OREANDA-NEWS. October 30, 2009. For the first time, the University of Tartu has been ranked among the top five per cent of world’s leading universities in the reputable Times Higher Education - QS World University Rankings, reported the press-centre of University of Tartu.

"Being among the top five per cent of world’s leading universities is a recognition to our university," said UT Rector Alar Karis, expressing his pleasure. "I believe it will be an influencing factor in the young people’s choice of education, encouraging them to study at the University of Tartu," he added.
 
The best ranked university is, once again, Harvard, the second being the University of Cambridge, switching places with Yale, which holds the third position this year. However, according to the journal, the most noteworthy fact is that the University College London has risen to the fourth place, ahead of Oxford and Imperial College, which are tied for the fifth position.
 
Ben Sowter, head of the QS Intelligence Unit, which compiled the rankings, said: "The rise of University College London and Imperial College in recent years shows that concerted research efforts can result in improved performance in the increasingly competitive field of global higher education."

The table of leading world universities shows a fall in the number of North American universities in the top hundred (42 in 2008, 36 in 2009) and an increasing presence of European and Asian universities. Of the close neighbours of the University of Tartu, the top hundred includes the universities of Lund (67th place) and Uppsala (75th) in Sweden and the University of Helsinki (108th) in Finland is also not too far behind.
 
The ranking system takes into account surveys of academics and employers, ratio of students and teaching staff, the number of citations in research publications and the number of international teaching staff and students. This year 9,386 academics (47% more than in 2008) and 3,281 employers (40% more than in 2008) responded to the surveys.
 
According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), there are 12,000 universities in the world. From among those 12,000, the top five per cent are selected.
 
Source: QS Intelligence Unit, www.topuniversities.com.

Additional information: Virve-Anneli Vihman, Head of UT Office of International Relations, telephone +372 737 6191, +372 5349 6820, virve.vihman@ut.ee