New rankings released

Karolinska Institutet (KI) keeps its position on the annual world university ranking list by the Jiao-Tong University in Shanghai, Academic Ranking of World Universities, ARWU.

The subject profile of KI is not sharply mirrored but KI is listed on two of the ARWU subject field tables "Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy" (KI holds a top position in Europe) and "Life and Agriculture Sciences" (KI among top-5 in Europe). American universities hold top positions at both of these tables with Harvard University at the leading position. The same pattern emerges at the ARWU "mixed" table where universities are listed regardless of their profiles.

Last week a European university ranking was published in the magazine Die Zeit. It is developed by the German organization CHE (Centre for Higher Education Development). KI is in the "Excellence Group" for the two categories "Biology" and "Psychology".

Methodological issues

All rankings can be critized on their methodology. They should therefore always be interpreted with caution. Recently, the Times Higher Education (THE-QS) annual world rankings were published. KI is not considered in its "mixed" table due to failing to meet the qualification criterion of having several faculties. The THE-QS subject field tables are based on e-mail surveys. THE-QS has also demonstrated lack of quality assurance of the data.

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