Among the best in university rankings

The University of Helsinki continues to rank high in the comparison of the world’s top universities. On the esteemed Shanghai list UH is ranked 73th and on the Times Higher Education it is 109th.

With some 15,000 universities in the world, the University of Helsinki performs very well, especially when considering Finland’s population base and resources. On both lists, UH was the only Finnish university among the top 200.

University of Helsinki’s placement in the Times Higher Education and Shanghai ranking

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Times Higher Education	100	91	108	102	91	109
Shanghai Jiao Tong - vuodesta 2009 Shanghai Ranking Consultancy	73	68	72	72	74	73

 

Scientific publications as the strength on the Shanghai list

The comparison criteria of the TOP 500 list compiled by the Shanghai-based Jiao Tong University include scientific awards received by researchers, articles in international publications and the quotation frequency of researchers.

UH’s strength was quotations of research results in scientific publications. The University received fewer points in the criteria that measured the number of scientific prizes awarded to researchers and alumni.

“Our ranking stays about the same from year to year,” says Thomas Wilhelmsson, the Chancellor of the University of Helsinki. “This speaks of a stable level of research.”

Wilhelmsson points out that, for example, previous Nobel Prize winners often push the rankings of the traditional universities up the list. According to Wilhelmsson, a better description of a university’s current situation is provided by rankings based on the frequency of its cited research. When measured by this criterion, the University of Helsinki is ranked among Europe’s top ten.

Higher score, lower ranking

The University’s ranking dropped 2012 although it received a higher score (56.4) than in 2011.

“This means that we’re moving in the right direction, but others are moving faster,” says Markus Laitinen, the University’s Head of International Affairs.

The best universities are no longer exclusive to the western world. The top 100 includes 11 Asian universities from Japan, Singapore, China, Korea and Hong Kong.

The University of Helsinki received its highest score by far in the number of citations category. Its second strongest suit was research.

The University received its lowest score for industry funding, although this area also showed an improvement on the previous year.