Top universities with the best student-to-staff ratio 2024

By seeta.bhardwa@…, 21 February, 2024

Top 10 universities with the best student-to-staff ratios 2024

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Staff-to-student ratio rank 2024	Staff-to-student ratio rank 2023	University	Country/region	Number of students to one member of staff
1	NR	Brighton and Sussex Medical School	United Kingdom	0.3
2	=1	St Marianna University School of Medicine	Japan	0.8
=3	=1	Jikei University School of Medicine	Japan	0.9
=3	=1	Nippon Medical School	Japan	0.9
=3	4	Oregon Health and Science University	United States	0.9
6	5	Dokkyo Medical University	Japan	1.2
7	7	Saitama Medical University	Japan	1.4
=8	8	Showa University	Japan	1.6
=8	NR	Qazvin University of Medical Sciences	Iran	1.6
=8	6	Kansai Medical University	Japan	1.6

A lower student-to-staff ratio can make it easier for students to cultivate close relationships with their lecturers, receive prompt feedback on essays and assignments and get involved in more interactive seminars and discussions.

Times Higher Education has created this table of universities with the best student-to-staff ratios in the world to help students work out which institutions might be best placed to provide this kind of learning environment.

The list has been compiled using data from the THE World University Rankings 2024. As part of the rankings, THE collects information on the number of staff and students at each university, and from this we can calculate the student-to-staff ratios. The full methodology of the World University Rankings can be found here. The table below shows the number of students per member of staff for each university.

All the top 10 universities are specialist medical institutions. Because these universities combine practical experience alongside theoretical learning, it might be that they require more staff to support this teaching structure.

It is also the case that many specialist universities have smaller student bodies, with higher numbers of teaching staff. However, some institutions on this list – such as Duke University and Vanderbilt University – have large student populations (more than 12,000 each), so this isn’t always the case.

Japan dominates the list, with 31 universities featured. The US comes second with 21 universities. The rest of the top 100 features universities from France, South Korea, India, the UK and China.

The top five universities with the best student-to-staff ratios

=3. Oregon Health and Science University

This is a public university with a main campus and two hospitals in Portland, Oregon, US. It was founded in 1887.

The institution offers degree programmes in dentistry, medicine and nursing. It is a functioning hospital, simultaneously treating patients, training healthcare professionals and conducting important healthcare research.

Oregon Health and Science University is also one of the largest employers in the state and has launched many community programmes to improve the health of Oregon’s residents.

The university’s Knight Cancer Institute has been a pioneer in medicine through a discovery that identified how to shut down cells that enable cancer to grow without harming healthy ones. Scientists from its Brain Institute are also nationally recognised for discoveries that have led to a better understanding of Alzheimer’s disease.

=3. Nippon Medical School

A private medical school in Tokyo, this is Japan’s oldest private medical university, having been founded in 1876.

The university has two campuses. Musashisakai is about 40 minutes west of the city centre and is where first-year undergraduates take courses in basic sciences and liberal arts.

From the second year to the sixth year, medical training takes place at the Sendagi campus, which is closer to central Tokyo and near the university hospital. Sendagi is also home to the university’s graduate school and its International Exchange Centre.

=3. Jikei University School of Medicine

This is a private university in Minato, Tokyo. The word “jikei” means “mercy and love” in Japanese.

With 2,700 beds and 7,500 outpatients a day, Jikei University Hospital is considered one of the country’s largest educational hospital systems. The university also has international student exchange programmes with the University of Leeds in the UK.

Jikei has four university hospitals – Katsushika Medical Center, Daisan Hospital in Chofu Komae, the Kashiwa Hospital in Chiba and the Jikei University School of Medicine Triton Clinic in Harumi.

2. St Marianna University School of Medicine

Founded in 1971, this is Japan’s only medical university with a Christian ethos, being affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.

In addition to medical studies, the institution offers a degree in comparative religious studies.

The curriculum consists of initial practical training in the first three years and clinical clerkship in the latter three years.

Associated medical facilities consist of four hospitals and one clinic, all but one of which are in Kawasaki City: St Marianna University Hospital, St Marianna University Toyoko Hospital, St Marianna University Advanced Breast Imaging Center, Kawasaki Municipal Tama Hospital and St Marianna University Yokohama City Seibu Hospital. There is also a nursing junior college and a graduate school.

1. Brighton and Sussex Medical School

This UK institution takes first place for the first time in this year’s student-to-staff ratio ranking.

It was formed in 2003 out of a partnership between the Universities of Sussex and Brighton, as well as surrounding NHS organisations.

It runs a five-year undergraduate medical degree where students will learn about the functions of the human body, with weekly clinical groups focusing on specific medical conditions. Students will also undertake work placements at the Royal Sussex County Hospital to gain practical experience and develop their clinical skills.

The university also offers a range of postgraduate full-time and part-time taught degrees in a range of subjects including cardiology, internal medicine, public health, psychiatry and more.

The top 100 universities with the best student-to-staff ratios 2024

Click each institution to view its full World University Rankings 2024 profile

Staff-to-student ratio rank 2024	Staff-to-student ratio rank 2023	University	Country/region	Number of students to one member of staff
1	NR	Brighton and Sussex Medical School	United Kingdom	0.3
2	=1	St Marianna University School of Medicine	Japan	0.8
=3	=1	Jikei University School of Medicine	Japan	0.9
=3	=1	Nippon Medical School	Japan	0.9
=3	4	Oregon Health and Science University	United States	0.9
6	5	Dokkyo Medical University	Japan	1.2
7	7	Saitama Medical University	Japan	1.4
=8	8	Showa University	Japan	1.6
=8	NR	Qazvin University of Medical Sciences	Iran	1.6
=8	6	Kansai Medical University	Japan	1.6
11	=9	Guangzhou Medical University	China	1.7
12	11	University of Nebraska Medical Center	United States	2
=13	12	Rush University	United States	2.1
=13	=13	Kanazawa Medical University	Japan	2.1
15	15	University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan	Japan	2.5
16	16	Aichi Medical University	Japan	2.9
=17	=19	Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine	Japan	3.2
=17	17	Shiga University of Medical Science	Japan	3.2
19	18	Sapporo Medical University	Japan	3.3
20	=9	Tokyo Medical University	Japan	3.4
21	=21	Fujita Health University	Japan	3.6
=22	=25	Duke University	United States	3.9
=22	=19	Kerman University of Medical Sciences	Iran	3.9
=22	=21	Vanderbilt University	United States	3.9
25	=25	Emory University	United States	4
=26	24	Wake Forest University	United States	4.1
=26	=30	Hamamatsu University School of Medicine	Japan	4.1
=26	34	Johns Hopkins University	United States	4.1
29	=30	Montanuniversität Leoben	Austria	4.2
=30	=25	University of Copenhagen	Denmark	4.3
=30	NR	Wakayama Medical University	Japan	4.3
32	28	Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU)	Japan	4.4
33	=21	University of Colorado Denver /Anschutz Medical Campus	United States	4.5
=34	NR	National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS)	Pakistan	4.6
=34	NR	Hyogo Medical University	Japan	4.6
36	=30	Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences	Sweden	4.7
37	35	Capital Medical University	China	4.9
38	=30	Juntendo University	Japan	5
=39	36	Kitasato University	Japan	5.2
=39	29	Columbia University	United States	5.2
=39	=43	Yale University	United States	5.2
=42	=38	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus	United States	5.4
=42	40	Medical University of Gdańsk	Poland	5.4
45	=38	Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University	Japan	5.5
46	37	SRUC (Scotland’s Rural College)	United Kingdom	5.6
=47	NR	Medical University of Lublin	Poland	5.7
=47	NR	Medical University of Sofia	Bulgaria	5.7
=47	=48	Acıbadem University	Turkey	5.7
=50	41	Al-Farabi Kazakh National University	Kazakhstan	5.9
=50	NR	Al-Nahrain University	Iraq	5.9
=52	=45	Poznan University of Medical Sciences	Poland	6
=52	=45	Yokohama City University	Japan	6
54	50	California Institute of Technology	United States	6.1
=55	=45	The University of Chicago	United States	6.2
=55	=48	University of Yamanashi	Japan	6.2
=55	54	Tehran University of Medical Sciences	Iran	6.2
=55	=51	University of Pennsylvania	United States	6.2
59	NR	Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST)	South Korea	6.3
=60	NR	Universidade Lusófona	Portugal	6.4
=60	=68	Stanford University	United States	6.4
=60	NR	Medical University of Warsaw	Poland	6.4
=63	=55	University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland	Switzerland	6.5
=63	=68	Mustansiriyah University	Iraq	6.5
68	=58	Nagasaki University	Japan	6.7
=69	=58	Institut Polytechnique de Paris	France	6.8
=69	=62	Hellenic Open University	Greece	6.8
=69	=58	IPB University	Indonesia	6.8
=69	57	El Bosque University	Colombia	6.8
=73	=65	University of Technology, Iraq	Iraq	6.9
=76	=72	Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences	India	7.1
=76	NR	Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember	Indonesia	7.1
=78	=79	Niigata University	Japan	7.2
=78	=84	Universitas Airlangga	Indonesia	7.2
=78	=100	Icesi University	Colombia	7.2
=81	=94	Acharya Nagarjuna University	India	7.3
=81	NR	Bharati Vidyapeeth University	India	7.3
=81	=72	Saint Louis University	United States	7.3
=81	=89	Washington University in St Louis	United States	7.3
=81	=100	Princeton University	United States	7.3
=81	=89	Pontifical Catholic University of Peru	Peru	7.3
=81	=84	University of Rochester	United States	7.3
=81	=79	Medical University of Silesia in Katowice	Poland	7.3
=89	NR	Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies – Pisa	Italy	7.4
=89	=75	Nagoya City University	Japan	7.4
=89	NR	University of South China	China	7.4
=89	=75	University of Miyazaki	Japan	7.4
=89	=79	Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa	Italy	7.4
=89	=89	Dartmouth College	United States	7.4
=89	=72	Arak University of Medical Sciences	Iran	7.4
=96	NR	Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education	India	7.5
=96	=55	Sofia University	Bulgaria	7.5
=98	=84	Gunma University	Japan	7.6
=98	NR	Hiroshima University	Japan	7.6
=98	=100	University of Fukui	Japan	7.6

Editor’s note: As part of our THE statement on Ukraine published on 2 March 2022, Russian and Belarusian universities have been given less prominence in our rankings. Russian and Belarusian universities that met the criteria for this ranking are not displayed in the table above.