The ranking has been published by the British Times Higher Education supplement since 2010. Credit: MUNI.
Brno, Sep 29 (BD) – Brno’s Masaryk University has been placed in the 601-800th rung worldwide in the latest Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, its highest ever position.
This follows previous positive trends in Masaryk University’s ranking in the other most prestigious world university indices, including a historically best 400th position in the QS World University Rankings, and defending its position among the top 500 best universities in the world in the Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU).
The THE ranking, which has been published by the British Times Higher Education supplement since 2010, is among the three most recognized global rankings of universities. It evaluates universities in pillars including level of education, scientific environment, quality of research, cooperation with industry, and internationalisation. The greatest weight in the overall evaluation is based on two surveys of reputation and citation of publications according to the Scopus database.
“This year, the results of the world’s most watched rankings made me very happy,” said Rector Martin Bareš. “In both QS and THE, we improved significantly year-on-year, and in ARWU we defended last year’s all-time high. This repeated independent confirmation of the high quality of Masaryk University and the capitalization of efforts to strengthen excellence is extremely motivating for us.”
Compared to previous years, THE World University Rankings has undergone several changes. It compared a record 1,904 institutions, 105 more than a year ago, from 108 different countries. Its metrics already include 18 indicators in five thematic areas; five indicators are completely new, while four of them use innovative methods to assess the quality of research.
Masaryk University scored best in the field of scientific environment, where it was ranked 442nd in the world, and in internationalisation, where it was ranked 459th. Year-on-year, MUNI improved the most in cooperation with industry (by 323 places), and in the quality of research (by 112 places). In the overall ranking, Masaryk University has progressed by around 200 places, as in the previous two years it was in the 801st – 1000th position with a lower number of evaluated institutions.
“I perceive this continuous improvement in the higher education rankings as confirmation of the efforts of MUNI staff to constantly improve the quality of education, research, international cooperation and other key areas without which it is impossible to survive in tough competition,” said Vice-Rector for Internationalisation Petr Suchý. “It would be great if MUNI’s reputation and location were increasingly noticed by those interested in English study programs. The further development and expansion of the range of these courses can further positively influence this process.”
This year, the British University of Oxford was rated as the best university in the world for the eighth year in a row, followed by the American Stanford University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was third, and Harvard University fourth. Masaryk University is the second best-rated university in the Czech Republic, behind Charles University. Two other Czech universities are in the Top 1000: Palacky University in Olomouc and the Czech University of Agriculture in Prague.
