The international consultation company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) published its QS World University Rankings by Subject 2015, which ranks the world’s universities in 36 subjects. The University of Tartu is represented in the ranking list with five subjects.
The UT has the highest position in communication and media studies (101–150), in which it is ranked for the third year already. This is followed by philosophy (151–200), English language and literature (201–250), modern languages (251–300) and medicine (301–350).
According to Vice Rector for Academic Affairs of the University of Tartu Martin Hallik, the UT as an international university is moving in the right direction in its teaching and research activities, as in addition to staying among the top 3% of the universities of the world, more and more UT specialisations make it to the subject ranking each year. “In the competition with the universities of the world, the University of Tartu has very strong specialisations in all fields of research. This should be great news for both prospective and current students and give credit to the university community for their committed work,” added Hallik.
Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy Professor Margit Sutrop is very happy about the strong position of the Faculty of Philosophy in three subjects. While modern languages ranked high also last year, this is the first time philosophy has such a high position.
Sutrop believes that UT’s position among the best 200 in philosophy shows that the direction to internationalisation taken fifteen years ago starts to bear fruit. “A dozen doctoral degrees defended at the best universities abroad, opening of the English-taught master’s curriculum in Tartu, participation in international research projects and cooperation networks, involvement of international teaching staff and dozens of postdoctoral fellows as well as the organisation of numerous international conferences has helped to improve the quality of teaching and research of philosophy and increased our visibility in the world,” said Sutrop.
Pille Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt, Professor of Media Studies of the University of Tartu, says that making to the top 150 in communication and media studies is a pleasant recognition to the entire Institute of Social Studies. “A lot of work is done together as a team and it is great that our joint efforts and achievements continue to bear fruit and stand out,” commented the professor.
QS that compiles the QS World University Rankings ranks the world’s top universities by individual subject areas since 2011. The aim of the QS World University Rankings by Subject is to give the public comparable information on the universities’ subject-level strengths.
When compiling the ranking list, QS takes into account the universities’ academic reputation among the academics and employers of the corresponding subject area as well as research citations (based on the bibliometric database Scopus by Elsevier). When compiling the 2015 edition of the subject rankings, the data of more than 3,500 universities was analysed, with almost 900 universities ranked for at least one subject.
In the QS World University Rankings 2014, the University of Tartu had the record-high position – 379th.
Additional information: Reesi Lepa, UT Head of International Cooperation, +372 737 6123, +372 504 4190, email: reesi.lepa@ut.ee.
Source: University of Tartu ranks high in five subjects | University of Tartu
