Best universities for medicine 2022

Find the best universities for medicine using Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings 2022 data

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September 16 2021
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Top 10 universities in the world for medicine

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

Clinical Sciences Rank 2022 Clinical Sciences Rank 2021 University Country
1 1 University of Oxford United Kingdom
2 2 Harvard University United States
3 4 Imperial College London United Kingdom
4 3 University of Cambridge United Kingdom
5 6 University of Toronto Canada
6 5 Stanford University United States
7 32 Tsinghua University China
8 9 UCL United Kingdom
=9 8 Johns Hopkins University United States
=9 7 Yale University 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 course of study for such a long period of time.

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Times Higher Education has published a ranking of the top 925 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.

Best universities in the United States for medicine degrees
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Best universities in Australia for medicine degrees
Best universities in the UK for medicine degrees

Top five universities for clinical studies and health sciences

5. University of Toronto

-The University of Toronto offers a four-year MD programme in medicine.
-Students must have completed a bachelor’s degree in a related subject in order to apply. 

When students are admitted on to the programme, they will choose between four academies. The academy system offers students smaller class sizes, and each academy is affiliated with a specific set of hospitals. 

During their course, students are able to attend rotations outside of their affiliated hospitals if they wish. A range of research opportunities are available for students.

4. 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.

There are six applicants per place on the medical courses, and about 260 are accepted overall.

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.

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3. 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 more traditional universities in the UK.

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

Like Oxford and Cambridge, 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 to the medical programme each year.

2. Harvard University

-The graduate medical school of Harvard University has three missions: to educate, research and provide clinical care.
-Founded in 1782, it 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 the 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 on to the course each year, and another 30 on 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 2022

Click each institution to view its World University Rankings 2022 profile

Clinical Sciences Rank 2022 Clinical Sciences Rank 2021 University Country
1 1 University of Oxford United Kingdom
2 2 Harvard University United States
3 4 Imperial College London United Kingdom
4 3 University of Cambridge United Kingdom
5 6 University of Toronto Canada
6 5 Stanford University United States
7 32 Tsinghua University China
8 9 UCL United Kingdom
=9 8 Johns Hopkins University United States
=9 7 Yale University United States
11 15 Columbia University United States
12 16 King’s College London United Kingdom
13 10 Karolinska Institute Sweden
=14 13 University of California, Berkeley United States
=14 =11 University of Melbourne Australia
16 14 University of California, Los Angeles United States
17 18 National University of Singapore Singapore
18 17 University of Pennsylvania United States
19 =11 McMaster University Canada
20 28 University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
21 20 University of Washington United States
22 29 Peking University China
23 23 Kyoto University Japan
24 19 Duke University United States
=25 =24 The University of Chicago United States
=25 =21 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor United States
27 26 Washington University in St Louis United States
28 =21 University of Edinburgh United Kingdom
29 =24 McGill University Canada
30 27 The University of Tokyo Japan
31 30 University of California, San Diego United States
32 43 Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin Germany
33 35 University of Sydney Australia
=34 31 Monash University Australia
=34 34 Northwestern University United States
36 33 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States
37 37 Seoul National University South Korea
=38 36 Heidelberg University Germany
=38 45 LMU Munich Germany
40 39 University of British Columbia Canada
41 =46 New York University United States
42 42 Emory University United States
43 40 ETH Zurich Switzerland
44 =46 KU Leuven Belgium
45 38 Boston University United States
46 41 Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) South Korea
47 44 Fudan University China
48 62 Erasmus University Rotterdam Netherlands
49 =54 University of Glasgow United Kingdom
50 51 University of Southern California United States
51 =54 The University of Queensland Australia
=52 49 Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
=52 61 Yonsei University (Seoul campus) South Korea
54 =52 Brown University United States
55 50 University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus United States
56 60 University of Amsterdam Netherlands
57 48 National Taiwan University (NTU) Taiwan
58 =52 University of Manchester United Kingdom
59 56 Technical University of Munich Germany
60 63 University of Bristol United Kingdom
61 58 Vanderbilt University United States
62 64 Queen Mary University of London United Kingdom
63 =66 Sorbonne University France
64 =70 Maastricht University Netherlands
65 59 University of Liverpool United Kingdom
66 72 Leiden University Netherlands
67 =70 University of Zurich Switzerland
68 101–125 University of Birmingham United Kingdom
69 57 UNSW Sydney Australia
70 =68 University of Minnesota United States
71 =96 Shanghai Jiao Tong University China
72 76 University of Copenhagen Denmark
73 101–125 University of Adelaide Australia
74 251–300 Wuhan University China
75 78 University of Alberta Canada
=76 92 University of Bern Switzerland
=76 75 University of Tübingen Germany
=76 =98 Utrecht University Netherlands
79 =86 Case Western Reserve University United States
80 =84 Wageningen University & Research Netherlands
=81 73 Australian National University Australia
=81 201–250 Huazhong University of Science and Technology China
83 81 Zhejiang University China
84 74 University of São Paulo Brazil
85 65 University of Montreal Canada
86 =98 Dartmouth College United States
87 82 Ohio State University (Main campus) United States
88 101–125 University of Barcelona Spain
89 101–125 University of Basel Switzerland
90 =90 Korea University South Korea
=91 =100 University of Freiburg Germany
=91 126–150 University of Warwick United Kingdom
=93 NR JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research India
=93 =100 University of Nottingham United Kingdom
=93 93 University of Sheffield United Kingdom
96 101–125 Uppsala University Sweden
97 77 University of Ottawa Canada
98 =66 University of Cape Town South Africa
=99 126–150 University of Auckland New Zealand
=99 =84 University of Florida United States
101–125 101–125 Aarhus University Denmark
101–125 101–125 Auckland University of Technology New Zealand
101–125 126–150 University of Bologna Italy
101–125 126–150 University of Calgary Canada
101–125 =86 University of California, Davis United States
101–125 101–125 University of Canberra Australia
101–125 101–125 Ghent University Belgium
101–125 83 University of Groningen Netherlands
101–125 176–200 University of Hamburg Germany
101–125 =94 University of Helsinki Finland
101–125 =90 Howard University United States
101–125 126–150 Université Catholique de Louvain Belgium
101–125 101–125 Lund University Sweden
101–125 101–125 Medical University of Vienna Austria
101–125 126–150 Newcastle University United Kingdom
101–125 =96 Northeastern University United States
101–125 101–125 Osaka University Japan
101–125 =68 Université de Paris France
101–125 NR Université Paris-Saclay France
101–125 101–125 University of Rochester United States
101–125 101–125 University of Southampton United Kingdom
101–125 =86 Tufts University United States
101–125 126–150 The University of Western Australia Australia
101–125 126–150 Western University Canada
101–125 80 University of Wisconsin -Madison United States
126–150 126–150 University of Aberdeen United Kingdom
126–150 126–150 Anglia Ruskin University ARU United Kingdom
126–150 176–200 University of Bonn Germany
126–150 101–125 Brighton and Sussex Medical School United Kingdom
126–150 101–125 Cairo University Egypt
126–150 126–150 University of California, Irvine United States
126–150 151–175 University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Germany
126–150 126–150 University of Geneva Switzerland
126–150 126–150 University of Gothenburg Sweden
126–150 101–125 University of Iowa United States
126–150 201–250 Lancaster University United Kingdom
126–150 101–125 University of Leicester United Kingdom
126–150 251–300 Lomonosov Moscow State University Russian Federation
126–150 101–125 Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Singapore
126–150 126–150 University of Oslo Norway
126–150 151–175 Queen’s University Canada
126–150 176–200 Sichuan University China
126–150 101–125 Sun Yat-sen University China
126–150 126–150 Taipei Medical University Taiwan
126–150 126–150 University of Texas at Austin United States
126–150 101–125 Tohoku University Japan
126–150 79 Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) Japan
126–150 151–175 Ulm University Germany
126–150 126–150 Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Netherlands
126–150 126–150 University of Virginia (Main campus) United States
151–175 NR University of Cape Coast Ghana
151–175 151–175 Catholic University of Portugal Portugal
151–175 201–250 Central South University China
151–175 201–250 Georgetown University United States
151–175 201–250 Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong
151–175 101–125 University of Illinois at Chicago United States
151–175 126–150 Jordan University of Science and Technology Jordan
151–175 151–175 La Trobe University Australia
151–175 176–200 University of Leeds United Kingdom
151–175 126–150 Mahidol University Thailand
151–175 176–200 University of Miami United States
151–175 NR National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University Taiwan
151–175 176–200 Oregon Health and Science University United States
151–175 126–150 University of Otago New Zealand
151–175 151–175 University of Peradeniya Sri Lanka
151–175 126–150 University of the Philippines Philippines
151–175 176–200 Radboud University Nijmegen Netherlands
151–175 101–125 St George’s, University of London United Kingdom
151–175 126–150 Stellenbosch University South Africa
151–175 201–250 Tel Aviv University Israel
151–175 151–175 Trinity College Dublin Republic of Ireland
151–175 126–150 Tulane University United States
151–175 176–200 University College Cork Republic of Ireland
151–175 201–250 University of Waterloo Canada
151–175 176–200 Western Sydney University Australia
151–175 =94 University of the Witwatersrand South Africa
151–175 151–175 University of York United Kingdom
176–200 NR Duy Tan University Vietnam
176–200 201–250 Alfaisal University Saudi Arabia
176–200 201–250 American University of Beirut Lebanon
176–200 201–250 University of Antwerp Belgium
176–200 176–200 Autonomous University of Barcelona Spain
176–200 201–250 University of Bath United Kingdom
176–200 151–175 University of Bergen Norway
176–200 251–300 University of Bordeaux France
176–200 201–250 Cardiff University United Kingdom
176–200 151–175 University of Cologne Germany
176–200 201–250 University of Costa Rica Costa Rica
176–200 176–200 University of East Anglia United Kingdom
176–200 89 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign United States
176–200 251–300 King Abdulaziz University Saudi Arabia
176–200 176–200 University of Malaya Malaysia
176–200 151–175 Michigan State University United States
176–200 151–175 University of Milan Italy
176–200 251–300 University of Milan -Bicocca Italy
176–200 301–400 Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) Russian Federation
176–200 151–175 Nanjing University China
176–200 251–300 RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences Republic of Ireland
176–200 201–250 Semmelweis University Hungary
176–200 201–250  University of Technology Sydney Australia
176–200 176–200  TU Dresden Germany
176–200 251–300 The University of the West Indies Jamaica
176–200 151–175 University of Würzburg Germany

Click here to view the full medicine ranking

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