Charles University and the Czech Technical University (ČVUT) are the only two Czech universities which have ranked among 500 best universities in the world this year.
The international ranking THES (Times Higher Education Supplement) of the British daily The Times, which has evaluated over 600 universities from all over the globe, ranks the oldest Czech university traditionally among 300 best schools, at 261st position. The school has climbed by 30 positions since last year. ČVUT occupies the 414th position on the scale. “We have been cooperating with the evaluators from the Times since last year. We were therefore very pleased that we ranked at such a good position this year and that in a global competition we are on par with high-quality universities in Europe and the US,” says ČVUT’s vice-rector Jaroslav Kuba.
The list of best universities is topped by its traditional leader the American prestigious Harvard, followed by Yale and the British Cambridge at second and third places, respectively.
The best among European universities are the British schools led by Cambridge, Oxford, and Imperial College London.
Better ranking of Charles University
Similarly like in the past years, 42 universities from the North American continent dominate the first one hundred schools on the list. Thirty-five of them are American universities.
European universities are falling behind either, with 36 of them ranking among the first one hundred. Almost twenty of those 36 schools are in the United Kingdom.
There are also 22 Asian schools among the top 100; for example, the Japanese University of Tokyo ranked 19th.
Czech schools have never ranked that high in the international ranking. Charles University placed 248th in 2006, 290th last year and 261st this year. “I am very pleased that our school ranks among the best three hundred universities among more than 17,000 schools in the world. The absolute majority of universities with a ranking similar to the ranking of Charles University are incomparably much better financed,” says Charles University’s rector Václav Hampl.
Two years ago, like ČVUT this year, Brno University of Technology ranked among the top 500 best schools, at 428th position. This year, however, the school ranked at 512th place, followed by Masaryk University at 568th place.
Charles University did not get among the best 100 European universities, ranking at 110th position. Only two universities from eastern post-communist countries ranked higher than the oldest Czech university – Russia’s Saint Petersburg State University and Moscow State University. Slovak universities do not appear even among the first 600 universities.
Good research and students
The British list THES belongs among the most respected university evaluations worldwide. Experts evaluate the quality of education and graduates’ labour market prospects, as well as the schools’ research on the international level. The number of expert quotations in prestigious publications and science grants are important.
Evaluators also look to experts in their fields and education and ask them for thirty tips on higher education institutions that they consider excellent. “They also ask companies what experience they have with a school’s graduates. That’s what we would like to improve and monitor – the professional career of our graduates in the next years,” says ČVUT’s pro-rector.
Translated with permission by the Prague Daily Monitor.
