The No 1 university in Northern Ireland is on the cusp of the UK top 20 this year, boosted by a five-place rise in our main academic league table. Students are based at Queen’s University Belfast’s (QUB) historic campus on the south side of the city, where investment of £700 million over two decades is keeping this Russell Group university up to speed with fellow research heavyweights. Improved feedback in the National Student Survey (NSS) has lifted it by 42 places in two years to rank 32= for the student experience in our NSS analysis.
Recent developments have focused on students’ intellectual stimulation as well as on places for them to unwind. Embodying the former is the Seamus Heaney Centre, opened on University Road in 2024 and housing a permanent exhibition about the Nobel prize in literature winner and alumnus, with a large venue area and spaces for students to work.
In the same year, QUB opened the Reboot gaming café at the Student Social Hub, kitted out with all the latest consoles as well as VR set-ups and an esports centre for 30 players. It is also an alcohol-free destination — rebooting popular perceptions about how students spend their free time.
Walkable, relatively affordable and with plenty of craic, the city of Belfast delivers for students too.
What is Queen’s University Belfast’s reputation?
In the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021) Queen’s submissions in agriculture, food and veterinary science; health and biomedical sciences; law; and engineering produced the best results. Overall, the university is 35th in our research quality rating. It is 199th in the QS World University Rankings 2026.
QUB was one of only four university colleges in Ireland in the 19th century. The university charter has guaranteed student representation, equal rights for women and nondenominational teaching since 1908. Hillary Clinton, the former US secretary of state, is its 11th and first female chancellor.
The university won a seventh Queen’s Anniversary prize for higher education in 2020 for its pioneering work to facilitate collaboration between schools of different faiths. Queen’s and University College Dublin signed a memorandum of understanding in 2022 to enhance co-operation in research and innovation in areas of mutual strength, and Queen’s is involved in 43 of the 62 projects to be funded by the Irish government’s €37.3 million North-South Research Programme.
Civic responsibility and economic prosperity are among the pillars of the university’s strategy for the decade. Queen’s plays a leading role in the Belfast Region City Deal, a 15-year programme to boost growth, and it has been awarded more than £170 million from the UK government and Northern Ireland Executive to develop three innovation centres in areas including advanced manufacturing, clinical research and secure, connected digital technologies. There are also plans for a Queen’s branch campus in India, in Gift City.
What degree courses have been discontinued and what new courses are available?
Queen’s is not closing any degrees in 2025 or 2026 and there are no new courses planned for 2026. The first education studies students enrolled in 2025.
What are Queen’s University Belfast’s entry requirements — and my chances of getting in?
Entry grades range A*AA for medicine and for actuarial science with risk management to BBC/BCC for nursing and midwifery degrees. Students who meet widening participation criteria are eligible for the Pathways Opportunity Programme, which undercuts a conditional offer by up to two grades. Queen’s is consistently in demand, with applications nearing 30,000 in the 2024 admissions cycle and around 5,000 new students accepted onto courses. The number of international students has more than doubled over the past decade, although Northern Irish students remain the biggest cohort.
What are the graduate prospects?
Queen’s ranks 9th in the UK for graduate prospects, based on our analysis of the Graduate Outcomes survey, showing that 87.1 per cent of its undergraduates had found high-skilled jobs or were engaged in postgraduate study 15 months after finishing their degrees.
The university nurtures links with business and industry partners to create opportunities for internships, placements and graduate roles. Its employer engagement team meets with core industry recruiters four times a year to ensure that its courses are dovetailing with the needs of industry. The university also offers “real world” challenges set by employers and a week of work shadowing.
What is the Queen’s University Belfast campus like?
More than 250 university buildings are set within the 100-acre campus. Its Victorian roots are on show in the original institution, now known as the Lanyon Building and a symbol of the university. Students also have access to specialist facilities such as a financial trading room with Bloomberg Terminals at Queen’s Business School and new developments include the student centre, students’ union, and the £2.5 million MediaLab facility. The £50 million McClay Library is another standout feature.
When can I visit?
qub.ac.uk
Everything you need to know about Queen’s University Belfast’s student life and wellbeing support
There are more than 200 student clubs and societies, and the campus is a 15-minute walk to Belfast city centre and its nightlife. However, the social scene is centred around the students’ union, which forms part of the £42 million One Elmwood student centre. The arts are well supported on campus, where there is an arthouse cinema, a gallery and a studio theatre as well as the new writing centre.
The Physical Education Centre has a 25m swimming pool and a diving pool, four fitness and weights areas, eight squash courts and three five-a-side 3G pitches. Outdoor facilities include two stadium pitches, 16 floodlit grass and synthetic playing surfaces and a £1.2 million international-standard hockey pitch. There is also a boathouse on the River Lagan and a cottage for climbers in the Mourne Mountains.
Students are offered free counselling sessions through local services and support is available from the university’s team of disability and wellbeing advisers.
What do the students say?
“Belfast has a unique culture, amazing hangout spots, impressive landscape and a fascinating history. Queen’s is a world class Russell Group university with a student union ranked 3rd in the UK. We have world-class facilities, teaching and a world-class city."
Kieran Minto, students’ union president
What about student accommodation at Queen’s University Belfast?
First-years are guaranteed accommodation as long as they meet the deadline at the end of June. Purpose-built low-carbon student accommodation — the largest Passivhaus project on the island of Ireland — will open on Dublin Road in 2026 with 459 beds.
How diverse and inclusive is Queen’s University Belfast?
Most undergraduates come from Northern Ireland, two thirds from grammar schools, which educate a much larger proportion of the province’s population than elsewhere in the UK. This is why we cannot include the Northern Ireland universities in our social inclusion index.
Queen’s has been stepping up its outreach efforts to attract disadvantaged students and redoubling its research links with universities in the Republic of Ireland.
Everything you need to know about scholarships and bursaries at Queen’s University Belfast
About three in ten undergraduates receive some form of financial support.
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