In the “Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities”, the US universities are ahead again this year, putting 15 of the 20 universities at the top of the ranking. Austria also performed similarly to previous years: The best domestic university is, as in other international university rankings, the University of Vienna in places 151-200. A total of 13 Austrian universities made it into the top 1,000, with six Austrian universities in the top 500.
US universities in the lead
As in previous years, Harvard and Stanford are at the top of the rankings, this time followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The best European university is again the University of Cambridge (Great Britain), this time in fourth place, followed by Berkeley, Princeton and – as the second non-US university in the top 10 – the University of Oxford (Great Britain).
The best continental European university is the Université Paris-Saclay in 16th place, this time ETH Zurich is listed in 20th place. Also in the top 50 are the University of Copenhagen (39), the Université Paris Science et Lettres (40), the Swedish Karolinska Institute (41) and the Paris Sorbonne (43).
Rank changes at Austrian universities
From Austria, 13 of the 15 scientific public universities can be found in the top 1,000, the University of Vienna is the only one among the top 200 in the ranking group 151-200 (from place 101 onwards it is only ranked in increments of 50, from place 201 in 100 steps). Their rank remains unchanged compared to previous years.
The Medical University of Vienna has once again landed in the ranked group 201-300, this time the University of Innsbruck is down a group to the ranks 301-400, where the Technical University (TU) Vienna has also placed again. The Innsbruck Medical University and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (Boku) are ranked 401-500, as in the previous year.
The Medical University of Graz improves by one group to ranks 501-600. The University of Graz went down two ranking groups (601-700), and the University of Salzburg went up two more (701-800). Graz University of Technology ranks 801-900, one group lower than last year. The University of Linz and the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna are also located there. The University of Klagenfurt again made it to the ranks 901-1,000. The Montanuni Leoben and the Economics University are not represented in the ranking.
Education Minister Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) was extremely satisfied with the 13 listed Austrian universities in a statement. “This proves once again that Austria’s universities research and teach at the highest level.” The ranking shows very clearly that the way of promoting research excellence at Austrian universities is the right one.
Criteria of the Shanghai Ranking
The Shanghai ranking is strongly research-oriented, using primarily publicly available databases. 40 percent of the evaluation is based on the quality of the scientists of the respective institution (assessed by the number of Nobel Prize and Fields Medal winners working there as well as the number of frequently cited researchers) and the research output (measured by publications in the magazines ” Science” and “Nature” as well as citations). Ten percent each of the rating is based on the quality of education (measured by the number of Nobel Prize and Fields Medal winners among graduates) and productivity per researcher.
Source: Nachrichten
