University of Tartu continues among the top 300 in world university rankings

The University of Tartu has risen in the newly published QS World University Rankings compared to last year and shares the 296th position. The University of Tartu has remained among the world's 300 best universities in recent years. It held the highest ranking so far, 285th, two years ago. 

This year's ranking includes 124 new universities. The international consultation firm Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) compiling the ranking considered 2,462 universities this year and ranked 1,422 of them. 

QS uses six indicators for ranking the universities: academic and employer reputation of the university (40% and 10% of the total, respectively), faculty-to-student ratio (20%), research impact indicated by the number of citations to research articles published by the university's academic staff per academic staff member (20%), and the ratio of international students and international staff (5% of the total each). Compared to last year, the University of Tartu has improved its position in two of these six indicators. 

There has been a significant rise of 271 places, from 676th to 405th, in the international staff ratio. For the fourth year in a row, the University of Tartu has improved its ranking regarding the ratio of academic staff to students, rising from 95th to 91st. QS uses this ratio as an indirect indicator of the quality of teaching, and it has been a key strength of the University of Tartu over the years. 

"The strong international position of the University of Tartu gives students the assurance that they can receive high-quality and competitive higher education in Estonia. This is a good reason for future students to choose to study at the University of Tartu," said Taivo Raud, the university's Director of Development. "On the other hand, it also sends an important message to policymakers: to maintain and improve the current level, the state needs to consistently invest in the teaching and research work of universities so that Estonian higher education remains viable in the face of intense global competition," he added. 

The full rankings are available on the QS website. The methodology has also been described in more detail on the QS website.