Global engagement
Throughout the University, we are collaborating across disciplines and with outside agencies and institutions on projects of world significance.
We are globally connected and networked with strategic partnerships across the world, helping us to expand our impact on wider society locally, nationally and globally.
We are ranked 6th in the world for international outlook and 117 in the world for research quality (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025).
Our educational partnerships help the next generation of students become world-class global scholars and our research partnerships strive to help build a better global society. Our collaborations include:
- A joint College was established by Queen’s University Belfast in partnership with China Medical University (CMU) in Shenyang in 2014. Find out more.
- Queen’s and Southeast University lead the UK-China University Consortium on Engineering Education and Research – the first of its kind to bring together 15 top class universities, six in the UK and nine in China.
We've worked together on matters of education, research and business, allowing the development of new collaborations that will mutually benefit both India and Northern Ireland.
- Queen's has signed a MoU with Tezpur University in Assam to jointly supervise doctoral programmes. The agreement will enable scholars from Tezpur University to commence PhD study at Queen's and offers opportunities for student and staff exchange for the purposes of study, research and teaching.
Queen's University has enjoyed successful collaborations in the Middle East for many years with some of the regions top universities and organisations.
- We have a partnership to develop the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences in Dubai. Find out more.
- We have established strong ties with 12 partner universities in Jordan over the past two decades.
Here are some of our important areas of collaboration:
- Providing safer energy though mercury-free natural gas through Queen’s partnership with Malaysian oil and gas giant Petronas.
- The development of a robust wireless communications system, which can battle through an earthquake, tsunami or hurricane and provides early warning of natural disasters.
- Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP) sponsors postgraduate studies at Queen’s.
Queen's is a member of the prestigious Russell Group as well as having ties with several top universities in the UK and Ireland, including Trinity College, University College Dublin, Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin.
- We have partnerships with Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, University of California at Berkley, Stanford University, University of Michigan, Boston College and Vanderbilt.
- Queen’s is an active participant in the Nashville-Belfast Sister Cities connection and has growing links with Nashville partner universities, Vanderbilt University and Belmont University. Read more about these links.
The Queen’s University Belfast Global Challenges Debates bring together some of the world’s leading academic thinkers, to discuss innovative ideas about major global phenomena. They provide an opportunity for students, staff and the wider public to engage with exciting research, and to reflect together on some of the world’s most pressing challenges in the twenty-first century.