Strategy Office

10 Jul

QS Europe regional rankings are out - MU ranks 143rd

In the latest QS World University Rankings: Europe, Masaryk University has improved 18 places year-on-year, thanks to its growing international reputation, enhanced internationalisation, high quality graduates and relentless commitment to sustainable development.

This is the second year the European QS ranking has been published. In the first edition in 2023, MU was ranked 161^st out of 688 published institutions, and this year it was ranked 143^rd out of 685 institutions. This ranking reflects the specifics of the region. Compared to the global QS WUR rankings, it also tracks international student exchange, evaluates the institution's academic performance in more detail, and in addition to the proportion of international students, it also tracks the diversity of the countries from which these students come. Overall, the ranking includes 12 indicators in the areas of research and development, education, internationalisation, graduate quality and sustainability. Institutions from the member countries of the Council of Europe are assessed.

Masaryk University achieved its best results in the Sustainability indicator, ranking 71^st in Europe. In the Czech environment, it ranks first in this indicator. MU also achieves excellent results in indicators related to international student exchange and the share of international students. In the Inbound Exchange Students indicator, MU ranked 94^th, and in the Outbound Exchange Students and International Student Diversity indicators, it ranked 106^th. In addition to the above-mentioned strong indicators, the quality of graduates measured by the Employer Reputation indicator, where MU ranked 107th, and Employment Outcomes, assessing the success of graduates on the labour market, where MU ranked 133^rd, also contributed to the improvement in MU's overall ranking this year. Masaryk University also improved its position by 5 ranks in the Academic Reputation indicator with a rank of 152.

The top three positions in the European rankings this year are held by ETH Zurich, moving up from last year's second place, Imperial College London, which was fourth in last year's ranking, and last year's number one, the University of Oxford, in third place.

Among the Czech universities, a total of 17 institutions made it into the rankings. First place is taken by Charles University in 79th position (an improvement of 7 places compared to last year). Masaryk University is second in the Czech Republic at 143rd European ranking, followed by Czech Technical University in Prague at 177th and the Palacký University Olomouc at 214th.

More about the QS Europe ranking can be found here.

16 Jun

MU participates in the assessment for 11 UN Sustainable Development Goals in THE Impact Rankings

THE Impact Rankings track the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It was created in 2018 as a separate ranking by Times Higher Education. For each of the 17 SDGs, it assesses performance in the areas of research, institutional governance, outreach and education. Universities can decide which of the SDGs they wish to be ranked for. They will then provide THE with input data for these. Another source of data for the assessment is bibliometric data from Elsevier.

The overall ranking of THE Impact in 2024 involves 1,963 universities from 121 countries around the world. Inclusion in the overall assessment of this ranking is tied to active participation in the individual assessment of at least four SDGs, with SDG17 - Partnership for the goals being mandatory. Masaryk University ranked 401^st-600^th in the overall ranking, maintaining its position from previous year. In the Czech Republic, MU ranked 2^nd jointly with Czech University of Life Sciences and Palacký University Olomouc, behind the 1^st Charles University. Among the Czech universities, 9 public institutions and 1 private institution were ranked this year. MENDELU and University of Ostrava participated for the first time this year.

Masaryk University has been involved in the ranking since 2021, and so far in 4 SDGs out of 17, which is the mandatory minimum required for inclusion in the overall ranking. However, for this cycle we have expanded the number of SDGs and reported data in 11 of them:

Goal 3: Good health and wellbeing
Goal 4: Quality education
Goal 6. Drinking water and sanitation
Goal 8 Decent work and economic growth
Goal 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Goal 10. Reduced inequalities
Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities
Goal 12. Responsible consumption and production
Goal 13: Climate action
Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions
Goal 17: Partnerships for goals

The criteria to select the goals for further engagement were as follows - we analysed the ranking requirements for the SDGs and the related options for reporting appropriate evidence, as well as the scientific performance assessed against the SDGs in the SciVal tool, we considered the number of projects for each SDG according to the MU Sustainability Report, and taken inspiration by the performance of other Czech HEIs and their engagement in the respective SDGs within the ranking.

The highest ranking achieved by MU was in SDG 16, at 95^th position in the world (a year-on-year improvement from last year's 201st-300th position). Follow the newly reported SDGs 11 and 12, ranking equally at rank 101-200. In mandatory SDG 17, MU got global rank 401-600 with an unexpected year-on-year drop from rank 201-300. Within the country, MU ranked 1^st in the newly reported SDGs 11 and 12 (for SDG 11 a joint position with PUO), 2^nd behind the leading CU in SDG 16 and again 2^nd behind the leading PUO (global rank 101-200) in SDG 17 .

More information about THE Impact rankings can be found here.

16 Jun

In the QS World University Rankings, MU is ranked 408th

The QS WUR rankings were released for the twenty-first time this year with 5,663 assessed and 1,503 ranked institutions from 106 countries. In an increasingly competitive environment, Masaryk University has managed to keep close to the top four hundred universities worldwide, while significantly improving its position in terms of graduate quality, sustainable development and reputation among employers.

The main contribution to this year's ranking of MU on 408^th position was the increase in scores in three indicators. In the Sustainability indicator (score of 79.1), MU is ranked the best among Czech universities, and in the global comparison it ranks 161^st, having improved by 46 places compared to last year's ranking. This indicator reflects the institution's position in the separate QS Sustainability Rankings, which were published in December 2023. MU is also ranked in the TOP 300 in the global comparison in the indicators International Students at 223rd position and Employer Reputation at 298th position.

Another strong indicator for Masaryk University is the International Research Network, where it received a score of 80.2 and 318th position. The strength of the institution's international cooperation is assessed based on bibliometric data from the Scopus database. It looks at both the proportion of publications published in collaboration with authors from foreign institutions and the number of countries with which Masaryk University has established scientific and research cooperation.

Year-on-year, Masaryk University has improved the most in the Employment Outcomes indicator, from last year's ranking of 575th to this year's ranking of 352^nd (score 36). Two parameters enter the calculation of this indicator: the first is the declared success rate of graduates in finding employment, which MU determines mainly through questionnaire surveys among graduates. The second is the number of graduates of the institution who have a significant positive social impact and influence in global comparison. This year, QS has significantly expanded the range of sources from which it draws information for this indicator.

A total of 16 Czech universities were ranked, the same number as in the previous year. The best ranking was achieved by Charles University at position 246. Behind Masaryk University, Czech Technical University is third with position 420^th, and University of Chemistry and Technology is fourth at 570^th. In the national comparison, Masaryk University is the best in the aforementioned parameter Sustainability, then in the indicator Citations per Faculty - also here it occupies the first place among Czech universities, and in the world position 656^th. Masaryk University is second only to the UK in the Academic Reputation indicator (376^th in the world) and in the Employment Outcomes indicator. The complete set of nine indicators is complemented by International Faculty (513^th global rank) and Faculty Student Ration (shared rank 701+).

The first place in the global comparison was defended by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from the USA. Imperial College London climbed to second place from last year's 6th position, while the University of Oxford retained third place, again in line with last year. Last year's No.2, the University of Cambridge, is ranked 5th in this year's QS WUR.

More information about the QS WUR rankings can be found here.

10 Apr

QS Subject Rankings are out - MUNI is ranked in 13 subjects, the highets in Archaeology

In April 2024 QS Subject Rankings has been released as the last rankings of QS 2024 ranking cycle. The new series has produced rankings in 55 subject areas, with nearly 5,000 institutions assessed and a total of 1,559 universities from 149 countries making it into the rankings. The indicators used for the assessment in individual subject areas include Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Citations per Paper, H-Index Citations, and for selected fields also IRN-Index. For each subject these indicators have different weights, reflecting the specifics of the field.

Masaryk University is ranked in 13 subjects within the current assessment. For the third year in a row, the best performance got is in the field of Archaeology, with a current rank 201-240 (594 institutions assessed, ranked up to 240 institutions). MU also keeps excellent results in the field of Environmental Sciences already since 2020, this year appearing in the rank 251-300 (1,826 institutions assessed, ranked up to 520). Still within the top 300, and after a one-year gap, MU returned to the rankings for Linguistics (1,312 institutions ranked, with a ranking of up to 320).

Full list of MU's placements in the QS Subject Rankings this year:

• 201–240 Archaeology
• 251–300 Environmental Sciences
• 251–300 Linguistics
• 301–350 Agriculture & Forestry
• 301–350 Biological Sciences
• 301–350 Education
• 351–370 Law
• 401–450 Chemistry
• 401–450 Medicine
• 501–550 Computer Science & Information Systems
• 501–550 Economics & Econometrics
• 501–550 Mathematics
• 501–550 Physics & Astronomy

For more information on QS Rankings portfolio can be found here.