(Vienna, 01-10-2015) According to the recently published Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015/16, the Medical University of Vienna is now even better and currently occupies joint 201 – 250th place among the best universities in the world. In the 2015 rankings it shared position 251 – 275. Even in 2012, MedUni Vienna was in 301 – 350th place. This makes MedUni Vienna the second best university in Austria after Vienna University (rank 142).
When it came to the top places, there were no great surprises: as in the previous year, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) came top, followed by the University of Oxford (UK; 2014: 3rd) and Stanford University (USA, 2014: 4th). With the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETH) in ninth place, a European university is once again in the Top Ten for the first time in a ten years (2014: 13th). The best German university, the University of Munich, achieved rank 29, as in the previous year.
The "big winner" in the rankings is Germany, which now has 20 universities in the Top 200 (previously eleven). Nevertheless, Austria "can the pleased" said John Gill, rankings editor, speaking to the Austria Press Agency (APA). "The overall picture looks quite good." In total, there are seven Austrian universities in the Top 800. By way of comparison: Norway has four, Switzerland ten and Sweden has eleven universities in this category.
Several factors changed in the methodology used for the current ranking: The rankings publishers changed data providers (from Thomson Reuters to Elsevier) and, when it comes to achievements in the field of research, less emphasis than before was placed on publications and citations in elite journals and more account was taken of minor publications. According to Gill, this gave a "slightly more realistic picture of research achievements."
Thirteen indicators are used
There was no change in the basic compilation of the ranking: it is based on 13 indicators in the areas of research, teaching, citations, international outlook and procurement of external funding from industry and commerce. The two most important factors are the survey of more than 10,000 university researchers on the subjects of teaching and research and bibliometric indicators such as publications and citations – which each account for around one third of the overall score.
Other factors are learning conditions (distinguished lecturers, lecturers' salaries etc.) accounting for 15%, research volume and income from research (10.5%), international outlook (5%) and application-oriented research (2.5%).
» Link to the rankings