The third major university ranking this year, the
World University Ranking
from Times Higher Education (THE), has once again ranked ETH Zurich among the best universities in the world. At 11th place, it has fallen by one position relative to last year but is still the best university in continental Europe by far, with the higher positions occupied entirely by top universities in England and the United States. Oxford once again tops the THE rankings in 2018.
ETH has improved its performance in the area of teaching, where influential factors include the faculty–student ratio and teaching reputation. However, according to the THE rankings, there has been a slight drop in the scores for research reputation and number of citations.
ETH President Lino Guzzella is delighted with the excellent classification: “It’s a huge achievement that ETH can also hold its ground within the leading group in the THE rankings. In a league contested by the best of the best, even small nuances can produce occasional shifts in ranking.” For him, this result provides further recognition of the outstanding team effort by the entire ETH community. “Although rankings never tell the whole story, they are certainly a yardstick and an affirmation of our work,” says Lino Guzzella.
Also outstanding in the other rankings
ETH Zurich also performed extremely well in the two other major university league tables already published this year: in the QS Rankings, ETH Zurich climbed three positions to reach seventh place, while in the Shanghai Ranking (ARWU Ranking), which is heavily weighted towards Nobel prizes awarded to current and former members of the university, ETH came in 19th place for the third time in a row.
The different methods and criteria used by the three rankings mean it is difficult to compare the results. “The fact that ETH has been in the vanguard of all three rankings for years is definitely a sign of our consistency,” says Lino Guzzella. Responsibility for this lies not only with the political environment, which provides good framework conditions, but also with ETH Zurich itself. “It’s essential that we keep on evolving in order to keep up with the best, some of whom are investing heavily. One of the ways we do this is via the ETH+ initiative, in which we support interdisciplinary projects and set up additional professorships in future-oriented disciplines.”