institution is a leading modern university ranked in the top 150 global institutions under 50 years of age in The Times Higher Education 150 Under 50 World University rankings.
Ulster is in the top 20% in international outlook in 2016, registering as 401–500 in the THE World University Rankings.
Ulster scores highly for student satisfaction with the 2018 National Student Survey unveiling 87% satisfaction rates—ranking 23rd out of 154 UK universities.
In 2019 Ulster ranked 2nd in the UK for the UK University Acceptance rates on a university review platform StudentCrowd.
=== Research ===
The university embarked upon a policy of research selectivity in 1993 funded partially by Northern Ireland Development Funds (NIDevR) administered via the Northern Ireland Higher Education Council. The policy resulted in greatly improved performance by the university in subsequent Research Assessment Exercises (1996, 2001 and 2008; 3 subject areas, biomedical sciences, nursing and Celtic studies were ranked in the top 5 in the UK in the latter exercise) and in improving its publication output, external research funding and knowledge transfer activities. The establishment in 2002–2003 of a number of research institutes in areas of established strength and the receipt of over £40 million through the Support Programme for University Research (SPUR), funded jointly by Atlantic Philanthropies and the Northern Ireland Department for Employment and Learning (DEL), yielded a further significant enhancement in the university's research performance.
The Research Excellence Framework 2014 exercise identified the institution as one of the top five universities in the UK for research in law, biomedical sciences, nursing and art and design. Under some metrics, it ranked the university top in Northern Ireland for research into biomedical sciences, law, business and management, architecture and built environment, art and design, social policy, sport, media studies and nursing.
The Research Excellence Framework 2014 identified that 72% of the university's …
