University of Groningen climbs QS ranking list again

This year, the University of Groningen has climbed to 109^th place on the QS World University Rankings, the global ranking list of best universities. Since the QS Rankings started in 2005, the University of Groningen has climbed a few places higher every year; last year the University was 115^th, the year before 120^th, and before that 138^th. The improvement in this year’s position is partly due to the increased international reputation of the University.

American universities continue to dominate the ranking list – Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is in 1^st place, and six other US universities are in the top ten. Great Britain is making its presence felt too – Cambridge is in 2^nd place and University College London in 4^th . There are four Dutch universities in the top 100, with the highest notation for the University of Amsterdam.

The method QS uses to compile the ranking list enables universities to earn points on six criteria: Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Faculty/Student, Citations/Faculty, International Faculty and International Students. Compared with last year, the University of Groningen has improved its scores in five of these six criteria. President of the Board Sibrand Poppema is delighted that the University is now improving its score on the two reputation criteria. ‘Both Academic Reputation and Employer Reputation have improved. Groningen’s name is becoming better known across the world.’

Given the steadily increasing trend of the past few years, a place in the top 100 is a realistic option for Groningen. Poppema hopes to achieve this in the not too distant future: ‘We are steadily improving and I see no reason why that upward trend should not continue. On other ranking lists we are also maintaining or improving our position. In the “Best Places to Work in Academia” ranking list of The Scientist we are again in the top 25, and in the ARWU ranking list of Fudan University in Shanghai we have climbed to close by 100^th place. It would be fantastic if we were in the top 100 of all the ranking lists in 2014, the year we celebrate our 400^th anniversary.’

The QS World University Rankings were published in the Times Higher Education Supplement from 2005 until 2010, when the journal introduced a different method based on data from Thomson Reuters. The QS Rankings (part of the Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd bureau) continued independently and in the meantime has earned a place among the most influential ranking lists. The QS Rankings are published on www.topuniversities.com.