Located in the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, the University of Sheffield is a public research university, a member of the Russell Group of research-led universities, and one of the UK’s original redbrick universities. It was first established in 1897 when the Sheffield Medical School, Firth College and the Sheffield Technical School joined forces to create the University College of Sheffield.
It became the University of Sheffield just 10 years later and founded on the penny donations of Sheffield factory workers who hoped a university would benefit their children, health, and local economy. Today the university teaches 25,000 students, including around 3,900 international students from 120 countries, and employs approximately 6,000 staff.
Its academic departments are divided into six faculties: arts and humanities, engineering, medicine, dentistry and health, science, social sciences, and international faculty, city college, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Its motto translates as "To discover the causes of things". Sheffield can lay claim to five Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and faculty: Lord Florey for the 1945 Medicine / Physiology Prize, Sir Hans Krebs for the 1953 Medicine / Physiology Prize, Lord Porter for the 1967 Chemistry Prize, Richard Roberts for the 1993 Medicine / Physiology Prize, and Sir Harry Kroto for the 1996 Chemistry Prize.
Among its alumni are the authors Hilary Mantel and Lee Child, the 2012 Olympic gold-winner Jessica Ennis-Hill, chemist and first Briton in space Helen Sharman, and the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia, Amy Johnson. Outside of the university itself, which ranks among the top in the UK for student experience, students at Sheffield can enjoy a thriving, cultural city with a reputation for being inexpensive.
The city also benefits from its close proximity to the Peak District, a national park, and an area of outstanding beauty. It is also within striking distance of other major cities in the North of England, including Leeds, Manchester, and Newcastle
The most recent Research Excellence Framework in 2014 confirmed our place as a world-leading university. The results demonstrated our research excellence across a range of disciplines, putting us in the top 10 per cent of all UK universities.
The quality of research in universities across the UK is assessed periodically by the Research Excellence Framework (REF). The most recent results were published in December 2014. The REF is a peer-review exercise, involving expert researchers, as well as users of research from industry, business, and the public and third sectors.
The assessment takes three elements into consideration:
- the quality of research outputs, such as books, journal articles, conference proceedings and datasets
- the strength of the impact of research – the difference our research has made beyond the University
- the quality of the research environment – policies in place to support staff and doctoral students, facilities and resources and the contribution of our academic staff to their discipline.
99% of research at Sheffield was assessed as internationally recognised or better:
- 33% world leading
- 52% internationally excellent
- 13% internationally recognised
- 1% nationally recognised
We're a member of the Russell Group of leading UK research universities. Our outstanding performance for excellent teaching and research, as part of a genuinely global community, is consistently confirmed by international independent assessments.
QS World University Rankings
The University is rated 78th in world, 13th in the UK and top in Yorkshire and the Humber in the 2020 QS World University Rankings.
Times Higher Education World University Rankings
The University is ranked 117th in the world and 14th in the UK according to the 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
We also came in at number 42 out of 200 universities in Europe and we're in the top 50 most international universities in the world, with a ranking of 42 out of 800 leading universities worldwide.
We're 22nd out of 250 universities in Europe in the first international ranking to measure the quality of teaching across the world, the Europe Teaching Rankings.
Research Excellence Framework
The most recent Research Excellence Framework in 2014 confirmed our place as a world-leading university. The results demonstrated our research excellence across a range of disciplines, putting us in the top 10 per cent of all UK universities.
A Russell Group university
The University is one of the 24 universities that make up the Russell Group. Members of this group are committed to maintaining the very best research, an outstanding teaching and learning experience and unrivalled links with business and the public sector.
In the most recent Research Excellence Framework, 99 per cent of our research was assessed as world-leading, internationally excellent or internationally recognised. We're top 10 in the Russell Group for research outputs.
The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies
The University is in the Sunday Times 100 Best Not-For-Profit Organisations To Work For 2018, a ranking of Britain's happiest and most motivated workforces.
