UL ranks highest in Latvia in prestigious THE World University Rankings

The latest THE Rankings include 1904 universities from 104 countries worldwide, including four higher education institutions from Latvia. UL has received the highest ranking in the category of research environment – the 537th place. The assessment in this category in addition to the amount of research includes the research reputation of the university. Cooperation with industry and international cooperation are likewise assessed. 

Results of THE Rankings this year were announced on 27 September in Australia. This year marks 20 years since the publication of the first THE World University Rankings. The world’s best universities are evaluated in five categories – teaching (the learning environment), research environment, research quality, international outlook and cooperation with industry. This year, the evaluation methodology has been significantly changed, accentuating the excellence of research quality. Three new research quality measures have been added in 2023 – research strength (citation impact), excellence (the presence of scientific publications in the top 10 per cent of most cited works in the world) and influence (when research is recognized by the most influential research in the world). 

The reputation of the university likewise remains of a profound importance. 

“THE Rankings confirm that UL is an internationally recognized science and research centre. The changes in the assessment methodology yield significant advantages to universities with a long history of intensive research support, which is not the strong point of our country. UL this year is ranked 1001st–1200th, and stands as the highest-ranked higher education institution in Latvia,” comments UL Rector, Professor Indriķis Muižnieks. 

“The results of THE Rankings display the potential and successful development of the University of Latvia. I am certain that with adequate funding, we are capable not only of being a leader in Latvia, but also of entering the range of world’s 500 best universities,” says Professor Ivars Kalviņš, Chair of the UL Council. 

THE Rankings are created using information on research achievements from the Elsevier’s Scopus database, as well as information provided by universities and obtained from surveys. The results provide a broad and balanced comparison of higher education institutions in the assessment given by students, academic staff, university governance, industry and other representatives of society. THE Rankings include Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies and Riga Stradiņš University, both of which have taken the 1500th+ place according to the new evaluation methodology.