Five Swedish universities among the best in new world ranking
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Uppsala University has dropped a few positions since last year when Times Higher Education presents their ranking of the 200 best universities in the world. Uppsala University comes in third among the five Swedish universities on the list, and receives high scores for the subject areas life sciences, clinical, pre-clinical and health, and engineering and technology.
No less than seven of the top ten universities are American. The Asian universities have advanced their positions since last year, while the European universities overall have shown signs of decline. But Scandinavias leading universities have moved against the trend. Denmark has three universities among the top 200, while Finland and Norway have one each and Sweden has five.
- Karolinska institutet, position 36 (2012: 42)
- Stockholm University, position 103 (2012: 117)
- Uppsala University, position 111 (2012: 106)
- Royal Institute of Technology, place 117 (2012: 140)
- Lund University, position 123 (2012: 82)
Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2013-14 is based on 13 different indicators divided into five categories, which are weighted as follows:
- Teaching: the learning environment (worth 30 per cent of the overall ranking score)
- Research: volume, income and reputation (worth 30 per cent)
- Citations: research influence (worth 30 per cent)
- Industry income: innovation (worth 2.5 per cent)
- International outlook: staff, students and research (worth 7.5 per cent)
Uppsala University is now found in 111th place, having lost five positions since last year's ranking. The indicators where Uppsala has showed the most decline are “Research” and “Education”. Meanwhile the “Citations” indicator has increased, as has to some extent “International outlook”.
Times Higher Education World University Rankings also lists the 100 best universities in a number of subject areas. Uppsala University holds 38th place in Life Sciences, 77th place in Clinical, Pre-clinical and Health and 88th place in Engineering and Technology.
“It is interesting that Swedish and Scandinavian universities in general are seeing positive developent according to this ranking”, says Deputy Vice-Chancellor Anders Malmberg.
“Uppsala University is relatively stable this year. Otherwise, this ranking can show sudden changes year from year. Previous years Uppsala has both risen and fallen sharply. This year it is Lund and Stockholm who have seen radically changed outcomes. This instability suggests that you should probably be extra careful when making interpretations.”
Read more about Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2013-14.
Anna Malmberg