NEWS
Umeå University dropped in this year’s Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, down to 319th place from 267th place in the 2014 rankings. The decline is partially due to a change in methodology. The university placed second in Sweden for student-to-faculty ratio.
“Naturally, it is disappointing that Umeå University has a lower placement than last year. Even though rankings are not a direct measurement of quality and are far from a comprehensive validity, they do play a role in how the university is perceived,” says Lena Gustafsson, Vice-Chancellor of Umeå University.
QS World University Ranking considers over 3,500 higher education institutions all over the world, and ranks more than 900. The top 400 universities are ranked individually, while those placed 401 and over are ranked in groups.
Institutions are assessed using six different indicators, where academic reputation has the greatest percentage weight. Academic reputation is based on a global survey of academics. In this area, Umeå University declined from the previous year.
The methodology was slightly changed this year to counteract a bias in favour of universities specialising in the life sciences and medicine to better reflect the qualities of institutions focusing on other areas, such as arts and the humanities. This year’s methodology negatively impacted Umeå University and other Swedish universities.
Five faculty areas are also specifically ranked, and Umeå University is placed at 218 in the world in life sciences and medicine. In addition, Umeå is ranked 112th in the world for student to-faculty ratio and second in Sweden in this individual indicator.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States was rated the world's top university in 2015/16 by QS, followed by Harvard University in second place, with Stanford University and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom sharing in third place.
Among universities in Sweden, Lund University was the top ranking university (70), followed by KTH Royal Institute of Technology (92), Uppsala University (102), Chalmers University of Technology (132), Stockholm University (182), Gothenburg University (247), and Linköping University (286). Umeå University is ranked 8th in the nation.
Last year, Umeå University was ranked 24th in the world in the QS 50 under 50 ranking, which lists the world’s top 50 universities established within the last 50 years.
