Academic Centre
The University of Latvia (UL) has obtained the highest results among Latvian universities in the internationally recognized Emerging Europe and Central Asia University Rankings 2020, taking the 39th place, confirm the makers of QS EECA Rankings.
The rankings are based on a number of indicators, the most important of which are academic reputation on a global scale, university’s reputation among employers, as well as citations, ratio of students to lecturers, and the proportion of international students and lecturers.
In comparison with the previous year, the UL score in the rankings has increased significantly, rising by 11 places. The results have improved according to five indicators. The University of Latvia received the highest results according to the indicator “Faculty staff with PhD” – here UL is in the third place. The UL has achieved a good result according to the international research indicator – the 30th place, while in the ranking of scientific publications per faculty the UL has moved up to the 40th place.
The Acting Vice-Rector of UL for Exact Sciences, Life and Medical sciences Valdis Segliņš emphasizes that UL results are reflected in various rankings, beyond the image of the university looks in the world, it is also important to consider how it looks in its historically developed environment.
“Rising in the region's rankings is a small but crucial step. Failing to score in this rating would make it extremely difficult for us to recognize ourselves in global context. Rankings inevitably reflect the progress achieved by an institution with a certain delay. It indicates the directions, where we should advance or, on the contrary, where we are heading in the wrong direction. QS EECA Rankings confirm that we are on the right track. Recently, most of the scientific publications have been produced in Tornakalns, which indicates that investments and development of the UL Academic Centre have been a correct decision and direction. Nor would we have achieved such results if we had not promoted increased involvement of young researchers and faculty staff in academic and research work of our university,” explains V. Segliņš.
Other higher education institutions of Latvia included in the QS EECA Rankings are Riga Technical University – 54th place, Riga Stradiņš University – 141th place, Latvia University of Life sciences and Technologies – 174th place, Daugavpils University is ranked 231–240th, while the Transport and Telecommunication Institute ranks 301–350th.
The highest results in the QS EECA Rankings 2020 have been achieved by three universities of Russian Federation: M. Lomonosov Moscow State University, which has remained in the first place for several consecutive years, Saint Petersburg State University takes the second place, while Novosibirsk State University ranks the third.
QS EECA Rankings are among the world's most influential and recognised university assessment systems. In total, the top 354 universities in the region have been assessed, of which 53 were included in the list for the first time.
QS EECA University Rankings 2020 can be found here.
