school, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), is also the top medical school in Latin America, while of Colombia’s six representatives, three have risen in the ranking to place 301-350. In Mexico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México ranks the highest (151-200), and in Chile, the highest ranked medical school, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, has maintained its position in the 101-150 range. Universidad de Bueno Aires is Argentina’s top medical school, retaining its spot in the 151-200 range.

Top medical schools in Australia & New Zealand

The Australasian region harbors a total of 22 medical schools in the ranking this year, of which 20 are based in Australia alone, while the remaining two are in New Zealand.

Of Australia’s 20 representatives in this year’s medical school ranking, four are in the global top 50: the University of Melbourne remains in the lead at 17^th, followed by the University of Sydney just one spot behind, in 18^th place, Monash University (32^nd), and the University of Queensland (49^th).  A further three institutions remain in the global top 100 – Australian National University (ANU), the University of Adelaide, and the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

Over to New Zealand, both of its two representatives, the University of Auckland and the University of Otago, sit in the 101-150 range.

Top universities for medicine in Africa & the Middle East

Egypt has the most entrants (six) in the region of this year’s medical school ranking, while South Africa and Israel both claim five representatives each. Next is Turkey with four ranked institutions, followed by Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Jordan, with two each. Uganda, the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, Kuwait and Ghana have the least number of entrants, with only one representative each.

In Egypt, Cairo University climbed significantly in the ranking from the 251-300 range to 201-250. However, it’s South Africa which claims the number one spot in Africa & the Middle East, with the University of Cape Town retaining its position in the 101-150 range. Of Israel’s five entrants, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is the highest ranked at 151-200, while Turkey’s highest ranked are Haceteppe University and Istanbul University, both in the 301-350 range.  

Of Saudi Arabia’s two entrants, King Abdul Aziz University (KAU) ranks the highest, having notably achieved a spot in the 151-200 range after coming 251-300 last year. Finally, with Lebanon and Jordan also claiming two institutions each in the medical school ranking, the American University of Beirut (AUB) ranks the highest of the four, having climbed up from the 251-300 range to rank 201-250 this year.

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