How Lancaster University Uses QS Stars to Showcase Global Excellence

Showcasing excellence to an international audience

Lancaster University’s global identity is central to its mission. Through teaching, research and engagement partnerships, the university creates international opportunities for students, staff and partners.

As its global presence grew, the university wanted to make sure its strengths were clearly understood by prospective students, partners and wider stakeholders.

“Lancaster University has teaching, research and engagement partnerships all over world, including four strategic partnerships delivering Lancaster University degrees in China, Germany, Ghana, and Malaysia,” Ben Matthews, Associate Director for Global Engagement at Lancaster University said.  

“We are proud of our global identity and the opportunities this creates for our students, staff, and partners. As such we were keen to find a way to showcase our excellence to an international audience.”

Why Lancaster University chose QS Stars

Lancaster University chose QS Stars because it offered a concise, recognised and evidence-based way to communicate the areas that matter most to the institution.

For the University, this included environmental impact, internationalisation and teaching excellence. These pillars reflect the university’s wider commitment to delivering high-quality education, supporting students and contributing to a more sustainable future.

“We chose to engage with the QS Stars scheme as it was the ideal way to communicate our key pillars and messages, such as environmental impact, internationalisation, and teaching excellence, in a concise and recognised way.”

The university also valued the robust assessment process behind QS Stars. This gave Lancaster confidence in the claims it could make, while also providing insight that could support ongoing development.

“The robust assessment behind the scheme meant that we could be confident in our claims and could learn from and develop based on the findings.”

Achieving 5 Stars across key areas

Lancaster University achieved 5 Stars overall through QS Stars, as well as 5 Stars in each assessed category. These results helped the university highlight its strengths across areas that are highly relevant to students, partners and the wider higher education sector.

The university achieved 5 Stars in:

• Employability  

• Environmental Impact  

• Facilities  

• Internationalisation  

• Research  

• Teaching  

For Lancaster, this recognition reflected the areas it is most proud of as an institution.

“QS is globally recognised as a leading organisation that shares our passion for education, innovation, sustainability, collaboration, and diversity. We feel that our brands align and, as such, the QS Stars accurately represent what we’re proud of as an institution.”

Supporting student recruitment and confidence

One of the clearest signs of success for Lancaster University has been the impact of its QS Stars rating on prospective students.

The university has received direct feedback from students who said that Lancaster’s 5 Stars rating played a role in their decision to study there.

“We are particularly pleased to have students writing to tell us that one of the reasons they chose Lancaster University was because we were a 5 Stars-rated institution.”

For prospective students comparing universities internationally, a QS Stars rating provides an accessible and independent signal of quality. It helps them understand where an institution performs strongly, whether in Teaching, Employability, Internationalisation, Environmental Impact or other key areas.

For Lancaster University, this has helped strengthen confidence among students looking for a globally connected, research-led and sustainability-focused university.

Continuing to work with QS

Lancaster University has engaged with the QS World University Rankings for many years and continues to work with QS across areas that support its international ambitions.

For Lancaster University, ongoing opportunities with QS support its long-term vision to be globally significant in delivering quality research, teaching and student experience.

QS Stars explained

QS Stars is a globally recognised rating system for higher education institutions. Ratings are awarded through an in-depth assessment across at least eight categories, resulting in an overall rating of 1 to 5+ Stars and a rating of 1 to 5 Stars for each category.

After the assessment, institutions receive a detailed report summarising their results across each category. This helps universities identify their strengths and understand areas where further attention or improvement may be needed.

The QS Stars package also includes rating badges that institutions can use in their marketing materials. These badges help prospective students understand an institution’s strengths in areas that matter most to them, such as Teaching, Employability, Internationalisation and Environmental Impact.