For the sixth time Palacký University Olomouc has been included in the international university ranking by Quacquarelli Symonds. In the current edition of the QS World University Rankings 2022, UP is ranked in 601st–650th place; among the top 5 universities domestically. The Olomouc university has also been listed in this year’s Shanghai Ranking, which ranks global universities by subjects. UP has successfully defended its first place domestically in Material Sciences.
The organisers of the QS World University Rankings, one of the most prestigious rankings in the world, assessed 1,673 universities this year and featured 1,300 of them in the publication. Universities were evaluated according to six metrics. The greatest importance (40%) is given to Academic Reputation; other indicators include Employer Reputation (10%), Faculty/Student Ratio (20%), Citations per Faculty (20%), International Faculty Ratio (5%), and International Student Ratio (5%). Compared to previous year (591st–600th position), UP has slightly dropped, but 300 universities were added to this year’s ranking.
UP saw a slight rise in the ranking of International Student Ratio (552nd this year, 557th last year), whereas it fell in International Faculty Ratio (430th last year, 601st this year) and Faculty/Student Ratio (366th last year, 416th this year).
Rankings: a tool for strategic management
According to Michal Malacka, Vice-Rector for Strategy and External Relations, international rankings are – despite certain reservations – part of the university’s strategic management. “For example, QS and THE, as the world’s most renowned rankings, receive great attention and inspire responses at universities, among employers, and in political circles. They can often be an impetus for various intensive ‘excellence initiatives’ to improve ranking positions, and sometimes are reflected in the national strategy and legislative changes. Whether we like it or not, we must not allow ourselves to miss the boat. Therefore, my thanks go to all those who understand the need to secure the evaluation processes and contribute to positive results,” said Malacka with regard to the latest achievement.
A total of 15 domestic universities can be found in the QS ranking this year, three times more than three years ago. In a year-on-year comparison, however, most of them are worse off. The best university in domestic rankings is Charles University in Prague, followed by the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague, Czech Technical University in Prague, and by Masaryk University in Brno. As in previous years, the world ranking is led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The overall scores are available at QS World University Rankings 2022: Top Global Universities | Top Universities.
“Every evaluation, every ranking has its merits but also its limitations. We need to learn to read the data from the rankings in an effective way and be able to exploit them, and at the same time implement an efficient data collection process. Academic management needs to be prepared to work with appropriate indexes and indicators so that we do not get isolated with respect to future developments due to being unacquainted with the environment. It is also necessary to have appropriate system tools at hand and know how to use them,” the Vice-Rector added.
First place in the material and agricultural sciences
By contrast, the Global Ranking of Academic Subject, published by the Shanghai Ranking, examines 54 fields related to the natural sciences, life sciences, medical sciences, and social sciences. The resulting ranking includes 1,800 universities from 93 countries, including eleven institutions from the Czech Republic.
Among Czech schools, Charles University was the best, being listed in the rankings of 22 subjects. Masaryk University was listed in eleven and Palacký University in seven subjects. The best ranking of the oldest Moravian university from Olomouc was achieved in Agricultural Sciences: the 151st-200th place in the world, sharing domestic superiority with the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague. As last year, UP also holds the first position in the domestic ranking in Material Science & Engineering, where it is ranked 301st to 400th in world competition. UP occupies the same position globally also in Ecology, whereas in Physics it ranks 201st to 300th. UP is in the top 100 in Chemistry and Public Health, and unlike the previous year, it was not listed in Biological Sciences. You can read more here.