Iowa State University
#449
QS World University Rankings 2026
34.4
QS 2026 overall score
Ranking data
QS World University Rankings source#449
QS World University Rankings 2026
#470
QS World University Rankings 2025
34.4
QS 2026 overall score
Indicator-level data
Each card keeps the QS 2026 score and rank separate. A missing value is not estimated.
Academic reputation
- QS 2026 score
- 26.4
- QS 2026 rank
- #479
Employer reputation
- QS 2026 score
- 21.6
- QS 2026 rank
- #611
Faculty-student ratio
- QS 2026 score
- 10.8
- QS 2026 rank
- #801
Citations per faculty
- QS 2026 score
- 61
- QS 2026 rank
- #281
International faculty ratio
- QS 2026 score
- 6.7
- QS 2026 rank
- #801
International student ratio
- QS 2026 score
- 17.8
- QS 2026 rank
- #764
International student diversity
- QS 2026 score
- 24
- QS 2026 rank
- #703
International research network
- QS 2026 score
- 78.9
- QS 2026 rank
- #370
Employment outcomes
- QS 2026 score
- 50.6
- QS 2026 rank
- #339
Sustainability
- QS 2026 score
- 65
- QS 2026 rank
- #398
About Iowa State University
Colleges that give technical questions an academic base
Iowa State University presents academic study through the colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Business, Design, Engineering, Health and Human Sciences, and Liberal Arts and Sciences, as well as the Graduate College and the College of Veterinary Medicine. For a STEM researcher, this structure helps identify where a question may be based. An interest in agriculture can connect science, engineering, data, and environmental work. A health question can involve life sciences, veterinary medicine, engineering, or human sciences. The first step is to identify the college and department that carries the core disciplinary work.
The academic pages also point to graduate programmes, online study, research opportunities, and innovation and entrepreneurship. These routes serve different purposes, so they should not be collapsed into one general picture. A programme page can show the academic structure of a subject. A research opportunity or department page can show how inquiry is carried out. A page about innovation may show a route for work beyond the classroom. Read the material closest to your intended field before deciding which of these settings is actually relevant.
Learning communities and research activity
Iowa State's central pages describe learning communities and opportunities for students to work with faculty mentors on research in a range of disciplines. This can be useful context for a person who wants to understand how study and research are connected across the university. It does not describe every department in the same way. Different fields have different laboratory cultures, project scales, and links between coursework and research. The more important question is whether the unit you are considering makes its current research activity and people visible enough to assess.
The site also describes study areas in engineering, energy, environmental and conservation sciences, information technology, medical, molecular and forensic sciences, physical sciences and mathematics, and veterinary science. These labels offer a practical way to search the university. They can help locate the appropriate part of the site, but you still need to examine the technical scope of a department or research group. Then move on to work that identifies a real research problem, a current project, or a faculty member whose interests connect with your own.
A grounded Iowa State comparison
When you assess Iowa State University, start with one research question and find the college or department where it belongs. Then add a small amount of evidence from a current group, researcher, project, or facility. State the link plainly: perhaps the work uses a method you know, addresses an issue you want to study, or offers a setting where you could deepen a technical skill. This simple structure makes a shortlist entry more valuable than a broad claim that a university offers several relevant areas.
University-level pages are helpful for understanding the range of colleges and study areas. The clearest evidence for a personal choice comes from the academic home closest to the topic. The numerical material displayed earlier is a broad reference for the institution, not a measure of an individual research route. As you compare options, separate visible facts from open questions and update the note when you find more local information about the work you want to pursue.
Institution record
- Country
- United States of America
- Region
- Americas
- Status
- Public
- QS size code
- L
- Profile record updated
- July 24, 2026
This date shows when this profile was refreshed. It is not a source-verification date from QS or the university.
Search opportunitiesOpportunity records may use a different form of the institution's name. Confirm every listing with its original source.