University of Southampton ranked among the best in Europe for psychology researchers

Southampton was one of the highest rated of 22 UK universities listed in the Centre for Higher Education Development's (CHE) ranking of excellent European graduate programmes. The School of Psychology received accolades for the impact of its research, quality of publications, the high number of academics editing influential journals, as well as the large number of international staff.

Professor Nick Donnelly, Head of the School of Psychology, comments: "We are delighted that psychology at Southampton has been so highly rated. The Centre for Higher Education Development has reaffirmed the excellence of the School and confirmed its position as a leading centre for psychological research in Europe."

The CHE looked at five categories, which were chosen to help students search for a suitable higher education institution for master or doctoral programmes in Europe. The categories covered: the number of publications, the number of citations from other academics, the number of authors, student opinions, research groups, accommodation and study fees.

About 180 specialist departments from around 100 higher education institutions in 20 European countries were identified as part of a pre-selection process for the ranking. These departments were performing particularly well in least one of the categories.

Professor Don Nutbeam, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southampton, says: "The University of Southampton is proud that we have been recognised for our research excellence in both chemistry and psychology. We look forward to continuing to lead the research agenda in not only these disciplines but in many other subjects, both in the UK and internationally."

The ranking is the second given to the University by the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHE). The School of Chemistry was awarded Excellence Group status in 2007.