Veterinary Education: The 2017 Ranking of the World's Top 50 Schools Has Been Released

For the third consecutive year, the list of the top 50 veterinary schools worldwide has just been released. Fifty of the world’s leading universities in the field of veterinary science are highlighted in the QS World University Rankings*, representing 18 countries in the Americas and Europe. Once again, France is notably absent: the country’s national veterinary schools did not participate and are therefore missing from the rankings…[2025 Rankings: Click here]

On the 2017 podium of the world’s best veterinary schools, UC Davis (California) retains its top spot, followed by Cornell University (New York). The two American universities are ahead of the Royal Veterinary College in London, which has been ranked third since 2015. Thus, the United Kingdom continues to lead among countries outside North America. Once again this year, the United States leads the rankings of the best programs in veterinary education by a wide margin, with 18 universities among the top 50. UC Davis, the undisputed global leader for the past three years, currently has some 34,000 students (5.4% of whom are international). Its veterinary department offers veterinary training in 34 different disciplines, treats more than 50,000 animals each year, and is renowned for its “One Health” approach. Last year, its research budget reached nearly $76 million. Still in North America, Canada has three of its schools of veterinary education ranked among the world’s top 50. In Europe, in addition to the four British universities ranked among the top ten, the United Kingdom has three others in the top 50, for a total of seven. Next come the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, and Germany, each with two veterinary schools in the rankings. The five other European countries represented (Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, Austria, and Norway) each have one institution ranked among the top 50. Italy, which had two universities ranked last year, has dropped out of the rankings, and France still has none… Excelling on the international stage is not currently a priority for French veterinary education. Veterinary studies are part of an ever-shrinking list of fields that do not factor into international rankings. But first, university administrations would need to be given the political and financial resources to invest in this field! Elsewhere in the world, the University of Sydney ranks 11th; it is the highest-ranked of Australia’s four universities on the list. New Zealand is also represented by Massey University, ranked 23rd. Brazil is the only Latin American country represented in the top 50 veterinary schools, with two institutions ranked (38th and 47th). Finally, two Asian institutions made the list: the University of Tokyo, which enters the top 50 at No. 34 (tied with Berlin and Washington), and Seoul National University in South Korea, which returns to the rankings this year and rounds out the list at No. 50. To measure the reputation and performance of a school or university, the QS Top Universities World Rankings are based on three components: academic reputation (extensive surveys of academics and faculty), graduate employability, and research impact (publications in the Scopus database). Since 2013, another metric has also been included: the h-index . It measures both the productivity and the impact of the work published by a scientist or academic. It can also be applied to a group of scientists (a department, a university, a country) or to a scientific journal.   *https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2017/veterinary-sciencehttps://www.topuniversities.com/courses/veterinary-science/guide

2017 World Ranking of Schools of Veterinary Education

1. University of California, Davis, United States (═ ranked 1st in 2015 and 2016)

2. Cornell University, United States (═ ranked 2nd in 2015 and 2016)

3. Royal Veterinary College, University of London, United Kingdom (═ ranked 3rd in 2015 and 2016)

4. University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (═ ranked 8th in 2015, ranked 4th in 2016)

5. University of Liverpool, United Kingdom (▲ ranked 9th in 2015, ranked 6th in 2016)

6. University of Guelph, Canada (▲ ranked 4th in 2015, ranked 8th in 2016)

7. University of Pennsylvania, United States (▼ ranked 19th in 2015, ranked 4th in 2016)

8. University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (▲ Rank 9 in 2015, Rank 11 in 2016)

9. Utrecht University, Netherlands (▼ ranked 5th in 2015, ranked 7th in 2016)

10. Texas A&M University, United States (▲ ranked 6th in 2015, ranked 14th in 2016)

11. University of Sydney, Australia (▼ ranked 11th in 2015, ranked 9th in 2016)

12. Michigan State University, United States (▲ ranked 21st in 2015, ranked 15th in 2016)

13. University of Copenhagen, Denmark (▼ ranked 17th in 2015, ranked 10th in 2016)

14. University of Minnesota, United States (▲ ranked 13th in 2015, ranked 28th in 2016)

15. University of Melbourne, Australia (▲ ranked 28th in 2015, ranked 18th in 2016)

16. Wageningen University, Netherlands (▲ ranked 16th in 2015, ranked 19th in 2016)

17. University of Glasgow, United Kingdom (▼ ranked 7th in 2015, ranked 15th in 2016)

18. Ohio State University, United States (▲ ranked 25th in 2015, ranked 22nd in 2016)

19. Colorado State University, United States (▼ ranked 13th in 2015 and 2016)

20. Ghent University, Belgium (═ ranked 27th in 2015, ranked 20th in 2016)

21. North Carolina State University, United States (▼ ranked 20th in 2015, ranked 17th in 2016)

22. University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States (▲ ranked 24th in 2015, ranked 26th in 2016)

23. Massey University, New Zealand (▲ ranked 15th in 2015, ranked 25th in 2016)

24. Purdue University, United States (▲ ranked 30th in 2015, ranked 32nd in 2016)

25. University of Bristol, United Kingdom (▼ ranked 11th in 2015 and 2016)

26. Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany (▼ ranked 25th in 2015, ranked 23rd in 2016)

27. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States (▲ ranked 43rd in 2015, ranked 33rd in 2016)

28. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden (▲ ranked 43rd in 2015, ranked 30th in 2016)

29. University College Dublin, Ireland (▲ ranked 40th in 2015, ranked 31st in 2016)

30. University of Nottingham, United Kingdom (▲ Ranked 45th in 2015, 35th in 2016)

31. University of Florida, United States (▼ranked 17th in 2015, ranked 24th in 2016)

32. University of Queensland, Australia (▼ 22nd in 2015, 29th in 2016)

33. Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain (▼ Ranked 23rd in 2015, 21st in 2016)

34. Washington State University, United States (▲ ranked 37th in 2015, ranked 39th in 2016)

35. Free University of Berlin, Germany (▲ new entry in 2015, ranked 44 in 2016) 34 ?? University of Tokyo, Japan (▲ new entry)

36. University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria (▼ ranked 33rd in 2015, ranked 36th in 2016)

37. University of São Paulo, Brazil (═ ranked 36th in 2015, ranked 38th in 2016)

38. Iowa State University, United States (▲ ranked 35th in 2015, ranked 41st in 2016)

39. Complutense University of Madrid, Spain (▲ ranked 50th in 2015, ranked 43rd in 2016)

40. Murdoch University, Australia (▼ ranked 38th in 2015, ranked 37th in 2016)

41. Tufts University, United States (▲ 34th in 2015, unranked in 2016)

42. University of Georgia, United States (▼ ranked 31st in 2015, ranked 40th in 2016)

43. Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Norway (▼ ranked 39th in 2015, ranked 42nd in 2016)

44. University of Liège, Belgium (▲ new entry in 2015, ranked 49th in 2016)

45. University of Missouri, Columbia (Mizzou), United States (▼ ranked 29th in 2015, ranked 34th in 2016)

46. Júlio de Mesquita Filho State University of São Paulo, Brazil (▼ ranked 45th in 2015, ranked 46th in 2016)

47. University of Montreal, Canada (▼ ranked 42nd in 2015, ranked 44th in 2016)

48. University of Calgary, Canada (▲ new entry)

49. Seoul National University, South Korea (▼ ranked 41st in 2015, not ranked in 2016)

No longer ranked:

University of Zurich, Switzerland (▼ ranked 6th in 2015, ranked 25th in 2016)

University of Milan, Italy (▼ ranked 47th in 2016)

University of Bologna, Italy (▼ ranked 48th in 2016)

University of Saskatchewan, Canada (▼ ranked 47th in 2015, ranked 50th in 2016)