“Just being included in this ranking, which is one of the most prestigious along with the THE World University Rankings and the QS World University Rankings, is a great achievement.” We are systematically working to move up in these rankings, we are placing more emphasis on the quality of our publications and we believe that this shift can also help in attracting international students," said Jana Kukutschová, Vice-Rector for Science and Research.
The ARWU ranking is the oldest international ranking of universities in the world. It was first published in 2003 by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and has been compiled by the ShanghaiRanking Consultancy since 2009. It focuses mainly on the science and research performance of the institutions which it evaluates according to six objective indicators. These include the number of articles published in the journals Nature and Science, the citation impact of publications, the number of alumni winning the Nobel Prize or the Fields Medal. It also tracks university staff with similar awards and assesses the number of Highly Cited Researchers associated with the institution.
Charles University is the best in the country
The Czech Republic has seven representatives in the TOP 1000 universities. The best performing university is Charles University (201 - 300) followed by Masaryk University (601 - 700). Brno University of Technology, which did not feature in the ranking last year, shares third place nationally with Palacký University Olomouc (701 - 800 place globally). The ranking also includes the Czech Technical University in Prague and the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (801 - 900). This year, the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice and the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague dropped out of the Top 1000 universities in the Shanghai ranking.
Harvard University leads the ranking
The overall top spot traditionally belongs to Harvard University and, not surprisingly, second place goes to Stanford University, with the University of Cambridge in third place. The remaining places in the TOP 10 are also occupied by institutions from the USA and the UK. The overall results can be found here.