The University of Tartu scored higher in the world’s university rankings
According to the recent issue of the world’s one of the largest university rankings QS World University Rankings, which was published just today, UT has improved its position and is now among the first 500 universities, which places UT on position 461-470 (in 2012, UT was placed between 500 and 550). The University of Tartu is also still ranked on the border of 400 best universities in the field of Engineering & Technology, being the only university in Estonia, which is at the world’s top in this field.
According to Rector of the University of Tartu Prof. Volli Kalm, the still high position of UT among the best universities in the world is a great acknowledgment for all people of the university. “We are especially delighted to see that in addition to our strong field of science and technology as well as social sciences, the person preparing the chart has pointed out our top level in the field of Arts (position 263), which is acknowledgement of the University of Tartu as a national university.”
In the process of preparing the ranking, QS takes into account the survey among academic leaders and heads of institutions of higher education, proportion of students and lecturers, university as the employer, significance of academic publications, percentage of foreign lecturers and students. This year, more than 60,000 scientists and academic opinion leaders and approximately 30,000 employees gave their expert opinion to the universities by answering the questionnaire.
Data of more than 3,000 universities in the world were analysed for preparing the rankings of 2013. This year, 800 best universities were ranked instead of the earlier 700 universities.
The leader of the chart for the second year in a row is Massachusetts Institute of Technology, followed by Harvard University and University of Cambridge. Total of 76 countries are represented in this year’s rankings. As to other Baltic States, Tallinn University of Technology (441-450), Vilnius University (601–650), Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (701+) and University of Latvia (700+) are also listed in the chart.
In addition to preparing the general ranking, QS has also ranked the world’s universities according to their academic reputation in five science areas as from 2007. Field rankings are based on the opinion polls organized among the scientists of the respective field. The first 400 are ranked in each field. The highest place of the University of Tartu so far dates back to 2010 in the field of life sciences and medicine (position 301 – 350). In 2011, UT was in the rankings in the same field on position 381, in 2012 in the field of Arts (position 381 as well). In 2013, the University of Tartu has risen to position 263 in the field of Arts, position 386 in the field of social sciences. For the first time UT has risen to the border of 400 best universities in the field of Engineering & Technology and Science.
The University of Tartu is among 3% of the world’s most reputable universities (Times Higher Education Rankings) and among 1% of the most referred scientific research establishments (ESI) in ten fields of science. The rankings of the magazine Times Higher Education, which is considered to be the most reputable ranking of the universities, will be updated at the beginning of October 2013.
For more information about the results of QS ranking see here.
Additional information: Prof. Volli Kalm, Rector of the University of Tartu, phone 737 5601, 501 0866, e-mail: volli.kalm [ät] ut.ee.