Published since 2010 by the British newspaper Times Higher Education (THE), THE World University Rankings is one of the three most prestigious global university rankings. It assesses institutions in pillars such as teaching standards, research environment, research quality, collaboration with industry and internationalisation. The two aspects that carry the most weight in the overall ranking are reputation and citations according to the Scopus database. In the latest edition of THE World University Rankings, Masaryk University is placed 601-800 in the world.
“This year, I am quite happy with our results in the leading world rankings. We have improved significantly in QS and THE compared to last year, and in ARWU we have maintained our last year’s position. This independent confirmation of Masaryk University’s performance and our efforts to strengthen excellence is extremely motivating for us,” said Rector Martin Bareš.
Compared to previous years, THE World University Rankings has undergone several changes. It compared a record 1,904 institutions, 105 more than last year, from a total of 108 countries. Its metrics now include 18 indicators in five thematic areas. Five of the indicators are completely new, and four of them are innovative in assessing research quality.
Masaryk University fared best in the area of scientific environment, where it was ranked 442nd in the world, and in the area of internationalisation, where it was ranked 459th. Compared to last year, MU improved the most in cooperation with industry (up 323 places) and research quality (up 112 places). In the overall ranking, Masaryk University moved up by about 200 places; in the previous two years it was ranked 801-1000 with a smaller number of ranked institutions.
“I see the continuous improvement of Masaryk University’s position in the most prestigious rankings of higher education institutions as a confirmation of our efforts to continuously improve the quality of education, research, international cooperation and other key areas without which it is impossible to compete. Masaryk University’s success is something I am very happy about. It would be great if MU’s reputation and ranking started to be noticed more by those applying to English-speaking programmes. The further development and expansion these programmes can also positively influence this process,” said Petr Suchý, Vice-Rector for Internationalisation.
For the eighth year in a row, the University of Oxford (UK) was ranked the best university in the world, followed by Stanford University (USA). The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) came third and Harvard University fourth. Masaryk University is the second best university in the Czech Republic. Apart from Charles University and Masaryk University, four Czech universities appeared in the top 1000: Palacký University Olomouc and the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague.