University Rankings
Rankings of universities are based on various criteria in research and academic education and allow for a comparison of universities on both the national and international level. In the German university sector, international rankings are gaining importance for e.g. partnership negotiations, students marketing, acquisition of third-party funding, or staff recruitment. Still, university rankings are discussed rather controversially. In particular, the partly intransparent methodology or the general attempt to evaluate universities are criticized.
At regular intervals, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology participates in various university rankings. Among the most important international rankings are the world university rankings of Times Higher Education (THE) and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) as well as the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) or Shanghai Ranking.
THE World University Rankings
The annual ranking by the Times Higher Education journal is based on 13 differently weighed indicators in five categories: Academic education (30%), research (30%), citation index (30%), internationality (7.5%), and third-party funding by industry (2.5%). The evaluation is additionally based on e.g. data from surveys of academics relating to the reputation of the university, general statistics of universities, or the number of publications in expert journals.
THE constantly strives to optimize the methodology of its rankings. In 2015, THE switched from Thomas Reuters (“Web of Science” database) to Elsevier (“Scopus” database) that also collects data on publications in languages other than English. Moreover, the number of evaluated universities has increased from initially 400 to presently 1396 universities. These adaptations make a comparison over a longer term very difficult or impossible.
Development of KIT Ranking
| Coverage | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Institution | International | 175 | 201-250 | 180 | 189 |
| National | 20 | 22-24 | 20 | 20 | |
| Physical Sciences | International | 69 | 70 | 70 | 77 |
| National | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | |
| Engineering | International | 74 | 78 | 78 | 56 |
| National | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
* Ranking of the institution will be published in fall.
THE World University Rankings by Subject
Apart from the institutional ranking, THE also offers a subject-specific ranking with separate results for eleven subject areas. KIT takes part in the rankings for three subject areas.
KIT in the THE World University Rankings by Subject 2022
| Subject Group | International | National |
|---|---|---|
| Physical Science* | 77 | 8 |
|
Engineering** |
56 | 4 |
| Computer Science*** | 63 | 6 |
*Subjects included: Mathematics and statistics, physics and astronomy, chemistry, geology, earth and marine sciences
**Subjects included: Engineering sciences, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, and chemical engineering
***Subjects included: Informatics/computer science
QS World University Rankings
The annual QS World University Ranking published by Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd. (QS) is based on six indicators in the categories of reputation, internationalization, academic education, and research output. The overall ranking is influenced in particular by surveys of academics and employers regarding the reputation of the universities. These results make up 50% of the overall evaluation. In the ranking of about 1000 universities, the best of them are assigned places; as of position 500, ranking groups are formed.
Development of KIT Ranking
| Coverage | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Institution * | International | 124 | 131 | 136 | 141 |
| National | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | |
| Natural Sciences | International | 48 | 58 | 53 | 48 |
| National | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | |
| Engineering Sciences | International | 59 | 68 | 70 | 56 |
| National | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
* Ranking of the institution is listed according to the year of publication
QS World University Rankings by Subject
As regards the subject-specific “QS World University Rankings by Subject,” the overall ranking is based on four indicators, two in the reputation category and two in the research output category. The QS World University Rankings by Subject cover both subject groups and individual subjects. KIT, with natural sciences and engineering sciences, takes part in two subject groups and several subjects.
KIT in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022
| Subject Group | International | National |
|---|---|---|
| Natural Sciences | 48 | 3 |
| Engineering Sciences | 56 | 4 |
| Subject | International | National |
| Architecture | 51-100 | 3-5 |
| Biology | 251-300 | 19-23 |
| Chemical Engineering | 39 | 1 |
| Chemistry | 80 | 6 |
| Civil Engineering | 101-150 | 4-6 |
| Computer Science | 98 | 5 |
| Electrical Engineering | 62 | 4 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 39 | 3 |
| Geosciences* | 101-150 | 5-12 |
| Materials Sciences | 34 | 2 |
| Mathematics | 151-200 | 9-12 |
| Physics | 48 | 4 |
| Economics | 301-350 | 13-14 |
| Geophysics | 101-150 | 6-14 |
*QS: Earth & Marine Science
ARWU or Shanghai Ranking
Since 2009, the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) has been published annually by the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy. The ranking is based on six differently weighed factors: The number of published articles per subject, citations, international co-publications, publications in international top journals, and the number of research award winners among the scientific staff and graduates.
Based on these factors, the 1000 best universities worldwide are determined. Only the first 100 universities are ranked in fixed positions, the remaining 900 are assigned to ranking groups.
Development of KIT Ranking
| Coverage | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| International | 201-300 | 201-300 | 201-300 | 201-300 |
| National | 11-21 | 11-19 | 11-20 | 10-19 |
ARWU Ranking of Academic Subjects
In addition, a subject-specific ranking is published annually (ARWU-SUBJECT). The ranking for subject groups (ARWU-FIELD) was discontinued in 2017.
KIT in the ARWU Ranking of Academic Subjects 2022
| Fach | International | National |
|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 301-400 | 19-29 |
| Physics | 101-150 | 8 |
| Chemistry | 76-100 | 2-5 |
| Geosciences* | 101-150 | 5-12 |
| Meteorology** | 31 | 1 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 101-150 | 3-5 |
| Electrical Engineering and Information Technology | 301-400 | 8-15 |
| Informatics | 201-300 | 3-10 |
| Civil Engineering | 26 | 1 |
| Chemical Engineering | 101-150 | 2 |
| Materials Sciences and Technology | 76-100 | 1-2 |
| Energy Engineering | 35 | 1 |
| Water Science and Engineering | 76-100 | 1-3 |
| Food Chemistry | 201-300 | 3 |
| Bioengineering Sciences | 151-200 | 8-13 |
| Remote Sensing | 51-75 | 3-4 |
| Economics Engineering | 201-300 | 9-15 |
| Geoecology*** | 76-100 | 2 |
*ARWU: Earth Science
**ARWU: Atmospheric Science
***ARWU: Environmental Science and Engineering