The University of Helsinki ranked 57th in the international Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities. In the two previous years, the University of Helsinki placed 56th. This year, the Shanghai ranking (ARWU) ranked the thousand best universities in the world.
From among Nordic universities, the University of Helsinki retained its third place behind the University of Copenhagen (rank 29) and the Karolinska Institute (rank 44) from Sweden. Among European universities, the University of Helsinki reached the 18th position.
For the 16th consecutive year, Harvard University was ranked at the top. The top 20 included sixteen universities from the United States, three from the United Kingdom and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich. On average, Swedish universities were the most successful among Nordic universities. For instance, the top 200 universities included five Swedish and three Danish universities, as well as one from both Finland and Norway.
After the University of Helsinki, the best Finnish universities were Aalto University and the University of Turku, both ranked in the bracket 301–400. Altogether eight Finnish universities were included in the ranking of the thousand best universities.
As for the individual ranking indicators, the University of Helsinki saw a decrease in the number of published articles. On the other hand, there was improvement in the indicators for research quality, including the number of highly cited researchers and the number of articles published in journals associated with Nature and Science.
Depending on calculation methods, there are approximately 17,000–23,000 universities in the world. The Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities is the oldest and one of the most well-known international university rankings. The evaluation focus slightly varies between different rankings. They evaluate the amount and impact of research conducted at institutions of higher education, the quality of teaching, the reputation of the institutions in question among researchers and employers, as well as the extent of their international outlook.