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Best universities for medicine 2024

Find the best universities for medicine using Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings 2024 data

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  • Rankings for Students
October 26 2023
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Top 10 universities in the world for medicine 2024

Scroll down for the full list of best universities in the world for medicine and health sciences.

Clinical sciences rank 2024  Clinical sciences rank 2023  University Country/region
 1   1  University of Oxford United Kingdom
 2   3  Harvard University United States
 3   2  University of Cambridge United Kingdom
 4   4  Imperial College London United Kingdom
 5   6  Stanford University United States
 6   11  Johns Hopkins University United States
 7   8  UCL United Kingdom
 8   9  Yale University United States
 9   7  University of Toronto Canada
 10   15  University of Pennsylvania United States

The study of medicine varies greatly around the world. In the US, medicine is studied in graduate school after the completion of an undergraduate degree that is not directly related to medicine.

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Elsewhere, such as in the UK, students can enrol for undergraduate clinical degrees.

Wherever you study, almost all clinical degrees span a good number of years – more than non-clinical courses.

So it’s best to ensure that you make a wise choice when you commit yourself to a lengthy course of study.

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Times Higher Education has published a ranking of the top 1,059 universities for clinical, pre-clinical and health studies, featuring colleges in more than 50 countries worldwide.

The ranking uses the same methodology as the THE World University Rankings, but with more weight on citations and slightly less on teaching and research metrics. The full methodology can be found here.

Scroll down for a full list of degrees included in the clinical subject ranking of top universities, and a guide on what you can do with them.

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Top five universities for clinical studies and health sciences

5. Stanford University

The graduate school at Stanford University provides master’s and PhD programmes to students who wish to further their medical training.

Six Nobel prizewinners, 31 members of the National Academy of Sciences and 42 members of the Institute of Medicine are among the current faculty at the school.

Researchers at Stanford Medicine are undertaking research across a number of different areas, including cancer, immunology, genetics and neuroscience.

The school also provides healthcare for adults and children, with a dedicated centre for children.

4. Imperial College London

The medical programme at Imperial College London offers a range of teaching approaches, from traditional theoretical classes to innovative and hands-on experience.

From the very first term, students have direct contact with patients, unlike at other universities in the UK.

The six-year undergraduate qualification in medicine also includes a bachelor of science, in addition to the MBBS.

Imperial’s courses are heavily scientific, with an emphasis not only on clinical practice but also on research techniques.

Entry requirements are high; most accepted students will have top grades in chemistry, biology and a third subject, and will achieve a high score in the BMAT exam. The application process also includes an interview.

Imperial is one of the most international institutions in the UK, but only a few overseas students are accepted on the medical programme each year.

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3. University of Cambridge

Students can enrol in an undergraduate medicine degree at the University of Cambridge.

Graduates also have several options to study medicine, either on an accelerated graduate programme or a condensed version of the pre-clinical and clinical courses.

Half the graduates of Cambridge’s medical degrees become general practitioners, and almost all will work in the NHS in the UK.

Entrance to the medicine degree requires excellent secondary qualifications and high scores on the BMAT test.

Cambridge students, particularly medical students, have a busy schedule, juggling studies, college social events and a variety of recreational activities.

2. Harvard University

Founded in 1782, the medical school at Harvard University is the third-oldest medical school in the US.

Faculty of the school also teach in other science departments at Harvard, as well as working in clinical departments at some of the hospitals affiliated to the university.

There are four main teaching hospitals across the Boston area.

Harvard has introduced problem-based learning to the curriculum. There is also a specialised programme, accepting only 30 applicants each year, that focuses on biomedical research.

Medical students at Harvard belong to one of five societies named after alumni. Students work in small groups within each society, compete in sports competitions and attend social events.

1. University of Oxford

Medicine at the University of Oxford is a traditional course, split into pre-clinical and clinical stages.

About 150 students are admitted to the course each year, and another 30 to a graduate course that condenses medical studies into just four years.

In the first few years, students are taught theoretically with little patient contact. In the course’s later years, they move to the clinical phase, spending much more time at the John Radcliffe Hospital.

The university has two main libraries for medicine and clinical studies, one providing resources for the pre-clinical elements of the course and another focusing on healthcare.

In addition to its distinctive course, Oxford offers students the experience of college life, where social events and small tutorials take place.

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Best universities for medicine 2024

Click each institution to view its World University Rankings 2024 profile

Clinical sciences rank 2024  Clinical sciences rank 2023  University Country/region
 1   1  University of Oxford United Kingdom
 2   3  Harvard University United States
 3   2  University of Cambridge United Kingdom
 4   4  Imperial College London United Kingdom
 5   6  Stanford University United States
 6   11  Johns Hopkins University United States
 7   8  UCL United Kingdom
 8   9  Yale University United States
 9   7  University of Toronto Canada
 10   15  University of Pennsylvania United States
 11   =19  University of California, Berkeley United States
 12   12  Columbia University United States
 13   10  King’s College London United Kingdom
 14   5  Tsinghua University China
 15   16  University of California, Los Angeles United States
 =16   =19  Karolinska Institute Sweden
 =16   14  National University of Singapore Singapore
 18   =17  University of Washington United States
 19   13  University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
 20   =17  University of Melbourne Australia
 21   22  University of Michigan-Ann Arbor United States
 22   23  Duke University United States
 23   21  University of Edinburgh United Kingdom
 24   24  Peking University China
 25   28  The University of Chicago United States
 26   =32  McGill University Canada
 =27   29  University of California, San Diego United States
 =27   26  Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin Germany
 29   =32  Monash University Australia
 30   31  The University of Tokyo Japan
 31   =35  New York University United States
 =32   42  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States
 =32   27  Washington University in St Louis United States
 34   37  University of British Columbia Canada
 35   =38  Universität Heidelberg Germany
 36   25  McMaster University Canada
 37   44  Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
 =38   45  Fudan University China
 =38   =35  University of Sydney Australia
 40   30  Northwestern University United States
 41   48  Boston University United States
 42   43  KU Leuven Belgium
 43   =32  Yonsei University (Seoul campus) South Korea
 =44   =38  Emory University United States
 =44   41  Seoul National University South Korea
 46   52  University of Amsterdam Netherlands
 47   47  Erasmus University Rotterdam Netherlands
 48   =38  Kyoto University Japan
 49   50  University of Manchester United Kingdom
 50   46  LMU Munich Germany
 51   51  ETH Zurich Switzerland
 52   53  Shanghai Jiao Tong University China
 53   49  University of Glasgow United Kingdom
 54   56  The University of Queensland Australia
 55   64  Maastricht University Netherlands
 56   58  Sichuan University China
 57   =54  University of Southern California United States
 58   57  Vanderbilt University United States
 59   =54  University of Bristol United Kingdom
 60   74  University of Zurich Switzerland
 61   =77  University of Groningen Netherlands
 =62   =60  Brown University United States
 =62   70  Leiden University Netherlands
 64   71  University of Copenhagen Denmark
 65   =60  Technical University of Munich Germany
 66   62  University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus United States
 67   85  University of Minnesota United States
 68   69  Queen Mary University of London United Kingdom
 69   82  Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) South Korea
 70   73  University of Bern Switzerland
 71   59  University of Adelaide Australia
 72   =75  National Taiwan University (NTU) Taiwan
 73   =75  University of Alberta Canada
 =74   66  University of Birmingham United Kingdom
 =74   65  UNSW Sydney Australia
 76   86  University of Barcelona Spain
 77   79  University of Nottingham United Kingdom
 78   72  Sorbonne University France
 79   126–150  University of California, Davis United States
 80   101–125  Osaka University Japan
 81   =77  University of Cape Town South Africa
 82   =90  Zhejiang University China
 83   =67  Huazhong University of Science and Technology China
 =84   99  Lund University Sweden
 =84   63  Wuhan University China
 86   101–125  Aarhus University Denmark
 87   81  Tufts University United States
 =88   84  University of São Paulo Brazil
 =88   93  Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Netherlands
 90   101–125  University of Montreal Canada
 91   101–125  University of Basel Switzerland
 92   101–125  University of Florida United States
 93   80  Newcastle University United Kingdom
 94   =94  Ohio State University (Main campus) United States
 95   101–125  Medical University of Vienna Austria
 96   98  University of Tübingen Germany
 97   =100  Ghent University Belgium
 =98   92  Case Western Reserve University United States
 =98   =90  University of Freiburg Germany
 =100   89  Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Singapore
 =100   =94  University of Ottawa Canada
 101–125   101–125  University of Antwerp Belgium
 101–125   101–125  University of Auckland New Zealand
 101–125   =100  Australian National University Australia
 101–125   101–125  University of Bologna Italy
 101–125   126–150  University of Calgary Canada
 101–125   97  Dartmouth College United States
 101–125   126–150  University of Gothenburg Sweden
 101–125   126–150  University of Helsinki Finland
 101–125   151–175  University of Illinois Chicago United States
 101–125   126–150  University of Iowa United States
 101–125   101–125  University of Leicester United Kingdom
 101–125   101–125  University of Liverpool United Kingdom
 101–125   126–150  Nanjing University China
 101–125   83  Université Paris Cité France
 101–125   126–150  Université Paris-Saclay France
 101–125   126–150  Radboud University Nijmegen Netherlands
 101–125   126–150  University of Rochester United States
 101–125   101–125  University of Sheffield United Kingdom
 101–125   88  University of Southampton United Kingdom
 101–125   101–125  Sun Yat-sen University China
 101–125   126–150  Uppsala University Sweden
 101–125   101–125  The University of Western Australia Australia
 101–125   176–200  University of Wisconsin-Madison United States
 101–125   87  University of York United Kingdom
 126–150   151–175  Université Catholique de Louvain Belgium
 126–150   151–175  University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus United States
 126–150   201–250  University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Germany
 126–150   151–175  University of Exeter United Kingdom
 126–150   176–200  University of Geneva Switzerland
 126–150   176–200  Georgetown University United States
 126–150   201–250  George Washington University United States
 126–150   251–300  University of Göttingen Germany
 126–150   101–125  University of Hamburg Germany
 126–150   151–175  Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong
 126–150   151–175  University of Lausanne Switzerland
 126–150   126–150  University of Leeds United Kingdom
 126–150   201–250  Université Libre de Bruxelles Belgium
 126–150   301–400  University of Massachusetts United States
 126–150   176–200  University of Miami United States
 126–150   176–200  University of Milan Italy
 126–150   101–125  Oregon Health and Science University United States
 126–150   126–150  University of Oslo Norway
 126–150   126–150  Queen’s University Canada
 126–150   126–150  Queen’s University Belfast United Kingdom
 126–150   151–175  University of Texas at Dallas United States
 126–150   151–175  Tohoku University Japan
 126–150   151–175  Trinity College Dublin Ireland
 126–150   126–150  Ulm University Germany
 126–150   201–250  University of Utah United States
 126–150   101–125  University of Warwick United Kingdom
 126–150   151–175  Western University Canada
 151–175   176–200  University of Bonn Germany
 151–175   201–250  University of California, Irvine United States
 151–175   176–200  Cardiff University United Kingdom
 151–175   201–250  University of Cologne Germany
 151–175   176–200  Humanitas University Italy
 151–175   =94  King Abdulaziz University Saudi Arabia
 151–175   151–175  Korea University South Korea
 151–175   176–200  La Trobe University Australia
 151–175   201–250  Université Laval Canada
 151–175   176–200  Macquarie University Australia
 151–175   151–175  University of Milan-Bicocca Italy
 151–175   251–300  University of Münster Germany
 151–175   201–250  University of Padua Italy
 151–175   201–250  RWTH Aachen University Germany
 151–175   101–125  St George’s, University of London United Kingdom
 151–175   201–250  University of Southern Denmark Denmark
 151–175   126–150  Stellenbosch University South Africa
 151–175   151–175  University of Technology Sydney Australia
 151–175   251–300  University of Texas at Austin United States
 151–175   176–200  Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) Japan
 151–175   201–250  TU Dresden Germany
 151–175   151–175  University of Virginia (Main campus) United States
 151–175   126–150  Vita-Salute San Raffaele University Italy
 151–175   101–125  Wageningen University & Research Netherlands
 151–175   126–150  University of the Witwatersrand South Africa
 151–175   126–150  University of Würzburg Germany
 176–200   126–150  University of Aberdeen United Kingdom
 176–200   151–175  Autonomous University of Barcelona Spain
 176–200   251–300  University of Bath United Kingdom
 176–200   176–200  University of Bergen Norway
 176–200   NR  Catholic University of the Sacred Heart Italy
 176–200   201–250  University of Dundee United Kingdom
 176–200   201–250  Indiana University United States
 176–200   201–250  University of Kiel Germany
 176–200   101–125  Lancaster University United Kingdom
 176–200   251–300  University of Macau Macao
 176–200   201–250  Medical University of Graz Austria
 176–200   251–300  Medical University of Innsbruck Austria
 176–200   201–250  Michigan State University United States
 176–200   176–200  University of Newcastle Australia
 176–200   126–150  Northeastern University, US United States
 176–200   151–175  University of Otago New Zealand
 176–200   301–400  Penn State (Main campus) United States
 176–200   201–250  Pompeu Fabra University Spain
 176–200   176–200  Queensland University of Technology Australia
 176–200   201–250  RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences Ireland
 176–200   201–250  University of South Florida United States
 176–200   251–300  Technical University of Denmark Denmark
 176–200   201–250  Tel Aviv University Israel
 176–200   176–200  University College Cork Ireland
 176–200   201–250  University College Dublin Ireland

 

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