The Hardman Rankings

← World University Rankings 2026

Cranfield University

United KingdomROR 05cncd958
=191
World University Rankings 2026 · 90% range 123–480 of 1,240 · score 51.8
Research Index =436

How it scores

Research
66
Alumni outcomes
90
Admissions & earnings
est.

Research and Alumni outcomes are percentiles among 1,240 universities; alumni outcomes are counted per student. Admissions & earnings is the position among universities in the same country.

No official admissions or earnings data is used for this university yet. Its in-country score is estimated from its standing among its own country’s universities on the global measures.

Admissions, outcomes and alumni

Internationally notable alumni (Wikidata)
6 src
Heads of state or government (Wikidata)
1 src
Students (undergraduate / total)
5,000 / 5,000

Each figure links to its source. Admissions and earnings figures are comparable only within a country.

Research Index

A · Quality
81.3
B · Strength
39.0

Percentiles among 1,305 ranked universities. Rank on quality alone: =232. On strength alone: =796. The Research Index scores research only; admissions, earnings and alumni outcomes are scored in the overall ranking where data exists.

The numbers behind it (2020–2023)

Papers in the top 10% of their field
12.5% (11.4%–13.7%)
Papers in the top 1% of their field
1.5% (1.1%–1.9%)
Top-10% papers (fractional count)
249
All papers (fractional count)
1,991
International co-authored
59.5%
Open access
85.2%
Papers from 2020–23 since retracted
3 (0.63 per 1,000)

Core publications, fractional counting, field-normalised citation shares. Brackets show Leiden’s stability interval. Collaboration and open-access shares use full counting and aren’t field-normalised. Retraction counts come from the Retraction Watch database and include publishers’ mass retractions as well as honest-error retractions; a retraction is not by itself evidence of misconduct, and the count is never scored.

By field

Biomedical & health sciences–fewer than 200 papers
Life & earth sciences411range 265–601 of 1,092
Mathematics & computer science=491range 350–700 of 1,391
Physical sciences & engineering=201range 148–324 of 1,742
Social sciences & humanities=464range 287–699 of 1,262

Position over time

top 30%2008–2011: 317 of 6592020–2023: 436 of 1,305

The same method applied to each 4-year publication window. The number of ranked universities grows from period to period, so position is shown as a share of the field.

How other rankings place it

=436Research Index 2026
–QS 2027 (not in top 100)
–THE 2027 (not in top 100)
–ARWU 2026 (not in top 100)

Other rankings are cited for comparison. The Research Index measures research only; QS and THE also use reputation surveys and figures universities submit, and ARWU counts prize winners and total output.

Prize winners

No Nobel, Fields, Turing or Abel laureates linked to this university in Wikidata.