The University of Essex’s international outlook has helped it achieve a place in the top 20 of the Times Higher Education 100 Under 50 rankings for 2012.

The report lists the leading universities across the world which are less than 50 years old, ranked across 13 different indicators, to provide an insight into which universities have established global reputations within the last half century.

The University of Essex is 20th in the rankings which take into account teaching, research, income from industry and the international profile of each university.

The rankings show the University is one of the most international universities in the world with students from more than 130 countries, a reputation for research collaboration across international boundaries and renowned academics from around the world. Essex has the fourth highest score in the ‘international mix’ category of the rankings just behind École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland and Curtin University and Edith Cowan University in Australia.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Colin Riordan said: “As our 50th anniversary approaches in 2014, we are proud of creating a University which has worldwide impact and has built an international reputation for the quality of our research and teaching across many fields.

“With more than 130 nationalities represented within our student community and a commitment to international collaboration on research we are a truly global university which provides a unique place to work and study.”